For the second time in as many days Tayla stood in the unmarked storage room. She stared down at the pile of ash and soot that covered the floor with a look of utter disbelief. For a moment she thought she had gotten lost, after triple checking that she had the correct deck and room she walked back in and resumed her unblinking gaze at the spot where Dee’s mysterious coffin had sat the day before.

  “Dee. What is happening?” Tayla said aloud.

  A floating skull materialized out of the corner of her eye, the skull was bleached white, its eye sockets glowing a shifting green hue. The skull turned to face her as a voice rang out in her head. “What can I do for my bestie?” Dee’s form had completely eroded, even his voice was now monotone and nondescript, though the sense of arrogance still came through loud and clear somehow.

  Tayla gestured at the pile of ash. “Where in the fuck is the coffin? I came down here to take another look and make sure it was safe from the inquisition and now the damn thing is gone! Even the guards I had stationed on the floor are nowhere to be seen.” She gave a withering look at Dee’s skull. “Do you know why?”

  The skull floated around in a circle, looking side to side in an exaggerated fashion. “I don’t see any coffin, are you sure there was one here?” He said facetiously.

  “Dee, what game are you playing? You know what coffin I’m talking about, it was the same one you shoved the real Vauhn in!”

  Dee came to a stop and turned slowly to face Tayla. “You actually remember it don’t you? That’s not supposed to happen.” His tone sounded less and less jovial.

  “Enough with the cryptic riddle shit, I want a straight answer.”

  “Not to sound cliche, but I’m not sure you can handle the real truth.”

  “Try me.”

  The skull froze for a long moment. The tension rose with every second until suddenly Dee laughed without warning. “Alright, you asked for it. I implanted a mnemonic-engine inside of the coffin that infected everyone that got close to it and spread to those that heard about it from the infected hosts. After a set amount of time the engine activated and destroyed the neural pathways that led back to anything relating to the coffin. The symbols and markings that your team wrote down or noted were laced with hidden eldritch safeguards, by now any such notes digital or otherwise have erased themselves leaving no evidence that they ever existed.”

  Tayla held a hand to her now throbbing head. “I barely understood a fraction of that verbal diarrhea you just assaulted me with. The only thing I got from that was that you somehow made it so any trace of the coffin destroyed itself?” Even as she said the words, the absurdity of the situation hit her. “That is impossible.”

  “Says the woman talking to a head, in her head.”

  “So you used magic?” Tayla said as she kneeled down and ran a hand through the remains of the coffin.

  “Psssh. Please, this isn’t some arcane parlor trick.” Dee almost sounded offended, perhaps she could use that.

  “Well.” Tayla said as she stood. “I guess it must have been pretty simple to pull off, since it didn’t work on me.”

  Dee’s skull vibrated with rage. “I’ll have you know that when it comes to Old Magic I am second to only one other being in existence! How was I supposed to account for a mutant like you having a bonded patro-” Dee froze. The glow in his eye sockets slowly turned towards Tayla awkwardly. “I’m going to have to make you forget that.” He said plainly as he turned towards Tayla with flames billowing from his eyes.

  Tayla raised her hands to ward off the blinding light, in a moment it was gone and Dee was staring at her.

  “I have my ways.” Dee said, his tone shifting back to playful.

  “What the hell was that about a bonded something or other?” Tayla said as she blinked away the spots in her eyes.

  The skull lost its glow for a moment as Dee launched himself into the wall with a loud crack. “Son of a bitch! I can’t even erase your memories directly? This sucks!” He shouted as he slammed into the wall again.

  She had to be careful, Dee was proving to be much more powerful and dangerous than she had originally thought. As much as she wanted answers about this ‘bond’ she got the impression that Dee would avoid the subject like a plague. Times like this, it was best to circle back to difficult subjects at a later time when the opportunity presented itself. For now, if she redoubled her efforts on her original question it could cause Dee to see it as a much needed out. Instead of staying on the subject that was obviously causing him a great deal of distress.

  “So it wasn’t magic, but you called it old magic?” Tayla asked.

  Sure enough, Dee seemed to brighten up, jumping eagerly at the chance to talk about something other than this ‘bonded’ business. “Old magic is a misnomer that stuck. The more accurate translation would be Enforced Perspective.”

  Abigail had the patience of a saint, but even she had given up on teaching Tayla and Alnur about magic when it became obvious that neither had the innate talent nor the patience to devote their lives to studying the arcane arts. Tayla had at least understood the basics and there was nothing that matched what Dee was talking about. “I have never heard of ‘Enforced Perspective', it sounds made up honestly.” Tayla said, hoping the shot to Dee’s pride would incite him to divulge more information.

  Sure enough the skull grew bright again. “Fine, let me give you a little demonstration. Go to the kitchen.” Dee sounded smug and irritated in equal measure.

  Tayla rolled her eyes and did as Dee told her. Soon enough she entered the kitchen, the large room was dark and empty. The light flickered on, casting a dull glow over the stainless steel surfaces that covered almost everything in the kitchen. This late in the evening all of the staff had gone home, though they had requested a couple of the staff be on call in case one of their guests demanded a late night snack. “Okay Dee, now what? Are you going to make the stove disappear?”

  Dee bobbed up and down as he floated beside Tayla. “Head over to the fridge and grab yourself a glass of nolberry juice.” He spoke casually as he drifted towards the wall.

  Grumbling at the stupidity of the request, Tayla moved towards the fridge. There is an inquisition in our very home and here I am entertaining a phantom. Have I lost my mind? Tayla thought to herself.

  Opening the fridge she grabbed the sealed container of juice and poured herself a glass. She lifted the glass in a mock toast to Dee as she took a sip. The juice had a slightly sour taste, it was enough to catch Tayla off guard and cause her to clear her throat. “Well Dee, what did this prove?”

  The skull was looking around wistfully. “Not much. Just that the nolberry crop failed this year and none was able to make it to trade in time.” He said absentmindedly.

  Tayla frowned. That didn’t make sense. If that were the case, they wouldn’t have received any in the spring. She lifted the glass and took another sip, coughing as she found the juice tasted incredibly sweet suddenly. Looking down she saw the juice was a shade of yellow. Taking a sniff she blinked in surprise. “Apple juice? Did I grab the wrong container?” She looked in the fridge again but found the container she had placed back in the fridge was filled with the yellow liquid. “But how? I swear I had a glass of nolberry.” Tayla trailed off as she looked at Dee.

  The bastard was being too quiet.

  Stepping towards the floating skull Tayla held the glass of juice towards Dee. “Did you do something?”

  “Enforced Perspective, what do you think that means?”

  Blinking for a moment Tayla scoffed. “I don’t know. Pushing your views on someone else?”

  Dee nodded. “Not someone else, something else.”

  “On what, juice?”

  “Reality itself.” Dee said with his usual punchable tone.

  Tayla put the glass down and turned to leave. “I’m not in the mood for your games.”

  Dee laughed. “Come on, you asked for a demonstration! This is the best way of showing the basic idea. Think back to the nolberry shortage; you should be mostly immune to my power so it should be easier for you.”

  Shaking her head, Tayla stopped and let out a sigh of frustration. She turned around and spread her arms out in a sarcastic movement. “Right, let me think back.” She said, humoring the floating fool. “If there was a shortage I would have received a message from the vineyards in the plains of Trunicia.” Suddenly her eyes fluttered rapidly. …A message arrived from Trunicia, there was a snap frost that destroyed this year's harvest. Tayla was saddened as nolberry juice was a favorite of Fel’s… Tayla fell against the steel cooking station she had been standing next to. The contents of her stomach fought to make a repeat appearance for the evening. With a shaking hand she tried to steady herself… While the harvest was destroyed, it seems luck was on their side as a single shipment was able to be salvaged, a lone bottle was frozen for a special occasion. Now that the inquisition was arriving it seemed like the perfect time to thaw the speciality juice in case the guests wanted a glass… When she came back to her senses Tayla was screaming.

  She tried to look at the glass she placed on the counter, her vision blurry and doubled. She stared at the glass as her double vision split the glass into two hazy side by side versions. To her terror, the contents of one of the glasses was yellow, while the other was a deep purple, the glasses began to ring out and vibrate as they reached an insanely high pitch. Her body started to shake violently as her mind teetered on the edge of having a stroke from the growing pressure. Across the room a door appeared, the surface of which was frozen with a thick layer of ice. From behind the door a song could be heard, like some deep sea creature calling out into the cold abyss. The pressure in Tayla’s head started to diminish slightly.

  A hand fell on Tayla’s shoulder. “The first time is always the worst.” A snap of a finger rang out as Tayla stopped shaking, the glass for its part fused back into a single entity. She felt the pressure vanish immediately as her legs gave out, falling to the cold floor in a heap. The door vanished once more.

  “All Mother protect me, what in the hells was that!?” Tayla cried out as she started to sob uncontrollably.

  “That.” Dee said in a rare gentle tone. “Was Enforced Perspective. Normally you would have simply accepted the new version of reality I crafted. But because of your unique situation, you were able to observe both realities overlapping. With practice you could try and snap reality back into place, or dance between the two versions. Statistically the first time someone experiences it, there is a high chance that their brain has an aneurysm and bleeds out promptly. Lucky for you that didn’t happen.” He said matter of factly.

  Tayla looked over her shoulder to see Dee floating behind her. “I saw conflicting memories, two different versions of events. It was so real, I could remember every small detail like I was reliving it. How did you do that?” She managed to choke out her words between gasps.

  “The basics of enforcing your own perspective on reality is making it believable. You walked into a dimly lit room, reached into an unfamiliar fridge and pulled out a mysterious container that I told you was nolberry juice even before you opened the door. All of that was what we call Priming. I made the false reality more and more believable. It helped that you’re used to having that kind of juice around most of the time, add to that that you received word about the failed crop months ago and you were in the perfect position to be manipulated.” He spoke like a father teaching a harsh lesson that he saw as necessary.

  “But, if what you’re saying is true, then what would have happened when someone else looked into the fridge tomorrow?” Tayla asked as her mind was still reeling from what she was hearing.

  “Well, that’s complicated. I was able to easily fool you because you were in a position where you had no idea what was supposed to be in that container. Your staff however know what is supposed to be in that fridge. So unless I used a lot of power, they would have opened it tomorrow and the liquid would have reverted back to apple juice, because, in their minds it was always apple juice.”

  Tayla struggled to her feet. “This power is incredible, why have I never heard about it before?”

  Floating around to look at the glass, Dee laughed dryly. “It takes an incredible mind to force reality to bend to your will, you have to be so sure of your new perspective that you change the world to match your vision. For normal mortals it’s nearly impossible, unless you’re willing to make a contract with a powerful Voidborn. Which comes with its own list of risks.”

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  “So, this is the power of the void?” Tayla felt a creeping sense of panic as she asked.

  “What do you think the void is?” Dee asked, abruptly shifting the subject without warning.

  Pulling herself onto the countertop Tayla laid down on her back, hoping the world would stop spinning soon. “I have no idea, that line of thinking is dangerous for a loyal servant of the Court. If the scripture is to be taken at face value, I would think it some dark nightmare realm filled with unimaginable horrors, one of the many hells that eagerly awaits the chance to consume wayward souls.”

  Dee’s skull seemed to be hovering around her slowly. “The imperial education system is a fucking joke.”

  “Well I don’t know!” She said as she threw a hand into the air. “Why don’t you enlighten me!”

  “The void is hard to describe…” Dee mumbled.

  Tayla sat up quickly. “Oh, but showing me that the very fabric of our reality can be shifted at the whim of higher powers was easy?” She scowled at the floating skull as she spoke.

  “Fine! Do you know what the first instinct in the universe was?” Tayla was about to scoff when he continued. “Even when life was still crawling its way out of the primordial ooze that birthed it there was a single driving force, hunger.” There was an incredible weight he placed on the last word. “Cells cannot think, but they do require fuel, a need to consume to grow and propagate. When those cells eventually formed the first living creatures the hunger simply grew with it. It was there in the depths of the sunless seas that the first primitive thoughts were formed. From that hunger the void was born.”

  The light flickered and died. The room was cast into darkness, Tayla’s eyes tried to adapt to the lack of light but failed. For the first time since she had developed her enhanced sight she couldn’t see, Tayla was lost to the abyss. Panic fluttered in her chest as she looked around.

  Dee continued without pause. “The void is a reflection, a mirror, a shadow cast by the flames of sentience. So since life was born below the waves of the ocean, so too was the void made in that image.” As he spoke the world exploded, the dark waters of the ocean rushing to consume Tayla as she was cast into the lightless depths. Her eyes adjusted as she floated in the cold waters, there were countless shapes fluttering in the darkness at the edge of her vision. Schools of what looked to be deformed fish danced on unseen currents. “Unlike this reality, there was no need to propagate, voidborne simply form from the nothingness, birthed by the firing of synapses from your reality. That means their drive to reproduce is almost nonexistent. Back then that only left them with one thing, a single constant, the hunger.”

  From below a great glowing maw opened wide, harsh red light tried to escape from the colossal things' mouth as it let loose a primordial scream that shook the world itself. Millions of hooked tendrils stretched out from the monster's waiting mouth, eagerly grabbing anything and everything they could reach as they pulled the helpless prey into the churning abyss of teeth. Tayla was frozen in fear and awe at the scale of the beast, it was easily the size of the Navalia.

  “With every morsel they consumed, these first voidborn grew exponentially.” Even as Dee said the words a monolithic claw reached up from deeper below and grabbed the huge beast with ease, dragging the helpless thing down as it screamed its death cry. With a horrifying crunch the scream ceased. “Soon there wasn’t enough food for new voidborne to grow sufficiently, the largest and mightiest of these creatures plateaued, having reached the zenith of their evolution. And with that a stalemate formed.”

  Tayla looked around when she felt something shift, she looked up and felt her heart sink. There in the vastness of the endless ocean were three shapes that towered over creation itself, illuminated by a star that was dwarfed by the beings that surrounded it. An existential dread fell on her as she looked up at what could only be described as gods, their sheer scale was unthinkable, stretching on and on further than she could even comprehend.

  Dee’s voice brought Tayla back from the edge. “The three great gods of the void, the Eel, the Whale, and The Other. Nothing could compare to their power and size. Even with their primitive thinking they knew instinctively that if any of the three tried to consume another of the trio, the final god would use that chance to strike and devour the weakened survivor. And so the gods waited for their chance to strike, for eons. Eventually the stalemate was shattered, but that is a story for another time.” His voice trailed off as the world returned to normal.

  Tayla looked around in confusion, she could feel her heart racing in her chest. “How could anything kill such creatures?” She muttered meekly as she ran a hand through her now wet hair. “Even the Celestial Gods seem like insignificant specks compared to those, things.” She was surprised with herself at how easy it was to say such a heretical thought out loud.

  The skull floated in front of her. “That’s enough history for today, you look like shit. Maybe I pushed you too far.” Dee said as he floated away slowly.

  Through shuddering breaths Tayla tried to stand. “How in the hells did the Court win the war against those things.” She muttered to herself.

  Dee froze in place, his voice was a whisper. “Well, that’s simple. They cheated.”

  After cleaning up the mess she made in the kitchen Tayla made her way back to her room. She was exhausted. After preparing the welcome party last night for the imperial guests and entertaining them for the majority of the day as they started the lengthy process of combing through every inch of the Coast for signs of treachery. Only to have her evening ruined with Dee’s forbidden history lessons and casual disregard for the sanctity for reality. She was done.

  Or so she had hoped. Turning the corner towards her room; and more importantly her warm bed, she saw someone leaning against the door waiting. The last person Tayla had the patience for, Lillian. Walking towards her room Tayla rubbed her eyes. “Lillian, I have had one of the longest days of my life, and considering the week I’ve had, that is saying something. I don’t have the time, nor the energy to get into an argument with you right now.” Part of her winced at her bitterness towards her childhood friend, but another part of her wanted to deck Lillian in the face and be done with it.

  Lillian didn’t rise to the bait. Her usual bubbly voice was instead morose and subdued. “Tayla, I’ve been trying to get a moment alone with you all day. I heard the good news about Alnur, how was he when you spoke to him?” She asked. Between her swollen eyes and raspy voice it was obvious she was wracked with worry.

  Tayla wanted to respond with some jab or snarky comment, but the haunted look in Lillian’s eyes was breaking her heart. Averting her eyes she replied. “He’s in rough shape, he tried to downplay it but I can tell he isn’t out of the woods yet.”

  “Leave it to Alnur to try and not worry people when he almost died.” Lillian said with a weak smile. “Did. Did he ask about me?” She muttered softly.

  “Of course.” Tayla wanted to say more, but the words wouldn’t come. As the brief pause stretched on it became harder and harder to say anything at all.

  Lillian fidgeted. It was an odd sight, considering her usual bombastic nature. “Look. About me not joining him-”

  Tayla held a hand up. “Not now. I still can’t overlook what you did, and frankly, I don’t have it in me to listen to whatever excuse you can pull out of your ass.” A pain welled in her chest as she spoke, a part of her mind was screaming for her to stop and apologize. Instead she doubled down on the hurt. “I have more important things right now than listening to this drivel.” Tayla pushed past Lillian, her face frozen with pain and guilt. Opening the door Tayla walked into her room briskly, letting the door close without another word.

  The pain in Tayla’s chest was torturous, she let out a silent scream as she grabbed her chest with one hand and a fistful of her hair with the other. Why can’t I let this go? What have I done? Her stomach churned as she fought the bile down.

  Turning around quickly, Tayla opened the door to try and save face. The door slid open to reveal the now empty corridor. With a sigh she closed the door and made her way into her room. She removed her formal uniform and threw it to the ground, throwing herself into bed in the hopes that sleep would stop the stabbing in her heart.

  The dreaming world embraced Tayla quickly, the long day catching up to her finally. She found herself on a small rowboat in the middle of the ocean. Above her was a night sky filled with thousands of pulsating stars, vibrant galaxies of swirling purples and reds cast their glow down on her. The ocean was completely still, the black surface stretched as far as Tayla could see. Strangely the water stubbornly refused to reflect the dancing colors above.

  Tayla reached a hand towards the water only to find that it wasn’t water at all, it was glass. As she held her hand against the glass she saw something shift in the depths of the ocean beyond the glass. A tendril stretched out from the murky depths towards her, coming to a rest on the other side of the barrier opposite her hand. Tayla retracted her hand cautiously as she pulled back into the boat.

  Taking a moment to collect her thoughts, she looked up at the dazzling lights above. The sky was abuzz as the stars joined the dance of the spinning galaxies, a cosmic ballet whose light cascaded down in a storm of ultraviolet colors of every hue in all of creation. Captivated as she was, Tayla couldn’t help but notice one of the stars fade for a moment before falling towards the glass ocean at a slow descent.

  The lazy star was gaining speed ever so gently, faster and faster it grew until it was a white hot streak hurtling towards the surface at a frightening pace. The star smashed into the glass ocean near the horizon, a shockwave of creaks and snaps rippled across the ocean as the water’s barrier groaned in protest. Tayla looked up and felt her blood grow cold at the sight of thousands of stars falling to the surface, the once beautiful cosmos was now an angry storm. The colors in the sky were shifting, soon it appeared like an infected wound as streaks of pus and blood poured down from above.

  The world shook violently as the starfall struck again and again. Tayla let out a cry as she threw herself to the side, capsizing the small wooden rowboat so it covered her. She laid against the cold glass in the darkness below the cover of the boat. The cacophony from outside was overwhelming, she held her hands to her ears to try and stifle the screams of the falling stars. A terrible heat started to radiate from the wooden planks of the boat.

  Opening her eyes briefly Tayla saw the tendrils beneath the glass pressing themselves against the invisible barrier that separated them. She tried calling out for help but her voice was nothing in the face of the death cries of her planet. Deep in the recesses of her mind a new sound started to grow in volume, it started as a droning buzz, but soon grew into a melodic humming. The hum quickly swelled into a choir, a single voice with a thousand mouths singing in harmony.

  Tayla stared in wonder as the crashing of the stars were finally drowned out by the angelic voice. She added her own voice to the choir under her breath. As she did the glass ceased to exist for a fraction of a second as she fell into the waiting depths below. The screams of the stars, and the terrible heat of the burning world disappeared, replaced by the inviting caress of the ocean.

  The tendrils hovered closer to Tayla, tapping her and pulling away quickly. Whatever this was, it was curious. She reached out and gently grabbed one of the tendrils, now that she was closer she recognized the tendrils, they looked just like kelp. The creature shook for a moment before pulling her by the hand into the darkness below. For what felt like a small eternity Tayla was led into the pitch black depths, hoping she wasn’t about to become something’s late night snack.

  The kelp tendril came to a stop. Tayla strained her eyes to try and see anything around her, but she failed. A glimmer of light drew her attention, as beneath her a forest of bioluminescent coral came to life. The forest was roughly a thousand feet in diameter in a domed circular shape. Tens of thousands of kelp tendrils floated on unseen currents amongst the coral. The forest was teeming with life, from scores of fish swimming between the branches, to the countless crustaceans that made their homes in the nooks and crannies.

  Tayla was awestruck by the wondrous sight. Looking around she couldn’t help but marvel at the lights dancing across the forest's surface as glowing jellyfish and plankton floated gently by. Her eyes came to rest on a white pillar in the center of the forest, the pillar stood roughly twenty feet in height and around five feet thick. Tayla quickly made her way to the pillar, finding the bleached surface to be covered in runes and glyphs and mathematical formulas that she couldn’t understand.

  There were also pictographs, showing a ring of people surrounding a shelled creature with long trailing tendrils from its lower half, the people were placed with their heads towards the creature, odd lines pointing inwards towards the beast.

  The next picture showed the domed creature pulling a small boat through an ocean of starlight. The final picture was of the domed creature curled into a ball, the people bowing their heads to the beast in respect.

  Tayla reached out a hand to touch the pillar, but as her dead hand was about to rest on the stone, she felt herself violently ripped away. The tendrils of kelp wrapped around her dangling limbs to try and pull her back as she was violently dragged through the water. The tendrils snapped taught as they reached their limit, desperately trying to keep her from leaving. There was a gut wrenching popping sound as Tayla’s limbs were ripped out of their sockets, muscles frayed apart as the skin stretched and tore away leaving nothing but ragged bloody shreds. Even as she tried to process the indescribable pain her body crashed into the glass barrier as her spine was shattered, the barrier exploded from the force. Through the burning atmosphere she was dragged upwards, her remaining skin blistering and burning to a crisp. Her lungs were scorched from within until they were naught but ash. The coldness of space washed over her, without her dermal layer she was subject to the horrors of the frozen hell as her eyes burst from the pressure. Still she was dragged further, until her frozen remains began to thaw rapidly, the heat growing to an unbearable inferno as the radiation cooked her innards into a viscous slop. The last thing she felt was her very soul being annihilated by the blinding light of the star she was cast into.

  Bolting upright in her bed, Tayla looked around in a panic. She was hyperventilating, her heart pounding wildly in her chest on the verge of a heart attack, her skin was slick with sweat as it felt both cold as ice and boiling hot at the same time. Curling into a ball she tried to steady her breath.

  A familiar skull floated into view. “Let me guess, all that talk about eldritch horrors gave you a nightmare? Oops, my bad.” Dee said with a chuckle.

  Tayla turned to face the floating asshole, stopping as her eyes fell on the open door of her bedroom. “Dee, did someone open my door?” She did her best to sound calm despite her racing mind.

  Dee spun around to look at the open door. “Hm, that’s weird.”

  “Did you see anyone while I was asleep?” Tayla asked.

  “Kiddo, my senses are tied to your own. When you sleep our link is nothing but static on my end.”

  Tayla rolled out of bed, her legs were weak and shaking as she walked towards the door. Stopping to reach down and grab one of her revolvers from her holster on the floor, silently chastising herself for not putting away her firearms before falling asleep. Poking her head into the corridor Tayla saw nothing of note, just the empty halls of the Keel. Stepping out into the hall she sighed. Perhaps the door’s controls were malfunctioning again. Tayla turned to enter her room again, pausing as she saw something out of place. There on the side of the door frame were four long gouges in the metal, placing her hand on the gouges she felt a tinge of panic. The marks matched the spacing of the fingers on a hand, but to leave such deep cuts in steel would have taken incredible strength.

  A bead of sweat ran down Tayla’s back as she looked down the silent corridors. Was that shadow out of the corner of her eye shifting slightly? Calmly, she entered the room and closed the door. This time she opened the locking valve compartment beside the door and turned it manually, giant rods of reinforced steel slammed into the door on all sides. Without a plasma torch nothing would be getting through that door again any time soon.

  Sitting on the bed with her back against the far wall Tayla stared at the door, waiting to see if anything was going to try and pay her a visit again. She placed her revolver beside her, just in case.

  Eventually Tayla fell back into a fitful and restless sleep, so deep did she slumber that she couldn’t hear the gentle rapping of claws against her door.