Mistress of Urazar: The Time of Troubles

      The stone floor of the hall trembled underfoot. Crumbs and tiny fragments rained down from the Citadel's ceiling. A wooden beam from the framework crashed down directly onto the castle's Master and his heiress.       The man only glanced briefly at the falling structure. The beam struck an energy barrier and veered aside.       — Father, come with me! — Nathan shouted as a swirling, multicolored vortex of a portal opened behind her.       The Master staggered from a wave of weakness but quickly shook it off, stepping back when Nathan tried to support him.       — Go! — he commanded, piercing his daughter with an unyielding gaze from his dark-green eyes.       His frailty vanished. The Master was once again composed and firm, standing with legs wide and shoulders squared. As if he hadn't just battled for hours against a horde of undead and demons that had suddenly attacked his domain. As if he hadn't just opened a mighty passage through space and time.       Several particularly sharp fragments fell from the high ceiling, slashing Nathan's shoulder to the blood. She clenched her jaws tighter, moved her wounded shoulder to better grip her shoulder bag, and tried to distance herself from the fatigue, pain, and weakness in her body.       — No, I won't leave you, — Nathan growled, grabbing the Master by the hand.       She barely heard her own voice over the thunderous collapse of the Citadel's walls. The walls of her home.       The monolithic stone slabs of the floor came alive, frothing like a sea in a storm. Nathan and the Master were jolted hard. The Mistress, not letting go of her father's hand, sent a mental command to the ground beneath them to still, and the stone smoothed out again in a small area under their feet. Even this minor act of will made her head spin, and her vision darkened momentarily. She blinked, trying to dispel the black spots on the inside of her eyelids.       The Master's firm hand gripped her shoulder. With his other, he easily freed himself from her grasp and lifted his daughter's chin. Nathan looked into his bottomless green eyes, pulsating with power.       — I can't carry us both.       At this phrase, spoken in such a calm voice, Nathan's soul turned inside out, and she clenched her jaws in pain, barely holding back hot tears.       — Then I will go alone... — she muttered hoarsely.       — No. You've spent all your strength moving the others. Another attempt will simply kill you."       — Then I'll stay, — Nathan concluded more firmly, glancing at the archway leading from the spacious hall to the staircase. — I'll stay and fight!       The dark corridor emanated cold and death. Any minute now, the enemy's army would burst into the hall, their relentless approach palpable. The scent of decay and death grew stronger with each passing moment.       — I'm needed here. You won't be able to handle the entire horde and the traitor!       — You're needed there, — her father disagreed, gesturing behind her toward the portal, glowing with a dim, shimmering light.       Now it was the only source of light: the high chandeliers and magical lamps had dimmed when the traitor, one of the father's brothers, allowed the undead and demons to pass through the protective barrier into the Citadel's territory.       — You must find your brothers and sisters and set things right.       — You promised to protect Themien, — the Master reminded.       His voice was barely audible. But Nathan heard it. And she shivered through her entire body.       The tear-stained face of her younger brother Themien appeared before her eyes, as she had asked him to pass through the portal with one of her elder sisters. He hadn't even recovered from the shock of their mother's death when he was once again separated from his family. Nathan felt once more the warmth of Themien's hot embrace, heard his sobs and her own promises to find him at the ends of the earth.       She staggered, momentarily losing concentration, and the floor beneath her feet came alive again. The monolithic stone of millennia past cracked and fissured like fragile glass.       — It's time, there's no more time, — her father said decisively and stepped back, removing his hand from her shoulder.       Immediately, it felt cold, a gripping terror rising inside her, as if only her father's touch had been protecting her from the harsh reality all this time.       The Master grabbed his sword, unfastened the clasp of his scabbard, and secured it to Nathan's belt. The family relic, passed down from generation to generation to the new Master at the coronation, settled comfortably on her hip.       — Nathan Dark, the third of your name, — the Master declared solemnly, his voice rising above the surrounding din, and he unexpectedly smiled. His dark-green eyes brightened as if a ray of summer sun had suddenly pierced through dense tree canopies. — Your grandmother always said you'd be the strongest of our line, and I never argued with her.       Her father smiled for another moment, then became serious. His green eyes pierced Nathan, and she froze, afraid even to breathe. Her heart skipped a beat, then began to pound with doubled force.       She had seen how people, gifted or not, noble and common laborers alike, froze under that gaze. No one dared to contradict the Master when he looked that way.       The Master's firm hand clasped her shoulder. Then, freeing his other hand from her grip, he suddenly pulled her close. Nathan sobbed, finding herself in his embrace.       For a moment, she felt safe again, warm and comfortable. Like in her childhood, when she would climb onto her father's lap as he concentrated on documents, signing and writing decrees. He never stopped working, but Nathan could feel his smile. Or when he lifted her onto his shoulders, and they walked out into the city to the surprised looks of people, as she laughed and tried to reach for the sun. Or when he first let her ride with him on a dragon. She shrieked with delight, non-stop, while her father laughed and steered the beast into a sharp dive.       Nathan closed her eyes, feeling hot tears streak down her cheeks. Her father abruptly pulled away and, not letting Nathan recover, pushed her towards the portal's oval.       Her heart seemed to stop for several long moments. Everything around froze, as if time itself had halted.       Nathan caught a glimpse of a black shadow darting towards the staircase. Her father's Incarnation, a huge black wolf as tall as her, blocked the path of the advancing army, determined to protect its master at all costs.       The first enemy appeared on the steps. The wolf let out a furious roar, audible even through the din of falling stones, and lunged at the foe. Her father cast a final glance at her and turned to face the danger.       Nathan realized in horror that he was unarmed. But the Master simply stepped over the rapidly widening cracks, stood firmly on a stable section of the floor, straightened up, and stretched out his arms. Tongues of black flame shot up his fingers and arms, soon enveloping his entire body.       Then the portal's oval closed before Nathan's eyes. She felt as if she had plunged into a river, but there was no water around. Only pure, primordial energy, shimmering with a soft golden light. She had never felt anything like it.       She seemed to be everywhere and nowhere at once. There was no longer a body. No arms, no legs, nothing. Not even eyes. Beneath her was nothing but light. And she herself was nothing but this light.       There was no sense of time. As if time itself did not yet exist in this world. How many hours, months, years had passed? There was no up or down either. The space around was like a single whole, without beginning or end.       Is this how the First Ones feel? And the Great Mother?       No sooner had the question formed in Nathan's mind than she felt a movement behind her, as if someone had slashed her back with a knife. There was no pain, nor any other sensation, just movement. An inexorable command.       The oval of the portal once again sliced through the fabric of the world. It shone at the edges with shimmering, rainbow light.       Nathan's dispersed particles suddenly coalesced. With nothing beneath her, she plummeted downwards, into the glowing light of the portal.