"Thanks for visiting me," said Gugalan after Sai and Cuatete entered the wheelhouse. The minotaur had not moved from the last time Sai had visited, still leaning against the wall of the wheelhouse beside the gearwork. The metal plates of his armor glowed gently against the brown fur of his muscular form.

  "You're welcome," Sai replied. "Do you have time to talk?"

  "I have all the time in Serinor," replied Gugalan. "What did you want to talk about?"

  "How well do you know Syn's other monsters?" Sai asked.

  "I know them all," Gugalan said, sounding pleased for a change. "I am tasked with leading them when our Master orders us to act."

  Sai rubbed at his eyes. Anzu's gaze still lingered. "What can you tell me about Anzu?" he asked.

  Gugalan nodded. "The Abyssal Wind," he intoned. "A single gaze from it can be lethal to the weak."

  "Great," said Sai. "It's guarding somewhere I want to go. How can I get past it?"

  "Get stronger," said Gugalan.

  "Grrr…" said Cuatete.

  Sai frowned at the minotaur. "That's not helpful," he said.

  Gugalan shrugged. "It's the only way," he said. "Anzu's gaze is powerless against those with a strong life force." He looked down his long snout at the orc. "Though it's odd that Anzu's gaze would be able to affect one of our Master's chosen in the first place."

  The orc and the minotaur shared a long and silent gaze before Sai turned without a word and stalked out of the wheelhouse. Cuatete growled at Gugalan one last time before rushing to follow.

  Like Gugalan, Anzu too had not moved from its spot, still blocking the tunnel leading to the waterfall. Sai glared at it in silence for some time. Cuatete thrashed her tail, but she too remained quiet. Gugalan's admonishment about Anzu having no power over Syn's chosen bounced through Sai's thoughts. He knew the minotaur had been trying to help, as odd as that was. But Gugalan's assistance felt like an accusation. One that should not have stung nearly as much as it did. He was not a creature of Syn. He was still a child of the Abriasha, and he would get out of the Vale using whatever tools he needed to do so. Using Syn's power to do so did not make him one of the Nightmare's creatures. It didn't.

  Sai drew himself up to his full height and pointed his draconic tepoztopilli at Anzu. "You ready for this, bird?" he shouted with the Shadowed Voice.

  Anzu's ears pricked up just as before, and he roared at the orc. Keeping a close watch on Anzu's closed eyes, Sai charged. Cuatete sped out in front of him with a keening shriek.

  When Anzu at last opened his eyes, the speed of Cuatete's charge caused her dead body to barrel past him and skid down the tunnel. But Sai, glaring into the calming blue of the creature's eyes, did not falter. Too late, Anzu realized that its gaze had no effect on the Harbinger of Nightmare. It flapped its sapphire wings and tried to leap away from Sai's charge, but the Harbinger's aim stayed true. The force of his charge and the spearhead of his weapon pierced into the beast's furred chest, through his heart, and out his back. Sai yanked back on the tepoztopilli, and Anzu stumbled forward towards him. "Got you," the Harbinger whispered. He stared into the half-bird's eyes until they again closed. Sai jerked his weapon the rest of the way through Anzu's corpse and left the winged cat beside Cuatete. "Stupid bird."

  Sai was surprised to find that the cavern did not extend past the waterfall. The cataract was even larger than Sai had been able to see from farther up the tunnel. It roared down on all sides of the large chamber at the end of the tunnel. At least, Sai assumed it must be a chamber. The floor just ended at a cliff, and there were no walls that he could see. The water concealed every direction save straight back the way he had come, falling forever into the black and starless void below. At the center of the cliff was a wide altar cast of rough, gray stone. Carved into its side was the infinite loop of the Eldritch One.

  "You've come back," said a voice from nowhere.

  "I… What?" Sai said. He scanned the room, but he was alone. Voices from nowhere didn't surprise him, but this one was unfamiliar. Whoever was talking was not the Eternal Nightmare. "Who's there?"

  "You're going to do something for me, mortal," said the robed werewolf.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  "Gah!" Sai cried, recoiling from the sudden appearance of the speaker. There had been no flash, no sound, no warning; the werewolf had not been there, and then it was, sitting on the edge of the altar with its arms crossed within the sleeves of its robe. The deep blue velvet of its hooded robes concealed its entire body except the silver fur and ivory fangs of its muzzle. Golden eyes gleamed from within the true darkness of its hood. Sai took a deep breath and tried to slow his breathing. "Mortal…?" he asked.

  The werewolf ignored him. "And I in turn will show you how to warp your timeline and escape this nightmare."

  Sai blinked. "Warp time…?" he asked.

  "Wait," the werewolf said, unfolding its arms and putting a vicious claw to its snout. "'Warp' might be the wrong word. It's vague. Your language doesn't easily accommodate intertemporal manipulation, does it?"

  Sai noticed at that point that the werewolf's jaws did not move in time with its speech. He'd read about only one being who existed out of sync with even itself. "You're the Eldritch One," Sai breathed. "God of time."

  "How about explosions?" the Eldritch One went on. "Do you know explosions? Have the cats introduced bombs to the timeline yet?"

  Sai struggled to keep up with the conversation. The feeling was novel. Always before it had been others who struggled to keep up with him. "You mean like the fish oil incendiaries they always use?"

  The werewolf snapped its claws. The sound came half a second behind. "Perfect," it said. "Yes. You're going to help me make a bomb. A time bomb, not a fish bomb. We're going to blow up the present to let the future in."

  Sai blinked again. Was this what Gretchen felt like when he talked to her? "We're going to what?" he asked.

  The Eldritch One hopped down began to pace a circle around its altar. Its form stuttered, skipping back and forward through its own path as it walked. "Years from now," it intoned, "there will be a path through the void mountains and out of the prison in which my fellows and I entrapped the Eternal Nightmare. The path will lead along the floor of Slaughter Canyon and through the void mountains at the southwest of the Shadowed Vale. The site where it opens to the rest of Serinor is and will be mine. Though I have been and will continue to prevent Syn's escape there, I can open the way for you."

  Sai shook his head. He'd understood enough of that. "How am I supposed to get down to the canyon floor?" he asked. "Jumping's out of the question, and Syn would end me if I tried to climb down."

  The Eldritch One gazed at him from across the altar. Its eyes glittered. "You typically walk down," it said.

  "I what?" he asked.

  "You took the bomb I'll make up to Cliffside Forest in the northeast," said the werewolf. "When it blows up the present, the future came in and the other end of the path will be open. Then you typically walk down."

  "You need to work on your verb tenses," said Sai.

  "This is how this works," the Eldritch One said. It moved to the head of the altar and put its hands on its smooth top. "You bring me what I need for the bomb, and I'll have made it. First, you give me the shell from Kunago."

  Sai cocked his head. "I don't have a shell from Kunago," he said.

  The Eldritch One's jaw dropped. "Oh," it said. "Has that not happened in your timeline?" It rapped its nose with a claw then shrugged. "Odd, but not insurmountable. You'll have gotten it soon." It put its hands back onto the altar. "The shell acted as a shell to hold the impending explosion in stasis until its time. Second, you'll steal a star from Syn."

  "You expect me to what?" Sai laughed. "Steal one of Syn's lights? How would I even hold it?"

  "You always find a way," said the Eldritch One. "I think it falls? Timeline's fuzzy. The power of the star will both fuel the explosion and mask it from the Nightmare's gaze. Last, you brought my token to me."

  "I…" Sai said. "Don't remember doing that?"

  "This place is timeless," said the Eldritch One, its eyes glittering again. "Effects often precede their cause." Then it shrugged. "But if your timeline's one of those linear ones, you'll need this. Here."

  Sai looked at the needle in his hand. He blinked. When had he taken the needle? "What is this?" he asked.

  "Do you know compasses?" the Eldritch One asked. "Have the Gortzyi made those yet?"

  "I've seen a dwarven compass yes, but…" Sai's voice trailed off. "Wait, is this a compass needle?"

  The Eldritch One nodded. "You'll need to make the compass, but yes," it said. "That needle will point you to my token. My timeless token guides the explosion to the future and the future back to its past. These three items were needed to reach the Impending Passage, which is in the Clifftop Forest. You gathered these items, reached the passage, and there defeated the Eternal Nightmare itself."

  Sai sighed. "I don't think any of that has happened yet," he said.

  "Time is relative," said the Eldritch One. "You have your task, and now your timeline has to catch up to its completion." The werewolf smiled, and Sai gasped. The werewolf's ivory fangs seemed to glitter even in the not-light, and they gave the impression that they were too big and too many to fit in the space of the Eldritch One's mouth. Its voice continued though its gleaming smile did not move. "You'll be back again."

  Sai took a deep breath and tore his gaze from the werewolf's smile. "Okay," he said. "I have a lot of questions." But when he looked back up, he was back out in the passage beside the corpses of Cuatete and Anzu. The tunnel leading to the Timeless Altar had disappeared entirely, leaving a blank stone wall in its place. Sai looked up and down the passage. "But you're gone." Sai sighed and considered the needle still clutched in his palm. "A compass needle to point me to the token, huh? I think I can rig up a compass for this."

  No response came. He frowned down at Cuatete's undamaged corpse. He sighed again. "This is why you don't name research subjects," he said. "Though I suppose all I have to do is die and you'll come back." He laughed. "It's probably faster for me to die than to walk all the way back to the citadel. Especially with how lost I am." He stopped laughing and grimaced. Then he closed his eyes, spun around, and started heading the way he was facing.