We sailed through to morning, with no way of turning back. There was no sailing route from the river to my Dungeon, nowhere the ship could go but on- she was destined to travel far away from me, and who knows if she’d ever return, my lovely Serpentine.

For now she rested in a shaded grove that grew around the edge of a small lake, moored to the muddy shore. The unicorn, Cabochon, the remaining spiders all climbed down from her deck, the shackled beast needing to be carried by the Arachne due to its bindings.

They made a shrine of wildflowers, and Cabochon did the honors. “O’ gods. Great ones. Distant dreamers. We offer you this.”

It was a simple prayer, but he said it well, bowing deeply as he retreated and left the unicorn standing in a ring of flowers. The beast snorted, kicking its hooves uncertainly. It had no idea what to expect now, only that this was a better fate than being left in Immer’s clutches to be auctioned off.

I hoped for the best, and expected the worst from the selfish gods above.

There was a faint chiming of a bell, and the Messenger stepped into the circle, a diadem of hazy stars in her hair and a dress of white roses slung around her shoulder.

“My. A unicorn.” She clapped her hands together with delight, circling the beast as it snorted and cantered in confusion. “A bit shabby, but I’m sure time in your Dungeon will brighten up that mangy coat.”

“Soooo…” A snap of her fingers, and the chains fell away. “Let’s go meet Her shall we?”

A door stood before us. Golden tracery outlined the frame with flowers and vipers. Compelled, unable to do anything but follow, first Cabochon and then the unicorn followed her through, and I found myself pulled along as well, unable to cast my senses anywhere but through Cabochon’s eyes in that moment.

Gods.

The moment we stepped through, I recognized we were in the strange Void-realm where Contracts and and the spinning of the Great Wheel took place. More than that, we were in a vast chapel.

The floor was black dirt, with countless flowers sprouting up in mosiac patterns of bright color, beautiful to behold. Pillars rose and sparkled with gems, rubies and sapphires making up the eyes of wonderfully carved statues that seemed to burst from the stone columns full of life, their forms full of grace, balanced, appealing to the eyes.

The ceiling, the ceiling was painted with blue skies and divine beings, the glory of the sun shining through the clouds and haloing them in gold.

So She had good taste, at least.

At the center of the church was a choir of statues, carved from purest gold. They were saints, devils, beautiful maidens, handsome princes, every imaginable form of beauty on display, all of them standing with heads tilted up, mouths open-

They were the pipes of a tremendous organ, I realized, as the first note played. What they stood on was not the pedestal but the instrument’s base, ivory keys, thousands of them, extending in a broad semi-circle. An invisible hand pressed them down, and the music poured from the statues’ mouths.

It was beautiful, yes, but somehow macabre.

What I truly didn’t expect was, as Cabochon approached, for the chorus to begin to speak.

“We have watched you, little one…

“We have praised your creations…

“We have judged your misdeeds…

“In the balance, we have found your worthy of our presence.”

I was stunned, trying not to think the deadly thought; this was a god? A gaudy automaton? Beautiful, yes, but unsettling and unnatural.

I was very glad I’d taken at least a small amount of precaution to shield my mind. Cabochon spoke for me, my voice in this strange and hollow temple. “I hope our gift meets your approval. We wish for our friend, our guardian, Aurum, to be healed.”

“Do you understand what a gift is?

“The gods are not to be bought.”

Cabochon rushed to answer, before I could speak my mind through him. Which was probably for the best considering what I had to say to this stuck-up, cheap- “On behalf of my maker, I offer our gifts freely and plead your boon humbly. I have heard often of your generosity.”

I was betrayed. He had never been so subservient when talking to me. Utterly shameless!

“You have a pleasing voice, little spider....

“We have rarely cared much for spiders…

“But you spin a beautiful web when you talk…

“Listen well.”

One of the statues waved a gilded hand and the chapel faded away, leaving us along with her voice and the dark void. One by one, the stars lit up, and glowing threads connected them. The whole world swelled with light.

And then a shadow came.

“Once, this was the Empire of Elves. They bridged the dark distance between the worlds with bridges of light, their Webway, and made the whole of the Known shine brighter…

“But a black beast arrived from the far reaches…

“It slew the dragons, drove the giants to exile, and tore down the empire in all its beauty…

“In the end, the elves made a final decision. They lured into the beast into the Webway and shattered it, forever separating the worlds. The beast was caught in-between and broken into pieces…

“Where its blood touched the earth, it crystallized into Dungeon Cores. Where scraps of flesh landed, they became Primordial Beasts…

“These are the dark powers…

“We tell you this so you will understand our relationship. We do not oppose your existence, we will tolerate you, but we must always remember where you came from, and guard the world from the resurgence of another beast. In perspective, we believe we are quite kind to your ilk.”

“Why?” Cabochon asked, at my urging. “If my Maker is a threat, why have you let him live? How does he serve your purpose?”

“Many things were lost when the beast devoured entire worlds...

“But much of what was lost has been regained, created anew by the Dungeons…

“If we are to restore the world, we need that power…

“So it is.”

The sky they had shown us began to fade, its stars scattered to dust, the web between the worlds broken. It faded away, and we were returned to the edge of the lake and the ring of wildflowers where all this had begun. Something glimmered in Cabochon’s hands - a single bud of pink, holding within its cup of immature petals a shining drop of light.

“Take good care of our unicorn for us…

“Build us a shrine…

“We shall watch over you.”

All in all, I felt a strange sensation. Almost as if this had gone well. Daylight streamed over us, the unicorn trotted about with a sudden vigor, and Cabochon was dreaming his strange daydreams, shocked by his encounter with the divine.

There was the small matter of getting us back to the city- the route we had taken out was now a kicked hornet’s nest full of angry pirates, and the other routes were less clandestine. Cabochon and a unicorn were not exactly easy sights to overlook.

What I needed was a route in and out of the city that could be kept secret. I already had Vaulder’s shop, which was good enough for my rats and for human accomplices. Now I needed secret passageway for the obviously unusual creations in my realm.

But today had been a stunning success. My nacre-spiders had caught many of the fools fleeing the markets, and bound them up tight. I’d have to send Cabochon to collect the left-behind trinkets and baubles the victims had been carrying. No doubt I’d raked in a haul, and there was even a chance, however distant, that I’d ended up collecting that sphinxbone tea-set after all.

Rats were streaming into the Gardens, full of bravado and clutching prizes. I made Mana swirl into the air, a little fireworks show that settled down in a drift of motes, sinking into their bodies and strengthening them. A reward for services rendered.

But best of all, I had made a mark on the human world and dealt that brat Immer a humiliation he would never recover from. The market was in chaos.

The next stage of my plan was to step in where Immer had failed, and offer stability again.