ZSI (The Langsyne Chronicles Book 6)

Drac was recovering from the injuries inflicted upon him by Xemolys, he was working on his teleportation grid, happy that soon he'd be able to get back to the ancient fortress. Pimpie, the small Dwykkyn who has been sent to help him, although sometimes his help, his magic, seems to be more of a problem than a solution, wasn't happy at all. He had no desire to go where the ancient, evil gods of Drakheya had lived--what if some of them were still there?

Someone has come to the desolate, high desert plateau, so close to Mount Ahnkrem which still rumbled and spewed out its ash and lava. Drac felt that someone was there before he actually saw her. "Achiba!" he called out and went, stumbling on his crutch towards her, a smile on his face.

Drac stopped, something wasn't right. All around him the sky was darkening to a deeper purple, the wind had picked up and was blowing black sand across the dark plain. Drac moved more slowly toward the girl that stood there so quietly waiting. "Achiba? What's wrong?"

The wind was howling madly now, the air thick with blowing sand. Drac stumbled, it was difficult for him to stand on his crutch, let alone move in the sudden storm. The hair on the back of his neck was suddenly stiffened, a cold tremor washed over him. He stood there, trying to see through the black whirlwind. Tempest was suddenly in his hand.

"You're not Achiba," he cried out. "Who are you? Why have you taken her form?" Drac stumbled back away from the figure. "Where is Achiba? What have you done with her?" He dropped his crutch and stood, trying to balance himself, ready to strike out with Tempest. "What are you?"

"Do you truly desire to know, Draconis Zsi? Are you sure?" The voice was cutting and cold, the hand that gripped his arm was like steel encircling it. The girl smiled at him, and it was Achiba's face, Achiba's smile.

Drac knew this was not the princess, yet he could not lift his sword against her, could not strike at that facel.

"I have come in the guise of the one you love most and you are not pleased?"
Derisive laughter rang out; the figure shimmered as if it were some cold alien substance; it began to change and to grow taller than Drac now, it stretched upwards into the whirling wind. Now it was three times his size. It bent over him,
the face slowly changing into something that was far from human.

She raised herself up before him and then lowered her face to within a few inches of Drac's own. 'You are a most persistent opponent. I can see now why Degalodan and Xemolys failed to stop you."

She took a step backward, away from him as he pulled his blaster from its holster ready to fire a temporal blast at her. "I however will not fail, Draconis Zsi." And with that she raised her right hand and launched a huge ice missile at him. It struck him full in the chest and sent him flying backward, over the edge of the abyss.

You-- and the universe will never be the same.