The most ancient fragments were the ones that concerned Janik, for they spoke of a Place of Imprisonment that lay at the feet of the Pillars of the Sky. They described it as being surrounded by lush jungle—“trees that bear fruit and vines that climb, all manner of creeping thing and everything that grows,” in the quaint words of the first modern translation. One of the important realizations that had finally led Janik to the site of Mel-Aqat was that this jungle was gone, replaced by the great golden desert Menechtarun.
The Place of Imprisonment described in the earliest fragments was vastly different from the crumbling ruins Janik and his friends had found when they finally reached Mel-Aqat. Only the great ziggurat at the heart of the ruins remained relatively intact, and Janik had not located an entry to the structure on his last visit. Gone were the great columned halls, the towering statues of tiger-headed men and women, the sprawling relief carvings of dragons making war on demons.
In reviewing his own writings about the Serpentes Fragments, Janik had been drawn to two things: the description of the ziggurat and the mention of the carvings. In some places, the ziggurat itself was described as the Place of Imprisonment, while in other passages, the term clearly applied to the whole site. Zhavaan’s hypothesis, expounded in one of the books Krael had stolen, theorized that the more specific references were more ancient and thus more accurate. That theory would confirm that Janik’s earlier expedition could not have released whatever was imprisoned there—he never got close enough to the ziggurat to release any ancient binding.
Janik, however, suspected that the more general description of the site actually predated the construction of the ziggurat—that the ziggurat was built much later in Mel-Aqat’s history as a way to mark the Place of Imprisonment. That was the argument Janik had propounded in one of his published papers. Even in that case, it was likely that the ziggurat was the location of the actual binding. Janik was quite sure he had not released whatever was imprisoned at Mel-Aqat.
But what was imprisoned there? The Fragments related a myth introduced by the phrase, “As recorded in stone at the Place of Imprisonment.” It went on to describe a great war between dragons and demons—a common theme in the mythology of Xen’drik’s ancient civilizations. This war was supposed to have ushered in the golden age of the giants. Before the birth of the giant civilizations, the legends said, demons ruled the world, which was a place of fire and unbridled torment. The great dragons, united in a coalition if not in a single species (the legends disagreed), waged a great war on the demons that lasted over a million years. In the end, angelic spirits who had allied themselves with the dragons—the winged rainbow serpents called couatls—had bound the demons inside the earth, sacrificing themselves to form the spiritual prisons that held them fast. From the ashes of this epic war, the giant civilizations were born.
A war that lasted a million years, Janik found himself thinking as the skycoach neared the floating towers of Skyway. And from its devastation a great new civilization was born. What will be born from the ashes of the Last War? he wondered. Such a pretty myth—that new birth might come from so much ruin.
The myth of the couatls’ sacrifice was undeniably important in the history of Xen’drik—and even the recent history of Khorvaire. Serpent cults appeared among the native races of Xen’drik with surprising frequency through the ages, right down to the present day. Giant cults, ancient elf cults, even modern drow cults revered the winged serpents, just as there were other cults that worshiped the imprisoned demons. Many of the texts in the Serpentes Fragments—perhaps most of them—could be traced to cults such as these, giving the collection its name.
Of greatest immediate interest to Janik, was a theory that identified the Church of the Silver Flame as a modern version of a Xen’drik serpent cult, transplanted to Khorvaire. He wondered what connections might exist between the Church that now ruled Thrane and the primeval cults that revered the couatls and used Mel-Aqat as a place of worship. Might the Keeper of the Flame be sending him—and Dania—to Mel-Aqat in hopes of finding some artifact that would establish the connection between the Church and the ancient ruins? Did the Church hope to establish its antiquity, give itself an added degree of respectability by proving its ancient ties? Or was it seeking to prevent Krael and the Order of the Emerald Claw from learning the same thing?
Janik returned his notebook to his backpack and before long was walking the peaceful streets of Skyway toward the Azure Gateway. The floating city district boasted three prominent restaurants with panoramic views of the city, extensive menus of fine cuisine, and exorbitant prices. Mathas preferred the Azure Gateway for its food and its friendly half-elf headwaiter, a wizard with whom Mathas had struck up a casual friendship in years past. Janik preferred it because it was generally less crowded than the others.
When Janik entered the restaurant, Mathas was talking with the headwaiter in the foyer, apparently catching up after his two-year absence from the city. Dania stood nearby, politely attentive without participating in the conversation. She smiled at Janik as he walked in, then Mathas and the headwaiter turned to welcome him.
“Ah!” the headwaiter said. “Janik Martell, welcome! But where is the lovely Maija?”
I guess Mathas didn’t tell him very much, Janik thought. Mathas and Dania looked at him uncomfortably, unsure how he would react.
“She will not be joining us this evening, Ravvan,” Janik said quickly.
“Very good, master,” the half-elf replied graciously. “Your party is complete, then? I will show you to a table.”
Having spent the day poring over manuscripts in ancient elven tongues, Janik suddenly saw Mathas and the two half-elves walking before him in a strange new light. He thought about their ancestors, living in Xen’drik and slaving under the giants. Were Dania’s elf ancestors part of a serpent cult? Was there some predisposition in her blood that had led her to worship the Silver Flame? Dania and Mathas were as familiar to him as the short sword at his side, but for just a moment, they seemed as alien as the distant elves of Aerenal or the cyclopean ruins of Xen’drik.
Those thoughts dissipated quickly once the trio was seated. Janik told his friends about the burglary at his apartment, drawing shocked and angry exclamations from both of them.
“You think Krael was behind it?” Mathas asked.
“Of course he was,” Janik said. “And I think it was probably Krael himself for a change, not some lackey doing his dirty work. He knew exactly which books to take.”
“So he’s definitely planning his own expedition to Mel-Aqat,” Dania said.
“No doubt. And interfering with our plans in every way he can.”
“It’s not a great blow to our expedition, is it?” Mathas asked, peering a little too keenly at Janik.
“No,” Janik replied quickly. “We had enough historical background to make the trip last time, and we still have everything we need. I had hoped to refresh my memory on some details, but it’s no great loss. Quite a loss to me personally,” he added ruefully. “Those books are very rare and cost a lot of money.”
“You’ll get them back sooner or later,” Dania assured him. “If I have anything to say about it, Krael will not survive his trip to Xen’drik.”