I steel my will, walking out of the hatchery. I’ll get vengeance.

The door groans and thunks shut behind me, the mantis guards standing back to attention.

The red clothed Thri-kreen motions for me to follow him, walking towards the main stairs to the surface.

I follow behind him, my mind spinning with what I had just did.

Her offer was tempting, but I can’t agree to being strung up and puppeted around.

We soon reach the stairs, and the guard’s antennae twitch, a low hissing sound coming from him. I follow him silently up the stairs, wondering what he is muttering.

My thoughts inevitably drift back to the Queen’s warning and threat. It said I was immune to mind affecting attacks, I think.

The way the Queen had seemed to imply my power worked is that as soon as I open a Mind Link, I am exposing myself to be attacked. Could Immutable Will work like a door? As soon as I open it for someone, they are welcome to enter and do whatever they want?

If it is true, I will have to be careful with forming Mind Links, while it was nice to be able to understand a creature, it wasn’t worth exposing myself for attack.

We reach the entrance to the pyramid, and I have to squint for a second. My eyes quickly adjust to the moonlight, the darkness no longer holding sway over night.

My eyes are immediately drawn to the far side of the grass fields. A dark shape rests itself on the top of the dunes that ring around the fields.

It is made of a light wood, two large canoe shaped wooden sides. A thick platform rests on top of the centerpiece of the ship and the canoes jutting out of it, providing a deck. Two triangular sails sticking out of the top of the ship, a rudder in back.

As I follow behind the red clothed and armored Thri-kreen guard, I can get a better look at the ship.

It’s hovering an inch above the sand.

The sides of the strange boat are covered in pale yellow glowing scripts, they run it’s length, lighting up the sand. They seem to be repulsing the sand, and levitating the ship in the air.

The brick road stops as we walk out of the field of dune grass, my padded cloth sandals sinking into the cool sand. I’ve never really felt sand, it feel weird.

It was kind of like water, but it irritates my skin a bit, and I don’t enjoy the dusty, gritty feeling of it. It could be worse though.

The guard stops at the foot of the dune, looking up it at the Sandship. I stop behind him, marveling at this strange thing.

A rope ladder is draped over it’s side, allowing access up onto it. A large head pokes itself over the edge, staring down at us.

Kamar’s grin glints in the moonlight, “How do you like it? This is a sandship, one of the best ways to travel the desert!”

I look curiously at the scripts. From here I can feel a cool breeze against my face, and a small cloud of dust has formed around the scripting. “It’s like the airship.”

The red guard thri-kreen motions for me to climb the ladder up the side of the ship.

Walking up to the ladder, my thin robes flap in the wind produced by the scripts. Gipping the rough hemp rope in my hands, I put my foot through a loop and start climbing.

It takes me a second to get use to climbing the rope ladder, which sways with my movement.

I throw my right forearm over the edge of the deck, hoisting myself onto it.

Standing up, I look over the side of the ship, to the red guard bellow. He crouches, his scale armor clinking quietly.

Then in an explosion of sand, he leaps.

His powerful jump sends him sailing over the edge of the deck, and he deftly lands on his feet with the scratch of wood.

Wow, they really can jump.

If I had to guess, that was a weak jump, probably if he put enough strength into it, he’d be able to leap higher.

I stare up at the thri-kreen, who towers over me. He looks down at me and chitters for a second, then turns around. He bends down and starts pulling up the rope ladder.

Turning away from the red guard, I scan the deck of the sandship. There are two other Thri-kreen, and Kamar’s hulking form sits near the center of the ship.

One of the thri-kreen doesn’t wear any armor from what I can see, and he has a large sash colored a pale yellow. His body is a sandy beige color, and he stands just a little under 7 feet.

My eyes are drawn to the other thri-kreen though, this one familiar. The elder.

The old thri-kreen hobble up to me, leaning on his gnarled staff. He clicks and hisses, his antennae twitching.

One of his hands reaches into the folds of his left sleeve, rooting around for a second, then pulling back out.

In his hand glints a pair of goggles, a thick leather band attached to it. Big round lenses and a circular band of copper around them, cloth rimming the edges so it doesn’t rub against skin. The glass shines darkly, and I am unable to see anything through them.

The elder holds them out in his four fingered hand, motioning to me with them.

Why do I need these?

I take them, curious. I inspect them closer in my hand, the moonlight glinting duly off the copper.

Looking up at the elder, I start to ask why he has given these to me, but he holds up a hand. I shut my mouth, letting the old thri-kreen take my hand.

He starts tracing symbols on my palm, and I whisper them under my breath, “Your eyes stand out, and they disturb the other Va’ura. These will hide you eyes, and protect against the sandstorms.”

He lets go of my hand, and I let it drop to my side. I look at the goggles in my hand, which have dark lenses. I can see two orbs reflected in the glass. My eyes.

Kamar had said they freaked him out, and from some normal peoples’ reactions, they found them disturbing too.

I glance at the elder, and he mimes putting the goggles on.

Sighing a little, I bring the strap around the back of my head and lower the goggles over my eyes. I adjust them so they fit snugly and comfortably.

I blink several times, my eyes adjusting to the slightly darker tones from the glasses. With my night vision, I am still easily able to see in the dark, despite the shaded goggles.

Looking at the elder, he nods and starts walking to the center of the deck.

The deck has the two masts in the center for the closed sails. There is small shaded, tent like area in the back, cloth over the top for blocking out the sun. A few crates are strapped to the deck, and there are other miscellaneous items with them.

I follow the elder mantis warrior, he leads me to the back, where the shaded part is set up.

Glancing at Kamar, I can see he is sleeping on a reed mattress. He has to stay in the center of the boat, or else he could tip the whole thing if he’s not careful.

The elder thri-kreen disappears into the folds of the tent, and I follow him. Inside is a area covered in reed mats and a crate of food supplies.

The elder sits at a low table, and uncaps a bottle of ink. He unrolls a leather roll, paintbrushes of varying sizes neatly pocketed inside it.

He motions for me to sit across from him.

Walking around the table, I sit across from the old mantis man.

He hisses and clacks, bringing up his arms and motioning for me to give him my hand.

I reach across the table and let him trace words in my palm, “You can take off the goggles. I want to draw your portrait.”

I pull the goggles of my head, setting them in my lap. I look at the elder thri-kreen, asking in confusion, “My portrait, why?”

He traces out what he wants to say on my palm. “For the Va’ura archives, and myself. There is something striking about you, and I want to try and paint it. Now, sit still.”

He lets go of my hand, picking up one of the brushes and showing surprising dexterity for having claw tipped fingers.

I sit still at his request, puzzled by this new event. Well, I guess in years time I can look back at the painting and see how much I’ve changed.

***

Cereus grumbled, looking out from the top of a mountain and at the giant slash in its side.

He fingered the silver bracelet on his wrist, letting it catch the light. He glares at the floating screen before him, muttering, “God darnit. 69 in total, all spaced out at random. What could have slipped through those breaches?”

Cereus swipe the screen away, glaring down at the black gash that sparked with lightning. “Only a few days left till they break through. Only half way down mustering my forces. I’ll have to supplement the remaining troops with some of the Bonded.”

There was something going on, he knew it.

It was just that he couldn’t figure out what it was, and the slowly creeping dread clawing its way up his spine was setting him on edge. There were shifting parts to this that he couldn’t see, and he didn’t like it.

It was too convenient, a Gith raid and then these interdimensional breaches. There seemed to be so much for him to do nowadays.

I have to deal with the Githyanki raid first. Then I can dispatch my agents to investigate the breaches.

Cereus swished a hand through his black hair, brushing strands from out of his face. His amber glowing eyes stared off into space absently, trying to plan out how he would disable the Githyanki’s ship.

After a time of staring out at the blue sky painted with white clouds, he snaps back to reality.

“I wonder how he’s doing?” Cereus flicks his wrist, a screen materializing in front of him.

He clicks through the menus, bringing up Kardin’s profile.

The swordsman’s brow furrows in confusion. “What is this?”

Designation: Exe.840K

Status: Deceased

Location: Rua Desert, Rhia Territory

Duration Since Integration: 281 Days

Bond Completion: Completed

Advanced Report? Y/N

“Dead?” Cereus says surprised. Though he can’t help think he shouldn’t be.

His odds of survival were abyssal, and him surviving to Ascension were even lower. I guess I had misplaced my hopes.

Cereus looks at the location tag. “Rua? How’d he get there so fast?”

The swordsman clicks Advanced Report Yes, and the screen dissipates. Another forms, this one longer and filled with lots of data.

“Lets see…” Cereus scrolls past the wall of information about 840K, stopping on a small map. It displays a small dot, which is traveling quickly across the map.

Cereus hums in confusion, thinking. “His Bond’s still active, and it’s moving.”

A thought strikes the Cereus, and he pulls up another screen up next to advanced profile.

“Right next to a Breach. Hmm…” He rubs his chin, trying to make sense of this. His eye wanders back to the map, and he can’t help but chuckle. Looks like 232B is there too.

Cereus can’t help but think a dragon would be immensely helpful in the coming fight.

He shakes his head, bringing his thoughts back to the present.

The bond should have been cut off and it’s completion should have said incompleted. Yet it says the Bonding process was completed before he died. Could the Gray katra have finally consumed him?

But then why is his marker moving? And it’s going relatively fast too. Cereus tried to dismiss it, there was always the chance someone killed the poor boy and cut off his arm for the bond. It’s right next to a breach, though.

Cereus sighs, deciding it would be best to have this investigated. Maybe it’ll uncover if there is anything else going on.

He swipes, dissipating the floating screens. The cold wind whips at his air and face, but he can’t be bothered to notice, his mind too filled with concern for what is happening.

Cereus pulls up another screen, navigating the icons to the phone. He types in the number he wants and starts the call.

“Hello, Venel. Are you still with your parents?” Cereus listens to the other side, nodding slowly. A smile curls itself onto his lips, “Alright, I have a mission for you and your parents to go on. I need a strange occurrence investigated. Then I’m going to need you to convince someone to help me.”