The Last Silver

The stars vanished.

Dinraal hit the ground hard enough to crack it.

He rolled twice.

Then stopped.

For several seconds—

No one spoke.

Claire was the first.

"Are we alive?"

Johanna groaned somewhere to Dinraal's left.

"That depends entirely on your definition."

Dinraal pushed himself upright.

Isolde was already beside him.

"Din?"

"I'm fine."

She looked at the crater beneath him.

"You landed on your face."

"I'm still fine."

Gilgamesh appeared through the darkness.

"Technically, he has a point."

Dinraal glared at him.

The ancient king raised both hands.

"I said technically."

Then the darkness moved.

Everyone stopped.

Dinraal slowly looked around.

There was no sky.

No ground.

Not really.

They stood upon a narrow road made from something that looked like silver glass. It stretched in both directions until it disappeared into darkness.

Above them—

Nothing.

Below them—

Nothing.

To either side—

Nothing.

Claire stared.

"I hate this."

Johanna nodded immediately.

"Strongly agree."

Julius Caesar stepped toward the edge of the road.

Cleopatra grabbed the back of his clothing.

"Don't."

Julius looked over his shoulder.

"I was merely looking."

"You were about to fall into the endless void."

"I have survived worse."

Cleopatra stared at him.

Julius thought about it.

Then slowly stepped away from the edge.

"Perhaps."

Asha stood at the front of the group.

Her expression had changed.

The ancient woman had been calm since leaving the dying world behind.

Now—

She looked afraid.

Dinraal noticed immediately.

"Asha."

She did not answer.

"Asha."

Her eyes moved toward him.

"What is this place?"

The ancient mother looked down the road.

"The road between."

Gilgamesh went silent.

Dinraal noticed.

"What?"

The ancient king slowly turned toward Asha.

"You brought us here?"

Asha looked at him.

"I opened the door."

"That isn't what I asked."

Silence.

Asha turned back toward the darkness.

"This place already existed."

Dinraal felt the silver beneath his skin move.

"What is it?"

Asha was quiet for a long moment.

Then—

"A place for those who have nowhere else to go."

Claire looked around.

"That is somehow not comforting."

"No," Asha agreed. "It is not."

The First Weapon suddenly barked.

Everyone looked downward.

The creature—

Which had once been large enough to destroy buildings—

Was currently the size of a corgi.

It stood beside Dinraal's leg.

Its little silver eyes stared into the darkness.

Dinraal looked at it.

The First Weapon looked back.

Then sneezed.

A tiny burst of silver fire emerged from its nose.

Johanna jumped backward.

"Oh, come on!"

Claire covered her mouth.

"Did it just sneeze fire?"

"Yes."

Dinraal stared at the creature.

The First Weapon wagged its tail.

Gilgamesh looked deeply offended.

"We are discussing an ancient dimensional pathway created before recorded history."

The First Weapon barked.

Gilgamesh pointed at it.

"And that thing is apparently a dog now."

The creature barked again.

Julius looked at Cleopatra.

"I like it."

Cleopatra sighed.

"Of course you do."

Dinraal crouched beside the First Weapon.

"Do you know where we're going?"

The little creature tilted its head.

Then—

It began walking.

Straight down the silver road.

Everyone watched it.

Claire blinked.

"That's our plan?"

Dinraal stood.

"It appears so."

Johanna folded her arms.

"Follow the tiny apocalypse dog into the infinite void."

The First Weapon barked proudly.

Johanna stared.

"I did not mean that as a compliment."

It barked again.

Isolde smiled.

"Too late."

Dinraal looked down the road.

Somewhere ahead—

His mother was waiting.

Alive.

He still struggled to believe it.

Tiamat.

His mother.

The woman he had mourned.

The woman whose voice he had heard only through memories.

The woman who had carried him for twenty-four months.

The woman who had given him everything she had left—

And then disappeared.

Dinraal closed his eyes.

For years—

He had wanted revenge.

Then answers.

Now—

He wanted something much simpler.

He wanted to see her.

"Let's go."

The group began walking.

They had been traveling for what felt like hours when the road changed.

Dinraal noticed first.

The silver beneath his feet had begun to darken.

Isolde tightened her grip on his hand.

"Do you feel that?"

He nodded.

The air—

Or whatever existed in this place instead of air—

Had become heavy.

Asha stopped.

The entire group followed.

Gilgamesh looked ahead.

"No."

Dinraal turned.

"What?"

The ancient king's face had become pale.

That frightened Dinraal more than the darkness.

Ahead—

Something stood in the middle of the road.

A door.

Nothing more.

A simple wooden door.

Claire stared.

"That doesn't belong here."

Johanna looked around.

"Neither do we."

The door slowly opened.

Darkness waited beyond it.

Then a voice spoke.

Not from inside.

Not from outside.

From everywhere.

ONE MAY PASS.

Dinraal stopped.

Isolde stepped closer to him.

Julius drew his sword.

Cleopatra immediately pushed the blade back into its sheath.

Julius looked at her.

"What?"

"You cannot stab a door."

"I wasn't going to stab the door."

The voice spoke again.

ONE MAY PASS.

Gilgamesh stepped forward.

"No."

Dinraal looked at him.

"You know this?"

Gilgamesh did not answer.

Asha did.

"It is the First Trial."

Claire stared at her.

"Trial?"

Asha nodded.

"There are places that do not allow the powerful to simply enter."

Dinraal looked at the door.

"What does it want?"

Asha's expression darkened.

"That depends on what you are unwilling to lose."

The silence that followed was absolute.

Then—

The door opened wider.

Inside—

Dinraal saw Tiamat.

His breath stopped.

She stood in darkness.

Alive.

Her silver hair fell around her shoulders.

She looked older than the memories.

Tired.

But alive.

"Dinraal."

He moved.

Isolde grabbed his arm.

"Wait."

Dinraal looked at her.

"That's my mother."

"I know."

"She needs me."

"I know."

"Then let go."

Isolde did not.

Dinraal's expression hardened.

For one terrible moment—

They stared at one another.

Then Isolde whispered—

"Look at her eyes."

Dinraal froze.

Tiamat's eyes were wrong.

Not silver.

Not gold.

Empty.

The door spoke.

ONE MAY PASS.

Gilgamesh stepped forward.

"I will."

Dinraal turned.

"No."

The ancient king looked at him.

"You cannot take every burden yourself."

Dinraal clenched his fists.

"Gilgamesh."

"I have lived longer than everyone here."

"That doesn't make your life worth less."

Gilgamesh smiled faintly.

"That is almost exactly what Enkidu used to say."

Dinraal stopped.

Gilgamesh looked toward the door.

Then at him.

"Do you know what the cruelest part of immortality is?"

No one answered.

"You eventually begin believing that losing people is simply the price of continuing."

His expression changed.

"And one day, you wake up and realize you have survived so many funerals that you no longer know how to mourn properly."

Dinraal looked down.

Gilgamesh stepped toward the door.

Dinraal caught his arm.

The ancient king looked back.

"I'm not letting you go."

Gilgamesh stared at him.

Dinraal's voice shook.

"I've lost enough fathers."

The words hit harder than Dinraal intended.

Gilgamesh went still.

Julius looked away.

Cleopatra's expression softened.

Asha closed her eyes.

Gilgamesh looked at Dinraal for a long moment.

Then—

He smiled.

"That's unfair."

Dinraal swallowed.

"I learned from the best."

Gilgamesh laughed once.

Then the door spoke.

YOU CANNOT TAKE HIM.

Dinraal's blood went cold.

The darkness behind the door changed.

Tiamat vanished.

Aurelius appeared.

Dinraal stopped breathing.

Aurelius stood on the other side.

Bloody.

Alone.

"Caelum."

Dinraal stepped forward.

Isolde's grip tightened.

The door spoke.

ONE MAY PASS.

Dinraal understood.

The trial was not asking who would enter.

It was asking—

Who he was willing to leave behind.

"No."

The word came from Dinraal.

The darkness shifted.

Aurelius disappeared.

Tiamat returned.

Dinraal's heart broke.

The voice spoke again.

ONE MAY PASS.

"No."

The door trembled.

CHOOSE.

"No."

Silver light began burning beneath Dinraal's skin.

The darkness around the road moved.

CHOOSE.

Dinraal stepped toward the door.

Not through it.

Toward it.

"Why?"

The voice went silent.

Dinraal stared into the darkness.

"Why does someone have to be left behind?"

No answer.

Dinraal's silver horns brightened.

"Why is that always the question?"

The darkness trembled.

THE ROAD DEMANDS A PRICE.

Dinraal laughed.

There was no humor in it.

"Then it can ask someone else."

The First Weapon barked.

Everyone turned.

The little creature walked toward the door.

Dinraal frowned.

"No."

The First Weapon stopped.

It looked at him.

Then touched the door with its nose.

The entire road exploded with silver light.

Dinraal covered his eyes.

The voice screamed.

Not in pain.

In rage.

FIRST WEAPON.

The creature's little tail wagged.

The door cracked.

Gilgamesh stared.

"Oh."

Julius looked at him.

"What?"

Gilgamesh slowly smiled.

"Oh, that is magnificent."

The First Weapon barked again.

The door shattered.

There was silence.

Then Johanna looked at the tiny creature.

"Did the corgi destroy an ancient cosmic trial?"

The First Weapon sat down.

Claire laughed.

She tried to stop.

Failed.

Julius began laughing.

Cleopatra covered her face.

Gilgamesh pointed at the creature.

"I have been alive for thousands of years."

He looked deeply offended.

"And I have never been outsmarted by a corgi."

The First Weapon barked.

Dinraal crouched.

He scratched the creature behind its ears.

"I am never calling you a dog again."

The creature immediately rolled onto its back.

Dinraal stared.

Isolde smiled.

"Liar."

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