“Sit,” Noah instructed. “How lucky are we that you managed to get a brewed cup?”

  Zach purposefully ignored the criticism in his tone. That didn’t matter. As long as he got answers. If the universe decided to favor him even more, by the end of this ritual, he’d be gone from this world and its demonic problems.

  For his part, it seemed Noah had similar thoughts. He buried all his questions—and the slight frown showed that he had many of them—and placed small silver balls in an equally spaced out square around Zach, each of them branded with a strange symbol neither he nor Oliver’s memories knew.

  “Now, each of the Creational Forces is different,” he said, placing the last ball to the front left of Zach.

  The balls were polished so clean, they reflected the little sunlight that shone in across the apartment like a mirror.

  “And this is to open my mind,” Zach said irritably, looking down at the cup in his hand. He’d already downed half of it. The thing was even more bitter when you took more than a sip.

  “Not open your mind, relax it,” Noah corrected. “Now, for me, to connect to the Central, I hum root words to connect my mind and body to the Earth. But you aren’t part of the Central. And that’s why we’re here, to find out what you’re part of.”

  “And this... Central... that’s your Force? Your Creational Force?” Again, Oliver’s mind showed no hint that this was common knowledge among the people of this world.

  “It’s been over thirty minutes now,” Noah said instead. “The tea should be kicking in.”

  There was a comforting warmth spreading through his chest. When he looked down to examine himself, his head felt like it was about to fall off. His body felt as heavy as that lock Noah had broken back on the farm. He could feel his eyes blinking closed.

  “Good,” Noah said softly. “The worked silver will act as an anchor, something that will help you find your body if you do end up getting lost.”

  “What’s that symbol?” Zach asked, growing more and more terrified by the minute.

  This was sounding more and more like fanatical, cultist beliefs. Something he instinctively shied away from.

  “Close your eyes, and don’t fight the thoughts that come to you. Feel it. Grab onto anything that seems... familiar,” Noah advised.

  Zach opened his mouth, a retort sitting ready on his tongue, but forming words was too difficult a task. So, he closed his eyes and felt every thought that came to him. All the while, his body grew heavier and heavier, until it felt like something was trying to pull him straight through the old tiles beneath him.

  “Breathe,” Noah said. “I’m just making the room slightly heavier. Pulling your body down, so your mind can go up.”

  On that word, he felt it. He felt his mind getting lighter even as his vision blurred. He cracked open an eye, an act that took far too much effort on his part, and found Noah sitting opposite him, a sheen of sweat on his forehead. He looked deathly pale.

  “What do...” his words were slurred.

  Then it happened. The world went dark. He heard rattling in the air. Screams—dying screams, he amended. The clash of steel on steel. The sound of a hundred thousand men marching across a battlefield.

  Wind rushed past him, pressing its way into his ears. Labored breaths surrounded him, the sound of men and women running for their lives. He took a deep breath at all the sensations...

  ... and opened his eyes to darkness.

  Noah was gone. The apartment was gone. Replaced by a barren landscape, humped with small hills. The grass was burned black, almost as black as the sky above. Not a cloud in sight, and the sun was missing. Large portals, their rims swirling with strange symbols, were spread across the sky.

  Pouring out from each portal were large chains, hundreds of them, their links easily the same size as the small hills. The wind he’d felt earlier blew across the landscape again, rattling the chains from sky to ground.

  He swallowed, looking around. A suffused light bathed the landscape in a sickly silver hue, with no discernible source. In that light, he saw that the burned field went on without end, the number of chains as well.

  A scent reminiscent of death and the tragic fire that turned this place black rode that wind, searing his nostrils, making him cough and bringing tears to his eyes.

  “What the hell is it now?” he asked softly.

  Wolves started howling in the distance, bears roared powerfully somewhere nearby, and somehow, a deadly silence managed to hide itself beneath those sounds. There were snarls, barks, and grunts, all of it viscous and equally threatening.

  He walked, approaching one of the chains, and found four beams of light reaching up from the ground where he’d been standing high into the sky. Perfectly boxing in the spot he’d just been standing in.

  The silver balls.

  He turned back to the chain. Standing right next to it, he had to tilt his head all the way back to see its upper half, and even then, he still couldn’t comprehend its scope. Where the chain began inside that portal high above, it was as dark as the sky.

  He noticed then that in many of the links, rotted fur pelts swayed in that wind that blew unceasingly, spreading their stink over everything. The mixture of that rotten scent with the acrid smell of the black grass nearly made him sick.

  SEVERITY

  The word pounded in his head, in his own voice, and with it came knowledge that hadn’t been there before. He knew that each of those rotted pelts represented other Dreamers from Oliver’s world. Dreamers who’d had this Dream, but hadn’t survived this long.

  He also knew that this was now his home. His realm. Or rather, it was supposed to be. Something was wrong. The howls came back, closer this time. He had the distinct, discomforting feeling they were searching for him.

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  Home. I need to go home.

  Thunder shook the sky, the chains rattling in answer. The ground itself shook as if a giant were walking across the plain. The portals in the sky remained stable, the symbols swirling uninterrupted, but there was no denying it. The sounds were coming from beyond that dark sky.

  The wolves and bears went silent. An even deeper boom echoed like something trying to beat its way out of a cage. Something large. Slowly, he turned back to the sky and understood that the sound was coming from behind that blackness. Where the chains disappeared into.

  Zach grunted in frustration. What did any of this have to do with him going home? All these chains—

  In the distance, a wolf crested one of the hills. Zach paused at the sight, the shaggy animal carrying all the threatening presence its actual counterpart would. He felt pinned to the spot, his breath going shallow.

  I SEE YOU

  It let loose a howl so high and shrill, Zach stumbled back in shock. It hadn’t sounded like that a moment ago. He let out quick, short breaths as more of them crested that hill, all of them looking down at him with a startling awareness.

  Without a second thought, Zach turned and ran faster than he could’ve believed.

  The wolves, or whatever those creatures were, let out barks and grunts and gave chase, promising death with every leap. The speed with which his body moved took him by surprise, but not as much as it would’ve had he not touched this speed back in that apartment.

  His lungs worked furiously, his legs going and going. He glanced back once or twice, watching as the creatures weaved between the chains, over the ends that lay curled on the ground. He knew he couldn’t stop, or it would mean his death.

  Despite his body being so active, there was a chill going down his spine and arms. Oh, for God’s sake. I just want to go home! But clearly, that wasn’t an option.

  He didn’t know where he was running to; no matter how far he got, the landscape looked exactly the same. Dimly, he marvled at the fact that he was able to outrun, or at least keep ahead of wolves and bears.

  When he finally came to a small hill, he remembered how he’d first spotted the creatures. It was a risk, but instead of running up the hill, he skirted around its base, keeping himself hidden behind the many chains. As fast as he was running and as otherworldly as he felt, he had to stop for a breather.

  As he stood with hands on knees, the entire pack came bounding in from the same direction he’d just come running from, except they went up the hill, relentlessly chasing him. So they aren’t really wolves. Wolves hunt by scent.

  He leaned his head back against the chain, watching the creatures run on ahead. There must have been ten of them, all as ferocious-looking as the first one he’d spotted. From this angle, they didn’t really look like wolves. That’s just how his brain had perceived them.

  Their backs were far too wide, their shoulder blades extending far too high, and even their legs were bent the wrong way. Seeing them in that state gave him a headache almost as severe as when he tried to access his memories. He felt blood drip from his nose.

  He shook his head, tearing his eyes away from the pack. That strange knowledge told him that those creatures were the same demons he’d seen back in the apartment and on the execution platform. Only more evolved. And this was their realm as much as it was supposed to be his.

  They’ll find me soon enough. I have to get back.

  The thought saddened him. To think he’d risked being spotted by Ava to come here. And for what? Just to be hunted? He stuck his head around the corner of the giant link behind him and found the four light beams in the near distance. It would be a run, but hadn’t he just proved he could do it?

  He turned his head back to where he’d seen the wolves run off to and found a man standing there. Wearing a striped suit, he stared right back, their gazes locking despite the considerable distance between them.

  Zach took a step back, then ran around the link, turning to face the light beams behind him, and found the man standing right there.

  “Transmigrator,” the man whispered. “I wondered why the d?mons were acting up; I felt them all the way in the Western Sheer. Who are you?”

  Transmigrator... How did he know? Thunder shook the sky once more, and an earthquake trembled through the ground.

  “You know what I am?” Zach asked softly. “How do I get back? Please, you have to help me. Tell me how to get back. I don’t understand what’s going on.”

  “You want to go back home?” the man asked. “I can help you with that.”

  “You can?” Zach said, feeling hope for the first time.

  “Of course, these things do happen.”

  The man spoke and looked at him as though he were trying to figure something out. From his blazer’s breast pocket, he removed a thin silver blade. In fear, Zach swallowed, eyeing the weapon wearily.

  “I just want to go home,” he said softly.

  “I know you do. I said I’d help you with that, didn’t I?”

  Zach took in the blazer again, taking note of the silver pin fixed to his lapel. The number seven lying on its side, a small chain worked around the border in exquisite detail. The man gave off a threatening presence just like those wolves.

  Staring at him, more knowledge poured into Zach. This man was Claimed by Severity just like he was. SECOND STRING. The words echoed in his bones, touching something that stirred deep within.

  The chain right beside them suddenly swung out, the entire thing moving with a speed that belied its size. It purposefully swung between Zach and the strange man, separating them. The chain wrapped around the man just as another one started snaking its way to him.

  “What is this?” the man asked, looking up at the sky.

  Another of those strange howls echoed from the top of the hill. Zach glanced back and found one of the wolves staring at him with that human-like awareness, the others running up over the crest and back down in his direction.

  TRESPASSER

  In a panic, Zach glanced back at the man who was straining against the powerful chains still wrapping around him, again and again. If he waited for the man, the wolves would be on him. The same would be true if he tried to help the man.

  Not knowing what else to do, he set his eyes on the beams of light and ran. From within the chains, he could see the man glance in that direction as well. Zach was shocked at the angry growl the man let loose.

  The wolves’ barking reminded him of the danger, and before he knew it, he was running. He covered the distance as easily as he had before, the sound of the man struggling sounding behind him.

  That sound, mixed with the demons, chased him all the way back around the base of the hill, down the leagues of land he’d covered earlier. Just as he reached the four beams, the chains shattered behind him.

  Zach turned to face the oncoming creatures, the man beyond them taking a moment to steady himself. He looked around, waiting for the landscape to melt away, but nothing happened. The wolves were getting closer and closer.

  Open your mind, he thought desperately. Keep your mind open.

  The man regained his feet. He looked up, and again the distance between them melted away. Somehow Zach knew that it wasn’t the same as what Noah did when he Stepped. No, this man was simply moving at a speed faster than the eye could process.

  He appeared right in front of Zach. With a slight snarl, he drew his arm back, the knife shining under that strange silver light. There was nothing but murder and anger in those eyes. When he went in for the kill, the wolves just behind him with their snapping jaws, the world phased out of focus.

  He fell back in the apartment, Noah once more seated before him. Of course, he wore that frown of his. Zach shook his head, his mind still muddied by the tea. The drug in his veins quickly pushed him back into a deep, dreamless sleep, where five words echoed over and over with the same eerie quality of that strange realm.

  YOU ARE CLAIMED BY SEVERITY