The Drowned Gods, #2
Stranger Skies
by Pascale Lacelle
Contents
Chapter 55: Romie
Overview
Romie, Aspen, Tol, and their companions cross the so-called Wastes—Ivayne’s Heartland—debating Emory’s risky absence and a heart-sacrifice door. To spare Tol, Aspen proposes uniting their key fragments on a ley line. In a shared sleepscape, they meet the Sculptress’s splintered self, learn how her pieces lie across worlds, and receive a warning about a dark deity’s servant opposing them.
Summary
Romie travels the desert Wastes with Ivayne, Virgil, Nisha, Vera, Aspen, and Tol, noting Aspen’s unspoken feelings for Tol. Ivayne rejects the term “Wastes,” and Tol praises the land’s delicate beauty. Gwenhael names the world the Heartland. Tension simmers over Emory leaving for the Shadow to understand her Tidecaller magic, which Romie fears will consume her.
Concern turns practical when the group faces a door said to demand a heart sacrifice, risking Tol’s golden heart. Aspen recalls their shared pain on the ley line when Emory drew power and suggests rejoining their fragments there to mimic the goddess’s whole. Tol sees this as a chance to contact the Forger; Romie urges action.
On the ley line, Tol perceives luminous threads binding Romie, Aspen, and himself, reaching toward a fourth fragment beyond a distant door. Aspen scries Romie, amplifying the internal song, but hesitates to scry Tol, fearing he will realize she is the presence he’s sensed.
To deepen the connection, Romie performs a buddy-sleep, bringing Aspen and Tol into the astral sleepscape where the song is clearest. They touch a brilliant star-dream and encounter an ethereal woman—the goddess whose pieces they carry—who draws them into her mind and history.
The goddess, a dreamer who loves mortals, reveals she splintered herself across worlds to thwart annihilation: blood in a moonlit sea, bones in witch-woods soil, a heart in a sun-drenched land, and a soul singing in storm-lashed peaks. She yearns to be re-formed but warns of a dark deity and his devoted servant stealing and diminishing her power. Her multicolored gaze fixes on Romie in warning before light ejects them from the dream.
They wake with confirmation of their bond, the location-pattern of scattered pieces, and a heightened urgency: reuniting the goddess’s fragments may open the heart-door without killing Tol, but an enemy servant hunts the same power.
Who Appears
- RomieDreamer and key fragment; leads attempts to link on a ley line and conducts a shared sleepscape.
- AspenWitch and key fragment; proposes joining power on a ley line and hesitates to reveal her bond to Tol.
- TolKey fragment with a golden heart; perceives binding threads and seeks contact with the Forger.
- IvayneDraconic warrior defending the Heartland; objects to calling it the Wastes.
- VirgilCompanion voicing doubts about the desert and the heart-sacrifice door.
- NishaRomie’s ally; worries about Tol’s survival and notes Aspen–Tol tension.
- VeraCompanion mediating group friction; acknowledges Emory’s choice to leave.
- GwenhaelDragon ally speaking mind-to-mind; names the world the Heartland.
- The SculptressGoddess in the dream; reveals her splintered essence and warns of a dark servant.