One of those lights had been failing. The same light always failed eventually, the same light always dimmed, each time sooner than the last. Maintaining the chains around a prisoner—one removed from the universe itself—was a strain capable of dimming the very stars in the sky. It couldn’t be maintained forever, but that light hadn’t yet failed. That one weak link wouldn’t have failed for another fifty or so years, if it had followed the pattern.

But we’ll never know.

Far to the north, a young man wielding Urthaenriel smashed what he thought was a Cornerstone. But since he had been deceived, what he destroyed instead was an ancient mechanism. A device whose sole purpose had been to feed a single stream of light to a site thousands of miles away, to the center of Kharas Gulgoth.

And so, a stream of light that should have lasted at least a few more decades flickered, dimmed, and finally died.

Eight chains became seven.

The number could not hold.

As a distant earthquake rumbled through the land, waking morgage from their beds, the system broke down. A single link in a corrupted god’s chains snapped.

Vol Karoth opened his eyes.

APPENDIX 1:
DRAGONS

Aeyan’arric—female—glacially white dragon but does not look like she’d been made from ice. Last seen in Jorat, current whereabouts unknown, but likely Yor.

Baelosh—male—a dragon made from vines and plant material or covered with vines and plant material.

Drehemia—female—described as shadowy, possibly made from shadows, and impossible to view directly. Current whereabouts unknown but has never been seen inside Quur.

Gorokai—female—a chimeric, constantly shape-changing dragon.

Morios—male—metal dragon made entirely from blades, swords, and other weapons. Vague stories about Morios survive from confiscated dreth accounts from Raenena. The creature was previously believed to be fictional. Last seen at Atrine. Cannot be harmed in direct combat.

Rol’amar—male—described as a skeletal-looking dragon whose bones continually break and heal. Believed impossible to kill by any known means. Last seen in the Korthaen Blight.

Sharanakal—male—described as an active volcano shaped like a dragon. Last seen in the island chains between Xherias and the Manol, an area known as the Desolation.

Xaloma—female—bioluminescent ghostly dragon who can move between the Veils of the Twin Worlds at will.

APPENDIX 2:
GLOSSARY

A

Aeyan’arric (EYE-ann-AR-ik)—a dragon.

Afterlife, the—a dark mirror of the living world; souls go to the Afterlife after death, hopefully to move on to the Land of Peace.

Agari (ag-AR-eye)—Marakori clan.

Agolé (ah-GOAL-aye)—a versatile scarf-like garment that can be worn in a number of ways.

Alvaros (AL-var-os)—a ward in Jorat.

Arasgon (AIR-as-gon)—a fireblood, Talaras’s brother.

Argas (AR-gas)—one of the Eight Immortals. Considered the god of invention and innovation.

Ash Flower—a Joratese farm horse.

Atrine (at-rin-EE)—capital of the dominion of Jorat, originally built by Emperor Atrin Kandor.