Dawn of the Aspects: Part II by Richard A. Knaak Page A

what it could be, but Malygos at last identified it with something from his own experience. Images flashed through Kalec’s mind, images of his host regurgitating bits of bone or other inedible parts of various prey.
    Somewhere, Kalec understood with growing sickness, Galakrond was doing something akin to that, only what he was disgorging was not the remnants of any buffalo or fish—
    Kalec’s world suddenly swam again. His consciousness was torn from Malygos. Visions of Galakrond feasting ran through Kalec’s thoughts, and then the accursed darkness overtook the blue.
    Yet, once more, a familiar voice called him from that darkness. Kalec . . . Kalec?
    Why Jaina called him this time, the dragon did not know, but with what sense he already had, Kalec blocked his thoughts from her notice. Even as he did that, he felt the world around him return. A harsh wind struck his face. Kalec instinctively shifted position and discovered himself slipping.
    At last able to open his eyes, the blue watched a rocky ridge slide up over him. Kalec realized that he was falling. With one paw, he dug his claws into the dirt and stone, managing to slow his descent but not to stop it. Kalec tried to use his other paw, but it remained tightly shut despite his desperate need.
    He toppled backward, finding out then that it was not a ridge from which he had slipped but a mountain. Kalec sought to right himself, only to have one wing clip the mountainside and send him tumbling faster. Below the blue, jagged rocks that reminded him too much of Galakrond’s teeth shot toward him.
    Managing to focus, Kalec cast a spell. His wild descent slowed nearly to a halt. It was a very short-term solution, but he hoped that he would not need more than a few moments. Catching his breath, the blue dragon rolled onto his stomach. Already feeling the hastily cast spell dissipating, Kalec flapped hard. As he regained flight, his spell faded away.
    The blue dragon alighted on another mountain. There was no continued call from Jaina. He hoped that she had given up. Either way, Kalec had only one interest now, and that was the foul thing still gripped in his paw. The now-complete artifact seemed to taunt him with its persistent glow.
    There was, naturally, no point in throwing it away. It would somehow return to plague him. He also doubted the wisdom of attempting to destroy it again. Kalec let the wind clear his head as he struggled to decide what to do next. If not for Jaina’s voice, the blue would not have even been certain that he was in his own time and in his own body. It was becoming harder to separate reality from vision.
    After several fruitless minutes of ruminating, Kalec launched himself toward the Nexus. Each moment of flight was nerve-wracking, with the blue expecting to be pulled back into the visions at the worst possible opportunity. When he had to fly over water, Kalec paid special attention to his protective spells.
    But to his relief and astonishment, the artifact permitted him to reach the Nexus unhindered. Kalec decided to try to focus on something other than the object of his nightmares. The Nexus’s collection had to be organized, even if he had initially made the suggestion as an excuse, not because he’d had any true desire to take on the task.
    But he realized that before he could begin on the collection, he had to work on strengthening the wards. There was no chance that they would remain strong enough to protect the Nexus and its contents for very much longer unless he attended to them now.
    He changed to his humanoid form, at the moment feeling oddly more comfortable in it than in his true one. Kalec summoned a simple marble stand with a fluted column and cautiously set the artifact atop the waist-high platform, then turned his attention to the wards. Shutting his eyes, he concentrated. Even with his eyes closed, the blue dragon could see the world around him, but it was a world crisscrossed with a variety