MagiStream

"You mean that little detail about your species, kid? Naw, don't worry 'bout it. I've heard of you. Arke, is it? The only non-human Magi at the Keep. Kitsune, if I'm not wrong?"

A blush heated up her pale fur; the young Magi tossed back her hood with a shake of her head and sank back onto all fours. Her hind paws ached from standing up like a human, but that was a small detail she's learnt to push to the back of her mind. "Arkenian, actually...h-how did you know?"

"No human totters around like that, pup." Anita replied offhandedly, beginning to play with her crystal-pick. "So, are you going on that journey? I have complete confidence in you should you agree. In fact, I think I have a mission perfect for you..."

So...Anita didn't mind? Arke's heart leapt.

After all those moons of being laughed at by her human counterparts, struggling to catch up with the curriculum and the human language -she still didn't understand apostrophes- she surely wasn't going to pass up on this chance. The answer (a resounding yes) is out of her muzzle before she can even begin to formulate a thought in response.

Besides, this being her first assignment as a Magi; an assignment she has worked so hard to get, an assignment she had on several occasions thought would never come- she shouldn't, couldn't get cold paws- she means, cold feet -now.

A crooked grin hung from Anita's lips. Unceremoniously dropping the pick- Arke's sensitive ears twitched from the harsh echoes it created- the Accumulator strode back through the cave, motioning for Arke to follow. The Kitsune did so, tripping over her cumbersome Apprentice Magi's cloak every so often.

They exited the cave.

Anita whistled, another sound that disagreed with Arke's ears. Trembling with anticipation, she tried to block out the excited - this is it this is it this is it thisisitt thisisitthisisit- chant in her head and to actually listen to what Anita was saying.

"...a relic from the Direwolves, but if you've got nothing an Albino Direwolf egg will do too. Your journey will lead you close to Silva Forest- into Silva Forest, in fact. It would be best if you could take with you a Noctis Enox-"

-and then, Arke's senses blanked out. There was only the pitch-black creature before her-

-and their gazes caught. And held.

And they spoke with their eyes in the way only creatures could. Arke took in the gleaming ebony coat, subtle red-on-black of wounds blemishing its surface like shadow on shadow; their hideousness hardly noticeable at first, but not something one could forget once they had seen it. Powerful avian wings shuffled restlessly as the Enox tossed his head, accents of purple gleaming down its feathers and hide and scales.

He took a step forward, and then another; powerful hooves thudding onto the soft earth with a purposeful finality. Their gazes locked all the while- his piercing scarlet gaze laced with dignified disdain, and filled with distrust. It took all of Arke's self control not to cry out; to flinch away and run.

"H-hello;" The Kitsune whispered; the Enox had intimidated her voice out of her.

The equine paused, the thinly veiled contempt in its eyes diminishing slightly. "You speak our tongue, 'Magi'? Good that you still remember your roots, Kitsune."

"Noctis here has had bad experiences with the Magi he accompanied in the past." Anita said. "He is the oldest of my lovelies here yet to be given away- but considering your species, I think he'll take to you easier. No other creature will protect you so viciously. Run along, now- take care, kid."

Silence; never had it been so heavy and suffocating.

The thick canopy overhead wove a variegated muffler over Silva Forest, creating an unnerving claustrophobic silence as the two creatures traversed through the undergrowth. The Enox didn't seem inclined to start a conversation anytime soon, but the unusual quiet was so loud it buzzed in Arke's ears, driving the fox to near-desperation to say something, anything to fill the vacuum.

"M-my name is Arke. Yours?"

He snorted.

"Creatures do not need verbal dog-tags, Kitsune. Or have you forgotten, in your bid to be like those spineless primates?"

Arke flinched. She hadn't thought about how her own kind might view her, the Kitsune trying to play human. Maybe they saw her as a traitor to their species. Her mother- her dear, sweet Kitsune mother who had worked so tirelessly to convince High Archmage Thane to accept her as a Trainee at the Keep- had warned her that this path was not a popular one.

But it would get her a steady life; Arke reminded herself. She mustn't be ungrateful to her mother and abandon the humanness she had taught herself just because of an Enox's scorn.

"Perhaps I have." She held her head high. "Is there anything w-wrong in trying to be like humans? They are, after all, a..um...a very successful species."

The Noctis Enox snarled, his wings whipping open violently. Arke let out a yelp and ducked away from the sudden motion, cringing from the Enox's hostility.

"Successful species, yes. Successful at the oppression of other creatures, that is!" the equine spat and bared his teeth. "They treat the rest of us as dirt; the common creatures are their slaves, the rare creatures are their trophies! Humans take our eggs from the Stream without any qualms, sell and trade those of us under their care with no regard for what we think about it, and frankly only see us as collectibles or free labor!"

Arke became aware that she was shivering at this point. The conviction in the Enox's voice was real, real, real- she was scared, and confused. Sure, the Magi at the Keep teased incessantly, but they weren't actually bad deep down... which totally did not relate to the horrifying picture the Enox was painting with his words.

They had stopped moving by now. Neither cared at this point.

"Perhaps those were...singular cases? H-humans can be v-very friendly creatures, once you ge-get to know them..."

The Enox turned to face her, his haunted gaze seeming to spear through her and chill her soul. "You're only familiar with the cubs at the Keep, Kitsune. They are young and innocent now- they all are- but once they grow up, they will understand the meaning of selfishness. They will no longer be the seemingly harmless humans you know. Mark my words."

Abruptly, the Enox broke the eye contract and tilted his muzzle skywards. "Night is falling. We should stop for the day; continuing in the darkness will only get us ambushed or attacked."

He turned away and trotted to the base of a tree, folding back his wings and leaning against the trunk as if nothing happened. His eyes cast an haughty glance at Arke, challenging her to protest about the sleeping arrangements.

She didn't. All the humans beds at the Keep could not erase her preference for curling up on soft grass out in the open; without complaint she padded to another tree and settled down under it.

As Arke drifted off, she vaguely heard a chuckle from the Enox before she fell into slumber.

Arke woke up to a ghastly cacophony of shrieks. Yelping in surprise, she groggily stumbled off in a random direction, only to be knocked down by a dark mass.

She blinked. The Enox stood over her, wings raised and teeth bared again- not at her, this time. Arke peered out from under a wing, catching sight of a bristling canine with a dark cacao-grey coat. It took a step forward, its size finally registering in Arke's mind; it was the biggest Direwolf she had ever seen, even bigger than the other wolves at the Keep.

The Enox snarled and lashed out with a wing, the feathered appendage striking the wolf on the side of its muzzle and driving it back a few pawsteps.

"Trespasser; " the Direwolf hissed.

"I protect my charge. Nothing more, nothing less." The Enox snarled in return, advancing a step.

"Your human 'charges' steal our children!"

"What they do is nothing-" The Enox frowned distastefully as he said it- "-nothing I concern myself with."

With another bark, the Direwolf gave up on formalities and lunged at the Enox.

There was a flurry of fur and feathers as the Enox reared, hooves and wings swinging at the Direwolf. Something hit it and it dropped to the ground with a whimper, but it quickly recovered and dived forward, nipping the Enox's flank as it headed straight for Arke-

-The Enox let out a cry of warning-

-Arke felt herself get bowled over, letting out a yelp in surprise- but she wasn't afraid. Intimidated, yes, but not afraid.

She did well in battling class back at the Keep. When the class had been pitted against Keep creatures in practice matches so they could learn how to survive wild creature attacks, she had done the best. She wouldn't die.

There was a sharp pain in her shoulderblade, and Arke stopped holding back- lips curling back to reveal snapping teeth, she bit at the nearest piece of fur she could reach, paws kicking out and pummeling rapidly.
The pain in her shoulderblade didn't go away, and instead it increased- letting out a keening whine through her teeth, she sank her teeth in deeper-

-The Direwolf yelped, releasing its bite.

Arke threw her whole weight forward, trying to throw the wolf off, lowering her muzzle to headbutt the Direwolf- his claws struck her side, and she twisted, howling-

-and suddenly the Enox was there, dragging the Direwolf off her. Arke rolled back onto her paws and winced, pain stabbing into her shoulder and pelt. A paw trembled under her weight. The Enox threw the Direwolf back with a shake of his head, but the wolf immediately leapt up-

-spells, Arke; think of some spells! You're a Kitsune! You're a Magi!

The Direwolf feinted to the left and then attacked from the right, strong forepaws shoving the Enox over and onto his side; the Enox screeched as the wolf's sharp teeth latched onto to a flailing wing-

-and suddenly, a burst of magic shot from Arke's fur, shooting across the forest and hitting the wolf on the back of its head. The spell threw the Direwolf back, smashing it against the trunk of a tree. It crumpled at the foot of the tree, leaves raining down on it.

Arke advanced on the wolf, teeth bared and claws out.

The wolf cringed backwards. Arke poised herself for a final attack, but something at the back of her mind made her pause: I'm not in danger anymore, I don't need to attack it...

In that split second, the wolf was on its paws and fleeing the scene.

"Not bad." The Enox panted from behind Arke. Turning back, she quickly helped him into a resting position before starting to lick her own wounds.

"Not bad." The Enox repeated, his head drooping with fatigue. "Most humans would have simply went on pressing their advantage, and then I would have had to take care of them."

Arke realized at that moment that the Direwolf was not the only hurdle she triumphed over that night; she had also gotten the Enox to reconsider the idea of attacking her back. (maybe 'trust' was exaggerating just a bit.)

"You attack the Magi Anita told you to protect?" She asked, a little disbelieving of the notion. For a creature to attack its own (for the moment) Magi...

"I protect viciously, yes." The Enox replied. "I protect viciously those who need protecting. Wild creatures know when they're beaten and when to flee- if humans fail to understand that and think that death is the only option to those who cross them, then they cease to need protection and become the ones I need to protect against."

So many epiphanies on this journey.

"Nothing more, nothing less..."

The two settled into a marginally more comfortable silence than they had before, both quietly tending to their own wounds.

They moved further into Silvia Forest. Although Arke handled her stinging wounds worse than the Enox and often lagged behind, they made good progress.

Arke kept quiet about the dulling stabs of agony that shot from her shoulder-blade whenever she took a limping step. After all, the Enox looked into a worse condition, gashes from the teeth of the Direwolf searing red across his dark fur. And he had said nothing.

Besides, surely giving voice to her pain would simply prompt snide and discomfiting remarks from an suddenly-irate Enox.

There were many other Direwolf attacks, and steadily the canines had lighter and lighter fur. The Enox was always there to help ward off the wolves- and there were other creatures too, Farir and some Gryphons, but they rarely attacked.

They supplemented the supplies that they brought with berries and mushrooms and other wild produce from the forest. Aside from the occasional skirmishes when Arke brought up something sensitive, life was good.

After many, many days the forest receded, as they broke into a bleached clearing. At the center was what looked like a mixture between a rock and a tree, tangled in a swathe of vines and giving off a soft luminescent glow.

Arke took a hesitant step forward, her mind blanked by awe- but the Enox pulled her back before she could be seen.

With confidence bred from practice, the Enox quickly pushed Arke back into the forest with a wing and herded her around to where they could advance without being spotted. Crouching behind a cluster of whitewashed rocks, Arke curiously peered towards the stone tree. Normal dark-furred Direwolves entered and left, bringing round things Arke assumed were eggs and taking small mewling bundles which were probably pups.

Milling around the structure were a pack of Direwolves, leaner than usual and with fur a pure silvery white. Like hers. They stood sentry around the structure and greeted the coming and going wolves with barks and sniffs. The noises sounded friendly. For now.

"The bones;" The Enox grunted flatly, gesturing towards a corner with a jerk of his head. Arke followed his gaze- there was a lone wolf sitting with a femur in front of him, expertly carving lines into the bone.

"No one understands the written language of the Direwolves." The Enox continued. "This was recently discovered- some humans think that the bones are tallies of Direwolf eggs hatched, others think that these are story-bones and that the silver pack doubles as scribes who record down the tale of the wolves. Frankly I don't see why anyone cares, but...there are your relics. And there-" He gestured back towards the structure- "are the Direwolf eggs if you'd rather bring Anita back one of those."

Arke continued gazing at the wolf pack. She didn't want to take anything from here- the whole thing seemed, somehow, magical. The overwhelmed feeling she got when she first entered the Keep returned, but the fear was gone and replaced with a sense of calm. This place was...a sanctuary-

But suddenly the peace was shattered, as all of the wolves started to bristle and growl. Arke's sensitive ears swiveled, picking up footsteps-

-a human Magi entered the clearing, an Ibex and a Telvian Panther in bow. Ignoring the warnings from the silver pack he shouted an order for his creatures; the Telvian Panther twitched her whiskers and sprang for the eggs.

Arke's cry was muffled by the Enox silencing her with a wing; she watched in horror as the wolves split up; a trio going for the Magi while the others chased the creatures. The Magi kept the Direwolves at bay for a short while with bursts of repelling magic, but the wolves began attacking in turn and forcing the Magi to use magic nonstop. One slip and-

-the human disappeared under the writhing bodies of the wolves who leapt on him and spared no mercy.
The other wolves converged on the Ibex and Telvian, dragging the Ibex to the ground with their claws; the Telvian broke away from her pursuers with a screech and streaked back into the forest, blood dripping from several gashes in its fur.

"The attacks are increasing;" The Enox commented. "They're learning how to deal with the intruders. So, Kitsune; what will you do?"

The Hummingbird pair fluttered off hurriedly after whispering their message into the Enox's ear.

The Enox frowned. "Alright, mission's called off. We're going back."
"Why?"

"The humans are planning an all-out attack on the Direwolves, apparently they recently killed a very important human- it's not safe here. Anita is hurrying over to try and quell the dispute as fast as she can, but she doesn't want to be responsible should you die. Let's go."

"But- but-" Leaving the Direwolves here to their fate seemed so cruel. Arke remembered what her mother had told her while working to admit her into the Keep; learn what the humans have excelled in, learn how they think and how to deal with them, so that one day you can help your own kind. as a creature with a human's credentials, the humans will be more likely to listen to you, and you will be able to do more.

The Direwolves, uneducated about the thinking of the humans, would not know what to do. But she could. She couldn't just stand by safe at the sidelines and watch creatures and humans get slaughtered. Surely this was just some misunderstanding.

"I can't. We can't leave the Direwolves here! They might not survive!"

"Then what do you suggest we do? Squirm in like pesky little Magi and steal some of their relics before they get wiped out?" The Enox's voice was loaded with sarcasm, but his ears were straightened and his eyes were curious- he's listening.

She already knows what to do. She's the strongest at this. But she'll need help.

"We get that Direwolf sanctuary away from the humans. I know a spell- but I need some ingredients to make it stronger-"

And she needs more Kitsune. She can't do this alone.

"Do you know if there are any Kitsune Clans in Silvia?"

It takes her a practically a decade to locate a Kitsune Clan, and a century more to convince them to help. By then the Enox is back with all the ingredients, and they take a millennia to convince the Direwolves that they're here to help. None of the third parties involved are impressed by Arke's Magi cloak.

"Apparently the humans are trampling all over our territory and taking our pups because they detoured from looking for YOU;" The Kitsune leader barks. "So therefore, if we help you drive the humans off, we get peace too. It's a win-win situation, and my Arkenian cousin's plan sounds legit."

"...fine, we will work with you. But a multi-effect Cloaking Spell; that's advanced magic." The Direwolf Alpha mused.

"That's what we're here for, idiot." The Kitsune leader shot back, brushing her luxurious tails across the ground and causing a sprinkling of grass to sprout from the bare earth. "We've got the magic, yeah?"

Several Kitsune position themselves around the perimeter of the clearing; the newly hatched pups are hidden away into the base of the bleached stone-tree and the albino Direwolves watch the foreign creatures apprehensively.

The spell-enhancers the Enox had helped her craft had been set in place, and Arke kept reaching out to sense their presence, to reassure herself that this could and would be done. It helped distract her from the ominous roar in the distance, signaling the approach of the humans.

"Aaaand let's start. Everyone! Places!" The Kitsune leader shouted, ordering any stragglers back to their positions; Arke bowed her head, felt once more for the aid of the spell-enhancers, and started whispering the incantation for the spell.

-vivamusefficereincantanemtumobtentus-

It was a long and complicated spell, but not exactly a hard one; when she was done, Arke dropped her voice to a low hum, adjusting her pitch to match the melodies already present. Her tails fanned out wildly behind her, even though there was no wind; and as she slowly raised her voice, a translucent plane seemed to grow from the ground itself.

¬-obtentussssssssssssssssssssssssss-

The plane meshed together with those created by the Kitsune on either side of her, until a solid ring was formed around the area. With nowhere to expand horizontally, Arke flicked her tails; the shield began to grow upwards, arcing over everyone's heads to cover the entirely of the place in a dome.

The distant rumble had grew to a storm of footsteps and incensed shouting; concentrated on the spell, the Kitsune were unaware of that. As the Direwolves placed anxiously, the foxes circling their territory connected their spells, magic weaving around and together like their hums and sung spellwords. A glossy sheen rippled down the Cloaking Spell, signaling its completion, before the barrier faded from view and the humans came onto the horizon.

They stampeded towards the clearing in a rage, wielding spears and pitchforks and torches like the typical mob would. However, as they neared the Direwolves they slowed and even stopped, staring around angrily.

"Where're the dogs?"

"I don't know! I swear they were here last time I checked!"

They looked straight through the clearing, going around it as they hacked through undergrowth in search of the pack in plain sight.

"Are you sure this is the place?"

"Yes! We came here! The Village Head came this way and went on through here before he got killed by the wolves!"

"Well, I don't see any of those mutts... and this place just screams 'Direwolfless' somehow."

"But I'm sure this is the place!"

Arke wasn't aware that she had held her breath until she ran out of air. She quietly took in a lungful before continuing to focus on the humans, too afraid to move less any sudden motion unwittingly broke the spell somehow and revealed them to the humans. Her sensitive ears pricked; she heard approaching hoofbeats and pawsteps of a variety of creatures.

"Maybe we should just torch the place down-"

"Look, it's the Magi from the Keep nearby!"

Arke let out a sigh of relief as she saw the familiar face of Anita and one of her instructors from the Keep ride into the forest, their cloaks billowing out behind them. A pack of trainee Magi followed closely behind, riding on Ibex. The Direwolves behind her bristled nervously. The Kitsune scowled at the turn of events but otherwise did nothing.

"Please, don't go rampaging into Direwolf territory like this. It's detrimental to both you and the creatures- and especially dangerous to you, since you should know that Direwolves aren't afraid to kill humans."

"That's not the point!" One of the attacking party protested. "They killed our Village Head! We have to get revenge!"

"Revenge is not the solution." Anita said sternly. "The wolves wouldn't have taken such drastic action if you hadn't trespassed! Have we Magi not made the importance of not encroaching on Direwolf territory clear enough?"

"But-" "Gah! Nevermind the Magi! Keep looking for the wolves!" "Burn down the forest!"
"As Magi we have a duty to ensure that the Direwolves receive the fairest treatment possible;" A third voice cut through the ruckus, and a hush fell over the humans as the speaker rode into view on a beautiful Light Unicorn.

Arke's breath caught in her throat; she looked up in awe at the figure of High Archmage Thane, his face half-obscured by his hood. Despite looking travel-weary and slightly disheveled, the Archmage still exuded an aura of quiet authority and wisdom that cowed the rage of all the humans in the area, at least temporarily.

Great. Things were going to be okay. Definitely, now that the Magi were here.

"Let us return to the village;" Thane suggested mildly. "We can hear the whole story there before we can settle on a course of action that will hopefully appease everyone; does that sound like an acceptable proposition?"

Grumbling reluctantly, the other humans nodded and turned to go, with Thane's unicorn leading the procession at an easy trot.

"I almost thought we wouldn't be able to get here in time;" Arke's instructor said, hanging back to bring up the rear.

"It was quite the stroke of luck that the Direwolves were able to hide themselves away from the villagers long enough." Anita agreed. She glanced back at the hidden Direwolves, and quirked a smile- had the spell worn off already?

"Well, we should never underestimate a creature, any creature. Let's go."

Arke finally tore her eyes away from the humans as Anita and her instructor disappeared into the forest. She turned back. The Kitsune grinned in satisfaction. Even the Enox managed to twitch its muzzle a little. The Direwolves looked quite impressed, and their Alpha spoke directly to her.

"So you have our most sincere gratitude, fox-magi."

"I-I am sorry, b-but I did not m-anage to bring anything back."

The bravado and pride from effectively saving the Direwolves had worn off as she returned to Anita, paws empty. Technically, she had failed. Technically, she had acted against the orders to abort the assignment. Would she be punished?

Behind her, the Enox bristled in righteous indignation. "We did good, 'Nita. If you put any blame-"
"Ssshh, ssshh!" Anita interrupted, cutting off her equestrian's threatening whinnies with a hand. "You don't need to explain, you two. I must say you did a wonderful job. A Cloaking Spell? Your instructors would be tickled pink to know that you paid enough attention in class to remember such a piece of magic."

"Of course I pay attention;" Arke replied, ears turning slightly pink in embarassment. "I'd be such an ungrateful student if-"

"No, no. That's very good!" Anita nodded approvingly. "I know that half the youngsters there don't. I also know that half the youngsters there wouldn't bother to stay and help the Direwolves. A wonderful demonstration of that important quality that all Magi must have, but unfortunately lacking in many of the trainees these days. The ability to empathize and connect with our creatures."

Arke managed a small smile, somewhat embarrassed and overwhelmed by the praise she was getting. The strange warm feeling spread from her chest, until she was positively glowing with pleasure. Um, she didn't know she did that well...

"-It is- it is alright, really." She mumbled, stopping Anita in her cheerful recount of the events that had transpired recently and of course the overenthusiastic praise of the Arkenian Kitsune.

Anita chuckled. "Well, to summarize then; great job. Noctis!" She turned to the Enox. "Why don't you head back to the Keep with your little foxy acquaintance? I think we've finally found someone you'd be okay with."
The Enox snorted. "Mmm. Whatever."

And as they turned to leave, Anita cheekily called out after them;

"I think the High Archmage should hear of this, no?"

Arke yelped in surprise and promptly tripped "W-what? No, there is no need-"

The Crystalline Caves were said to be a remarkable sight, clustered with crystals of various colors from blues to greens to reds, and sporadically placed all over the walls and floors of the deep passages so that one could venture into them without a light of their own. This is where you find yourself, carefully stepping over rocks and squeezing through tunnels.

It’s not long before you hear the echoes of gentle tapping. Upon rounding a bend, you find who you are looking for. A woman is beating at the surrounding crystals with a pick. She’s dressed in brown trousers, heavy boots, a loose tunic and leather jerkin with a multitude of a tiny bags and pockets wrapped around her waist and legs. Atop her head is a mass of curly brown hair. You clear your throat to gain her attention, and she stops in mid-swing to peer at you from behind large, circular goggles. She lifts them from her face and smiles.

You’ve heard of this woman from time to time in the Keep. Anita the Accumulator. Or, for those less inclined, Anita the Pack Rat. She often sends magi out into the world to collect samples of her discoveries, and in return she’ll award them with creatures. However, she is not what you expected.

“Hello, mage,” she says quite cheerfully. “Here for the journey, I wager?” You nod. “As I tell many of your folk, it’s not a pleasant journey if you’re not careful, but I give you creatures to help you with the trials. You keep them, too…long as you survive it in one piece.” You hesitate, staring at her warily with thoughts of whether or not this is a good idea after all.

She smiles wider and says, “Having a bit of fun, is all. You magi are so serious.” She wipes a handkerchief across her face, succeeding only smearing dirt. “It shouldn’t be so bad, and you get my little lovelies in the process. So,” she leans on the handle of the pick, smirking, “are you willing to go on the journey?”

“I accept your journey Anita the Accumulator, please understand this will be my first journey as a new Magi”. Anita shoots a look of worry across her face; however, I ignore the jester. “Alright young Magi, I must warn you of the dangers ahead. You will be exploring an extreme environment with sweltering heat, I will bestow a creature that can stand this harsh terrain. Due watch out my hell hounds temper, she is a loyal beast although her pride and aggression may stand in the way”. Nervous of the hell hound, I brush myself off and walk away with pride.

====


I scream into the night, frantic at the given sight. "Slaughter!" I shout, "Slaughter! ... Somali Slaughter, come here girl for heavens sake!" In the distance across a pitch black field of glistening grass a large mow hawk of fire rushes straight for me. Fear overwhelms me as a giant beast from hell charges across the field killing one of my precious Oxen. I stand breathless knowing there isn't a rational thing I can do as a new Magi. I mumble under my breath angered, "what has this pack rat given to me?" I take a deep breath and walk cautiously across my land. What I have seen, will haunt me for the rest of my life. I hear strange noises, sounds I have never heard before. My walking quickly turns to a quit jog to get a closer look, only to discover what a hell hound truly is. My brown and white teenage Ox is flying up and down in the air with a playful sound of expression. Curious and confused, I approach the hell hound and ox to find out the truth behind this bizarre scene. Standing 20ft away, my new creature is playing with my Ox in a gentle and humble matter. Immediately relaxation comes over my body and mind, I fall to the hot moist grass laughing hysterically.



With a laughing tone, I request to my new creature, "Come on girl, we have a journey to begin". I feel heat going up my legs to the back of my neck as Slaughter, my new hell hound follows obediently back to my run down and dirty ranch. As I enter my room, a scroll catches fire. "Slaughter, you're going to have to be more careful!" as I shout playfully. I can't help but stare at this strange beast, after all I have never encountered such a fearful looking attraction. Slaughter and I bonded quickly before our journey, hoping to keep her as a valuable companion. We both walked out to a pitch black road, I kicked the dirt under my feet. Nervously I ask, "Slaughter, you ready for our first journey girl?" She nodded in respect, although I caught power for the first time in her expression. As Slaughter walked in front, guiding the way, I felt comfort with her. The hell hounds mow hawk lit the road majestically, her paws left the ground with soot. The hell hound and I shared a dark side in which other Magi often lack. I believe this inner bond and understanding will bring us closer and stand loyally to one another. Our journey has just begun.

“Stop!” I whispered, “quite girl” as we both approached a dark forest, I stood my ground with caution as Slaughter stood her ground with aggression. The hell hound bows down in full predator mode as I stand back to watch her and the glowing eyes ahead. I can't make out what has blocked our path, but Slaughter snarled with irritation and continues to walk. Trusting my companion, I follow with out hesitation. As she walks with confidence and powerful posture, I no longer fear this traitorous trip. Time had fallen upon the forest bed as my feet begin to bleed. I fall to my knees to shorty feel a rush of wet heat across my cheek. I force my head up to catch Slaughters black and red eyes, I can feel her thoughts urging me to continue forward. I pat her head, scorching my hand. A distraction of pain from my tired feet.

I look deep into the forest, as thick fog chokes my lungs. I squint my eyes to find Slaughter further ahead and looking back continually checking on me. Her fire as dimmed greatly in the fog and thinking to myself how much she resembles a large walking torch. At this moment, I feel angered not being equal to my partner so I buckle down and ride the pain out. I jog up to Slaughters side and give her a wink, she shoots up on her hind legs and gives an excited howl. Her flaming lupus like body has dulled, as the fog takes us captive; however, I smile and feel the power rushing through her body, empowering mine. We escape from the horrifying forest and run through the open plains of desert, with the sweltering mountains solar flaring ahead.

Gasping from running and choking on dry heat, Slaughter and I look at each other in accomplishment. Short of breath I wheeze, “We did it girl, giving her a quick smile” understanding we are both oblivious from what lays ahead. I can't remember what that quack of a pack rat had instructed us to find, I immediately begin to explore. “Slaughter, you go a head and look to the left as I the right” she nods and keeps with in sight. I place my hand on a rock and yelp, swinging it back as my flesh begins to boil off my hand. “Damn it!” I shout, I need my healing potion immediately. I frantically look through my sack and thankfully find it through the rubbish. Pouring a water like substance on my hand, an immediate searing pain over takes my hand. I wrap it up with a pain controlling bandage and shoot Slaughter a look of “don’t trip”. She rolls her eyes and continuous to forage through rubble.

At this point the heat is over whelming and my lungs are in serious need of healing, the damage may not be fixed. The oxygen level is falling at a rapid rate as we approach deeper into a fire pit of hell. My vision becomes blurry, blinding me and an overwhelming sickness of nausea knocks me to the ground. I can hear everything but remain in an unconscious state. I hear a howl as darkness creeps over me like a parachute of the night air. Just in sight, Slaughter brings forth a glowing ember egg. I can't make out what the strange black symbols are sticking out; however, I instruct her to bring this to Anita. With a whisper I speak, “thank you girl, it was an honor trotting beside you... finish this”. I hear a cry and Slaughter refuses to leave my side as my clothes begin to decay with my body. My voice is taken by the rocky bed I lay upon, my mind still with me. Darkness and cool air rushes over me like a snowy night, I feel cool and numb, as death visits me. I take his hand only to see my beautiful hell hound vanish upon the desert horizon. This journey has brought me what I dreamed of, everlasting peace.

Sweat dripped down the back of Aran’s neck as he unrolled the map that Anita had given him, and he peered down at the left hand corner. Chicken scratch lettering spelled out the word “Biben.”

Folding the map back up and placing it in his pack, he squinted through the heat haze at the shimmering town in the distance, his stomach fluttering. He had been walking for ages, so this must be it. The last stop before he walked off the edge of the known world.

“C’mon, you,” he snapped at the hellhound, who was currently sniffing at another jerboa rat burrow. “Let’s go.”

With a growl that raised goosebumps, the hellhound that Anita had entrusted to him followed.

Despite being visible a long way off, it was hours before Aran trudged into the village, dust skirling around his ankles. He had removed his heavy magi robes, wearing nothing but a simple traveler’s tunic, but he was still drenched in sweat. With a groan, he leaned against the wall of a dilapidated looking building, pulling out his waterskin and chugging what remained.

When he was done, he pulled out the map again, flipping it over. “Biben,” Anita had written. “A small town on the edge of Voltar. They may know something about the artifact.”

He stuffed the map back in his bag, staring at the hellhound in exhaustion. A magical artifact, in the middle of the desert? Off the edge of where cartographers had gone? Impossible. Anita must be as crazy as everyone said she was. No one had been this far southwest in…well, ever.

On top of that, “small town” was a stretch. The building he leaned against currently looked to be the only one that hadn’t half caved in. A few more spots of brown in the distance could be houses, or maybe just rocks. He suddenly wished he hadn’t finished his water.

“Hello?” He called out, stepping back out into the sun. “Is anyone here?” No answer.

“Hello? I need a place to stay.” His hellhound barked, the sound flat in the expanse of desert.

A door banging open made him jump, and an old man emerged from around the corner. Aran’s eyes widened. A dawn cinersi perched on the old man’s shoulder, its feathers gleaming.

“Who are you?” The old man asked. The cinersi tilted its head, peering at him.

Before Aran could answer, the hellhound trotted up to the man, wagging its tail.

“Well, aren’t you a good boy.” The man patted the hellhound on the head, a smile breaking across his weathered features. “What’s his name?” He called to Aran.

“I, uh, haven’t decided yet."

“That’s too bad.” The man narrowed his eyes for a moment, but Aran barely noticed, staring at the cinersi. No one he knew at the keep had such a rare creature-he had only heard about them. What was such a priceless creature doing out here?

“You haven’t answered my question.” The old man walked over, the hellhound heeling by his feet. “Young man, who are you and what are you doing in Biben? We don’t get many travelers.”

Aran straightened his spine, meeting the old man’s gaze. “My name is Aran Leven, and I am a magi from the Keep.”

The old man’s eyes narrowed for a moment, before comprehension dawned. “Oh, the Keep! The one to the north, yes? East of Silva?”

“Yes. That’s the one.” Aran suppressed an urge to roll his eyes, and masked it by leaning down and grabbing his hellhound by the scruff of his neck, the heat from the creature’s fur nearly singing his fingers. “I’ve come quite a ways. You’re the last town on my map.” The hellhound scratched furrows in the dirt as Aran pulled him closer to his side.

“Yes, no magi ever come here. It’s a shame, truly. Such history!” The old man threw his arms out wide, indicating the dilapidated buildings and scrub brush. Aran decided that cinersi or no, the man must be as crazy as Anita.

“It’s a pleasure to have you here, Aran. I am Thomas, the Elder of the town of Biben. This is Lorelai.” He motioned to the cinersi, which chirped a greeting that sent chills down Aran’s spine. “Our town no longer has an inn, but perhaps a temporary home can be made for you from one of the older houses. Come this way.”

Oh goody. An abandoned house. Aran followed, hoping he would at least get something decent out of this trip. A night with spiders and rats certainly wouldn’t be it.

“Here we are!” Lorelai leaped off Thomas’ shoulder, circling the house once and then landing on the roof. “Blessed by a cinersi, too. You’ll sleep safe.”

“Thanks.” Aran hefted his bag and headed inside, the cinersi peering down at him as he opened the door. Dust greeted him, and he sneezed twice, his eyes watering.

“Make yourself at home.” With a squawk that still somehow echoed deep in Aran’s chest, Lorelai took off, shingles raining down onto the porch.

“C’mon you.” The hellhound glanced once at Thomas before padding inside, and Aran shoved the door, trying to ignore another shingle clattering down as it closed.

Just one night here, then he would move on to try and find the artifact. How he would find a rare magical artifact in the middle of the desert, he wasn’t sure, but if it was magical enough he could probably sense it, he hoped.

A jerboa rat skittered out through a hole in the back wall, and his hellhound whuffed at it apathetically before turning in a circle and lying down.

Aran sighed. Maybe one night would be too long.

***

Dust plumed through cracked windows as Aran made the main room livable, spreading out his sleeping roll and pumping water from the side of the house. The water tasted coppery, but he filled his waterskin anyway.

The afternoon wore toward evening, and he spent the time taking a nap, sleeping through the worst heat of the desert day in the cool, dark interior of the house.

Hoofbeats roused him, and for a moment he thought he was back at the keep, listening to young students train their pegasi at the field.

“Hey! Magi!” A woman’s voice brought him back to reality. His hellhound whined at the door, pawing at the warped wood, and Aran opened it, intending to greet what must be another villager.

Instead he stared at the fiery, skeletal horse that the woman rode. He blinked hard, waiting for the dream to end or for the horse to resolve itself as an illusion.

“Hello? Thomas told me to tell you to come to his home. He’s got dinner planned for you.”

“S-sure.” Heat enfolded him as he came down the steps. The creature tossed its head, the air around its mane shimmering like the heat off of the desert.

“Is that a resurrection horse?” He finally managed. Another creature that only the most powerful and venerated of magi owned. Who were these people?

“This is Sellio.” The girl leaned down and patted the fiery mane, her hand coming away unscathed. “He’s a Valarn breed. Do you know them?”

“Y-yeah, I know them.” Aran shook his head, willing his heart to stop racing. “You said Thomas wanted me?”

“Yes. Follow me. He’s set up a small dinner for you, since you seem to have traveled quite far. We haven’t seen a magi in a long time.”

“Oh.” He followed behind, Sellio setting a slow walking pace that he could match easily. His hellhound loped at the horse’s feet, at times looking up and barking. Sellio paid no mind to the bothersome hound, merely flicking his tail at the rough noise.

“There are more there, see?” The girl pointed. It occurred to Aran that he should have asked her name, but the thought was eclipsed at the sight of a herd of skeletal horses, some with blue flame and some with red, galloping around ruined houses.

“Where did they all come from?”

She shrugged. “They’ve always been here. You act so oddly-are they so strange to you, a magi?”

He tore his gaze away from the sight, meeting her eyes. “I-no, of course not.” He adjusted his robes, his hellhound whuffing at him in a way that he swore sounded like amusement. “They are just a pretty sight, is all.”

“They are far from the prettiest around here.” She smiled. “Wait till you Thomas’ menagerie.”

“It sounds intriguing.” His heart began to race, and he mentally rehearsed the ingredients for a sleeping potion. He was a magi, and these people were merely villagers-backwater ones, at that. He should be the one impressing them, not gaping like a student fresh from his first catch at the stream!

But he couldn’t keep himself from wondering how all these rare creatures came to be here. First a cinersi, then both breeds of resurrection horse-what next?

***

The answer was pheonixes. The fire and ice phoenixes he was used to, but Thomas’ menagerie turned out to include a large number of peacock phoenixes, which Aran only knew about from books. Their tails folded and unfolded as his hellhound darted and made false lunges at them, sparks glinting from the long feathers.

Aran’s skin crawled as he watched them. There was clearly something going on in this town, something that not even Anita had predicted. Surely she would have warned him if she knew.

“Pretty, aren’t they?” The girl asked. “They’re my favorite.”

“Sure. They really are.” Maybe the artifact really was nearby. But no artifact he knew attracted magical creatures-they typically were not motivated by magical artifacts the way magi were. So why…?

“Come, Aran, Elysa. To dinner.” Thomas ushered them out of the bird filled room. “I’m sure you have fun stories of the keep to tell us, Aran, yes?”

He nodded quickly. He couldn’t let on how out of his element he felt. These creatures were rare to magi, but apparently they were common as dirt here in this tiny town, and reacting to them the way he had been would only make him look bad.

Thomas’ wife prepared the food, a luxurious spread of soups and fried vegetable platters that were probably made from the tough scrubs that grew near the desert. The fibers caught in his teeth, but the taste more than made up for it.

“So, Aran. What brings you here from the Keep?” Thomas asked as the plates were cleared. Elysa leaned forward in her chair, also clearly interested.

Aran leaned back in his chair, trying to appear nonchalant. “Well, I suppose that’s what you can help with. I’m looking for a magical artifact-someone at the keep told me it can be found somewhere out here. She wants me to bring it back.”

“What does the artifact do?”

“Well, it’s supposedly a stone that channels magic. That’s what she said.”

“Is it valuable? Why don’t you keep it?” Elysa asked.

Aran blinked. She almost sounded…no. The idea tempted, for a moment, but then he discarded it. “I couldn’t do that. She already gave me a hellhound,” the hound’s tail thumped under the table, “so taking the stone if I found it would be…like stealing.”

Elysa nodded, apparently satisfied with his answer.

Thomas scratched at his chin, his gaze unfocused. “So, lad, tell me about the northern Keep.” Northern? “Are creatures treated well there?”

“Of course!” Aran replied. “I have never heard of anyone mistreating their creatures. Even those members of the dark brotherhood, while they practice strange magics, would never harm a creature.”

“And yet, creatures are bartered and passed from magi to magi, yes?” Thomas said, tapping his finger on the table in thought. “Like your hellhound. You did not hatch him.”

Aran frowned. “Does that matter? I care for him nonetheless. Anita gave him to me with the understanding that I would treat him well. All magi are expected to do so-if they do not, they do not become magi.”

Thomas’s gaze drifted, his dark eyes unfocused, until Aran’s hellhound moved out from under the table, nuzzling the older man with his nose. Thomas stroked the fiery animal, and soon his face brightened, the tension in the air fading.

“Well then. Elysa, why don’t you take him to see it tomorrow?”

Elysa nodded, a peacock warbling from somewhere inside the house. “That sounds fine to me.”

Aran tilted his head. “To see what?”

Thomas grinned. “The artifact, of course.”

***

“C’mon mage, it’s not so far.” Easy for her to say, considering she rode a flaming horse.

Aran trudged along beside Elysa’s mount, his feet kicking up puffs of dirt from the arid ground. His hellhound ranged ahead, his explorations growing more and more pointless. Even the jerboa rats didn’t dwell here, where the sun baked the ground into clay.

“I’ve heard tales that this was once lush and green-like up north,” Elysa’s voice bobbed as her horse walked. “But the winds changed, ages ago, and brought the sand.”

“Sand?” Aran put his hand over his eyes, peering into the distance. The ground shimmered in the heat. It looked like water, or glass.

“Further west. It blows when the winds do. Be careful.” She smiled sadly.

“Be careful of wha-” Then his hellhound howled.

The wind blew up like hot air from an opened furnace, dry and burning. Aran threw up his arm to cover his face, and in moments his hellhound was beside him, supporting him against the wind.

And the sand. Each grain sliced like a knife, and Aran shut his eyes tight. He knelt down, his hellhound covering him with his heated fur.

“Elysa!” Aran shouted, and groped for her, or for her horse. He found nothing. Where had this blasted sand come from? Could Elysa have…no. She had a magi companion, but she had shown no sign of having magic.

The grains began to pile up around his hellhound’s feet, the creature lifting its paws in discomfort. He whined, a mournful sound that let Aran know he was in pain.

“It’s alright, shh.” Aran leaned down, touching the hellhound’s paws. He had no idea where Elysa and her horse had gone, but he had larger worries at the moment, the sand blinding and deafening him, his hellhounds whimpers growing fainter.

“Shh…” The sand blew stronger, slicing grains. His hellhound whimpered louder, and blood dripped from his paws. Aran tried to put a shield around them both, but it was a flimsy thing made of air, not a spell he was particularly good at. The sand sliced through it almost immediately, and he cursed. He couldn’t protect them both, and knew he could barely protect himself.

“Alright, listen.” He looked into his hellhound’s eyes. “Your name is…Helio. Like the sun, okay? Now run out of here. I can cover myself. I’ll call you by name when I’m safe, okay? Go back to the village, Helio.”

Helio licked his face, his tongue swiping away the sand that stuck against his cheek.

Then the wind died. Helio’s whimpering ceased, the air around them still and silent.

Sand rained from Aran’s robes as he stood. The desert before him had transformed, sand clumped around him up to his knees. He turned, the sky blue and clear in all directions.

“Elysa?!” He called, his voice faint. He coughed, spitting sand. “Elysa!” Helio barked.

Something glinted in the distance. Aran hurried over to it, then cursed as he fell, something catching his foot. Helio romped over the sand to greet him, sniffing at the rock. Then he whined.

Aran sat up, pushing Helio’s snout away. His hellhound barked once more, and Aran winced.

He brushed the sand off of the rock, and was reward with the shiny glint of metal. He picked up the rock-no. A perfectly square brick, made of pink-hued sandstone. The glint he had seen was gilded decoration, mostly tarnished now. He cast his senses over it, but found only residue. It had been magical once, but no longer.

A jolt went through him as he cast his senses farther. It wasn’t just the one stone he had tripped over-there were more, under this sand. In fact, even the sand itself held traces of old magic.

Helio trotted out farther, sniffing at the sand and barking periodically. Aran had a feeling he barked at more than just jerboa burrows. Maybe Elysa had led them to where he could find the artifact, and then turned back. But why the storm?

He had no time to consider it. Helio barked louder, digging furiously, sand spraying from under his paws.

“Slow down, you’ll hurt your paws more.” Aran dragged him away by the scruff, peering into the hole he had dug. He pulled up another brick, with runes etched into its side. He tilted his head, peering at them. He could have sworn he had seen their like somewhere before.

“C’mon, Helio.” He stood up and brushed as much sand as he could from his robes. “There’s something here.”

He followed Helio as the hound sniffed out more bricks. They were obviously from a building-a very old building, perhaps one that had been ground mostly to dust eons ago. Each one had runes, or if not, then the faintest trace of magic, used long past. None of them, though, matched what Anita had suggested was here. Their magic was old-hardly an artifact.

Helio began to dig once more, and the sand around him began to cave in, as though a whirlpool had opened beneath him. Aran leaped and grabbed his scruff just in time to pull him away as the ground opened, the sand pouring into the newly formed hole with a hissing roar.

Aran coughed, eyes wide as the sand rained down, a waterfall of grain. Anita hadn’t said anything about this.

When it settled, he peered into the dark hole, dust still pluming from the fallen sand. He nearly fell when Helio rushed past him, the nimble hound leaping into the dark, the dull glow of his fiery fur providing illumination.

With a sigh, Aran slid down on his butt, landing without much grace onto the pile of sand that had fallen in. It wasn’t far, but he rubbed his back as he stood up. First a town full of rare creatures, then random sandstorms, now this.

The hole led to a tunnel, which stretched down underneath the sand. Helio barked, the sound echoing off the walls.

“Shush.” Aran summoned magelight, following the tunnel. “Don’t bring this place down on our heads.” Contrite, Helio followed.

The tunnel’s walls were smoothed to near perfection, and Aran’s spine tingled. This was no natural tunnel leading to a cave. In some places, the same bricks that had littered the ground outside had fallen, the same runes decorating them. As Aran moved his light along the sides, he saw more of them, spidery script. Runes of…he thought back to his classes. Runes of protection. The same ones that were worked invisibly into the walls of the Keep.

He stopped walking, his light blinking. He took a deep breath before moving on, Helio’s nails clicking on stone.

The tunnel turned sharply, and he arrived in an enormous cavern.

No. Not cavern. He moved his light higher, pouring power into it, a glinting star in the center of the room, the arch that formed the foundation of what must have once been an ancient castle.

Or an ancient Keep. Eggs sat on pockets of sand, flaming eggs of resurrection horses and phoenixes, cinersi and peacocks, glowing like tiny red stars.

Helio looked up, and Aran followed his gaze, moving his light higher. A carving decorated the stone overhead, a rising sun. A mark had been slashed through it, perhaps a crack from an ancient earthquake, or perhaps something else.

“Surprised, mage?” Aran whirled, Elysa appearing out of another tunnel, Sellio burning bright.

“What is this?”

“You think your Keep was the first? The only one?” She laughed. “You sought an artifact, but you’ve found more than just some magical stone.”

Aran couldn’t speak, staring at the eggs in the sands, the carved sun overhead. History surrounded him. “Who were they? What…what happened to them?”

“Who can say?” Elysa dismounted, the sound of her landing echoing in the empty space. “But you are the first magi to come here since they left. No maps, no legends, remember this place, only that there may be magic here.”

Helio barked once more, whining at the eggs, and Aran winced. “But the creatures...they remember.” It all made sense.

“Creatures who don’t die. They stayed behind.” Elysa waved her arm, motioning to the eggs in the sands.

“What…what will they do?”

Elysa smiled. “You may have failed to find an artifact to bring back to the Keep, but you’ve found them instead. You’ve proved you care for your creatures, or you would not have found this place.”

Aran knew what she would say next. Helio leaned against his hip, sighing with contentment.

“They need to follow you to their new home.”

Chapter 2: Leah’s Journey, Part 1


Leah walks through the bustling market place, trying to blow off some steam. Her ashen shaa walks close beside her, the dark grey dog making barely a sound. His short, curved horn gleams in the afternoon sun. He whisks his tail back and for, the gold ring end clicking Leah on the back of her calf affectionately.
Leah turns her fiery red eyes down to her shaa. The shaa stops and looks into Leah’s eyes. Something bothering you, Leah? the shaa asks.
Leah shrugs. “Nothing too much, Alscar.”
Alscar shakes his head. I know you too well, Leah. Come, let us find an Inn that takes magi and we can talk there.
“Good idea, Al.”
Alscar wags his tale at the small praise. The magi and her companion head to a new inn called Twin-Hounds. Leah stops at the dark woods doors at the front. She marvels at the two magnificent hellhounds painted on the sign of the inn. Without hesitation, she walks into the inn, followed closely by Alscar.
Leah un-straps her dark brown traveling cloak and hangs it over her arm as she takes a seat in the back with Alscar. A woman in her late twenties takes Leah’s order for raw meat, two waters, one in a bowl, and the roasted pork of the day. The woman brings the order and walks back to the bar to attend to her new guests.
Leah looks at Alscar, waiting for the shaa to spark up some conversation. Instead, he takes a totally new approach. You are jealous of Sally sometimes, aren’t you?
Shocked as she is, Leah answers bitterly, “Not all the time.”
Vent, I’m here.
“Well, for one, she always gets the guys, good or bad. They look at her and think princess…even though she acts like a spoiled brat most of the time…” Leah murmurs the last part bitterly.
So? You are equally as pretty.
“Equally isn’t good enough. I want someone to like me fore me, and not because I dress and act like a spoiled princess. I like to go on adventures. I like to get down and dirty and reap good rewards. I don’t like it when I have to follow Palace Rules for when I have to go to some stupid ball with another prince charming of Sally’s. That last one was like having another Sally in guy form.”
He was a bad one.
“Anyway, I just get tired of having to clean up after her constantly and then watch as she gets all the guys with minimum work. I’ve never had a relationship before and here Sally is, going on and on about which guy dumped her, and which guy she loves better-”
So this is why you are upset? Because you haven’t had a guy like you for you and Sally has had many that like her for…a lot of things?
Leah has no argument for that. She just nods her light blonde hair.
Alscar sits up and stares Leah in the eyes. You know what makes you, you?
Leah shakes her head, eyes set hard as she thought of all the guys that have looked past her and to her sister. Alscar gives a doggish smile. You will one day, when the right guy comes ‘round for you. Now come, are you going to go look at the creatures here or what?
Leah pays for their meal and walks out of Twin-Hounds’. Leah was looking at a venue with gryphon eggs from a great lineage when something rams into her legs, knocking her over and flat on her face. Alscar assumes his fighting stance, standing protectively over Leah. He growls at the creature that knocked Leah over. Leah’s fire red eyes turn to the creature. She laughs out lout. A white wolf with sorry brown eyes cowers close to the ground, embarrassment rippling over his body.
The young pup, for it was still a hatchling, gives off a pathetic whimper. Leah sits up as a voice calls out for the albino direwolf hatchling. Alscar steps away from Leah and over to the direwolf to have a stern word with the pup. “I hope he didn’t hurt you too much. He was chasing a squirrel and ran into the market place on accident,” a voice of a young man says.
A strong hand is held out to Leah. She looks up into strong, kind ice blue eyes of a guy. Great…maybe I should stop talking to you about guys, Alscar, ‘cause they show up right after the conversations, Leah says to Alscar.
Alscar gives off a cough, his way of laughing. Leah takes the hand and is hoisted to her feet. “Thanks. Your direwolf may be a pup, but he is very strong,” Leah says as she looks over the new guy.
He’s tall, with a thick mess of dark brown hair. He is muscular, no doubt. He has to be to handle the direwolf pup that he has. His skin is tan from long days working with his creatures as well. Black bandaging is wrapped around his hands and wrists like gauntlets. His black trousers are tucked into black traveling boots. Over his black shirt is a dark maroon tunic with the sleeves slit on the front side, and tied with a small, thin gold cord above his elbows. Leah suppresses a blush wanting to rush to her cheeks. “Um…Leah Snow,” she says with a small stutter. Mentally, she slaps herself.
The guy smiles. “Jon Amir. Nice to meet you, Leah,” he says as they shake hands.
“Is that short for Jonathan?”
“Yep. I was named after my father. He died when I was two fighting alongside some of mages that fought against the Dark Ones.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be, I’m proud of him. Do you see anything interesting here?” he asks, changing the subject as soon as Leah felt awkward.
Leah shakes her head. “Nothing really.”
Jon smiles at her. “I know a place you can get a creature. It can be quite a journey, but it’s worth it.”
Leah looks at Jon skeptically. “I guess…”
“Great! When do you want to go?”
Leah looks back the way she came, back to where Trinacott Keep lies. “Now’s fine,” she says.
Jon’s eyes furrow in confusion. “We don’t have any supplies. Don’t you think we should get some?”
“True…”
“I mean, I have a few things, but you need some.”
Leah rolls her eyes. “We can go to my Keep and get the provisions I need. That is, if you want to come.”
Jon nods. “I’d love to see your Keep. Did you ride or walk here?”
“I rode. My ash gryphon is waiting outside Synara.”
“So is mine. Are you done here?”
“Yes I am.”
It doesn’t take long for the two to reach the outermost part of Synara. As Jon had said, his gryphon was waiting outside as well. Tinsel’s high pitched screech came from the sky, announcing his arrival to Leah. As the ash gryphon lands, he looks Jon over, making sure he approves of the guy before he continues to travel with him. Jon gives the gryphon a smile, his own walking up behind him.
Tinsel seems to approve as the new gryphon comes into his view. The new gryphon is a soot gryphon with a black lion-hide and dark grey feathers, a dark version of Tinsel. Tinsel shakes his head and clicks his beak at the female. In turn, she ignores him.
Shocked, Tinsel looks to Leah for help. Leah laughs at his newfound interest in the female. “Come on, boy, we have to get something from the Keep,” Leah says as she mounts the shocked gryphon.
Leah looks to Jon, making sure he is ready before taking off. Alscar jumps into Leah’s lap just in time as the gryphon takes off. They arrive at the top of Trinacott Keep before three hours is up. It really isn’t a far ride. Jon lands beside Leah, looking at the Keep in shock. “You live here all by yourself?” he asks in shock. “Where are your creatures?”
“I wish I did. The creatures are inside right now. Come on.”
Jon follows her up the steps and into the house. Leah walks in, expecting Sally to jump at Jon the first moment they walk in, but she doesn’t. Instead, Leah hears laughing. As quietly as possible, Leah rushes upstairs to grab her questing bag, a brown leather bag that holds everything she needs for a quest. She bought it from a dealer in Synara who had enchanted it with a bottomless spell so she can fit just about anything she needs in it. The leather seems new even though it has been through many, many journeys. The bag itself can be reduced to the size of anything and can be worn as anything.
Leah turns the leather bag into a light brown leather belt, laying it on her bed. She rummages through her closet and pulls out a new set of clothes. She pulls on a fresh white tank top and pulls on skinny brown traveling pants. Over the top of her tank-top she pulls on a maroon leather vest, tying the ties in the front. She puts her tan and black traveling boots back on before leaving her room. As she walks down stairs, Leah puts on the light brown belt, making sure it is securely on her waist before walking out to door. “Oh, crap!” Leah says to Jon just as she is about to shut the door. “Sally has my gloves. Be right back.”
Leah runs back up the stairs and to Sally’s room. “Gods I hope she hasn’t spelled the door again,” Leah murmurs.
Quickly, Leah opens the door, rushes in and grabs her fingerless dark brown leather gloves, and runs back out unharmed. She arrives at Tinsel’s side unharmed. “Let’s go,” Leah says to Jon.
Jon nods and takes to the air with Leah close behind him. They turn to the south, heading straight for the Etain desert.

Well into the night, they reach the Etain desert. Leah and Jon both dismount their. Alscar races out into the desert, rolling in the sand. The love of the heat isn’t at all contagious. Jon scrunches his nose in disgust at the thought of the morning heat. “Let’s get going while the moon is still high. I never really liked the desert in the morning,” Jon says to Leah, shaking his dark brown hair.
Leah smiles. She doesn’t mind the heat. But then again, she is a fire magi. “What kind of magi are you, Jon?” she asks.
Jon smiles. “You can’t guess?”
“Water?”
“Nope.”
“Earth?”
“Not even close.”
“Then what are you?”
Jon’s smile never wavers. “I’m a fire magi.”
Leah looks at him in fake shock. “I would have never guessed!”
“You just gave up.”
Leah looks over and gives Jon a fake punch.
By the time the sun begins to peek over the rocky landscape, they have arrived at what appears to be a cave outcropping. Jon looks at Leah. “After you,” Leah says.
Jon nods and enters, the albino direwolf pup following him excitedly. Alscar comes up beside Leah and they enter together.

The Crystalline Caves were said to be a remarkable sight, clustered with crystals of various colors from blues to greens to reds, and sporadically placed all over the walls and floors of the deep passages so that one could venture into them without a light of their own. This is where you find yourself, carefully stepping over rocks and squeezing through tunnels.
It’s not long before Leah and Jon hear the echoes of gentle tapping. Upon rounding a bend, Jon find’s who they are looking for. A woman is beating at the surrounding crystals with a pick. She’s dressed in brown trousers, heavy boots, a loose tunic and leather jerkin with a multitude of a tiny bags and pockets wrapped around her waist and legs. Atop her head is a mass of curly brown hair. Jon nods Leah to go ahead. Leah clears her throat to gain her attention, and she stops in mid-swing to peer at Leah and Jon from behind large, circular goggles. She lifts them from her face and smiles.
Leah’s heard of this woman from time to time in the Keep. Anita the Accumulator. Or, for those less inclined, Anita the Pack Rat. She often sends magi out into the world to collect samples of her discoveries, and in return she’ll award them with creatures. However, she is not what Leah expected.
“Hello, mage,” she says quite cheerfully. “Here for the journey, I wager?” Leah nods. “As I tell many of your folk, it’s not a pleasant journey if you’re not careful, but I give you creatures to help you with the trials. You keep them, too…long as you survive it in one piece.” Leah hesitates, staring at her warily with thoughts of whether or not this is a good idea after all.
She smiles wider and says, “Having a bit of fun, is all. You magi are so serious.” She wipes a handkerchief across her face, succeeding only smearing dirt. “It shouldn’t be so bad, and you get my little lovelies in the process. So,” she leans on the handle of the pick, smirking, “are you willing to go on the journey?”
Leah looks back at Jon. He smiles and nods. “I’ll do it.”
Anita smiles. “The frosty mountains await you, as does great danger. Not only will the White Elk lead you through the snow, but they have the power to bring peace to your soul.”
Leah’s eyebrows furrow in confusion. Anita gives a high pitched whistle. An elk with fur as white as snow appears out of one of the leading caves. The chains fall all around his massive brown rack of antlers. His brown eyes look at Leah. Somehow, peace doesn’t reach Leah’s soul instead, she feels disappointment. She was looking forward to a tough creature, not exactly a softy that “brings peace to your soul”. “What am I going to look for in the mountains?”
Anita smiles. “You are to find a gold crystal wing. It has distress in itself and has been injured badly.”
“How do you know this?”
“My own collections tell me many things. One of them is when creatures are harmed by magic, dark magic. There will be many dangers seeing as these Dark Ones wish to capture a magi of Noble blood.”
Leah smiles. “I don’t have any Noble blood, Anita. But I will find this crystal wing. Is it yours?”
“It is not. But to be an owner of a crystal wing is up to the creature itself.”
“What about the elk? Does it have a name?”
“Your elk, your name. Be safe, magi. And you, Jon. Is your noctis enox behaving himself?”
Jon smiles at Anita. “As good as a noctis will ever behave. Come on, Leah, time to go.”
Anita points to the tunnel that the elk had come from. “Take that one out.”
Leah follows Jon and the direwolf pup into the other tunnel.

Nothing Yet. Should have it up tonight or tomorrow

Not for the first time today, I cursed under my breath. It would figure that Epsilon and Bones would be reluctant to accompany me to the Crystalline Caverns. Both Keep Guardians apparently had their "hands full", taking care of eggs and hatchlings. I knew well enough that wasn't the case, there hadn't been as many eggs or hatchlings the last few days, and most of the creatures that inhabited the Keep were spread out along the various patches of land surrounding. In essence, the Guardians were cowards and the Keep was near empty.

The Hippogryph I had loaned for the journey let out an irritated squawk, landing on the ground in front of the cave entrance and biting my hand, getting my attention rather effectively. "Yes, yes, Talon. You did well. I'll make to tell your Magi what a good, good hippogryph you were." I stroked the creature's head, and it snorted and danced away, standing proud and spreading its wings before flapping off.

Leaving just me alone. In hindsight, I shouldn't have gone to the Caverns, but I was rather eager to find this Anita and her possible creatures. If anyone would have a Crystalwing, it was bound to be her, and I wanted a companion for my lone Crystalwing who occasionally lived around my Keep. Taking a deep breath --I specialized in earth magic, so it wasn't like a cave in would scare me-- ,I ventured in.

It was sort of an anti-climactic entrance. No earthquakes. No horrible screams. No danger. Just a whole lot of shiny rocks. "Okay, 'Zu. Find what you came for and get out, fast." I told myself, following a path at random. I had a system, and it had served me well enough thus far, which was always take the right path. After wandering for awhile though, it seemed my brilliant, impossible to fail plan had, in fact, failed me.

Then I heard it. Gentle tapping filled the halls of stone, and I brightened. That was certainly promising! Upon rounding a bend, I found who I was looking for. A woman was beating at the surrounding crystals with a pick. She was dressed in brown trousers, heavy boots, a loose tunic and leather jerkin with a multitude of a tiny bags and pockets wrapped around her waist and legs. Atop her head is a mass of curly brown hair. I cleared my throat to gain her attention, and she stops in mid-swing to peer at you from behind large, circular goggles. She lifted them from her face and smiled. I grin in return as I recollect my knowledge of Anita. She often sent magi out into the world to collect samples of her discoveries, and in return she awards them with creatures. Even if she doesn't look quite what I expected, I was still pretty thrilled about this venture.

“Hello, mage,” she said quite cheerfully. “Here for the journey, I wager?” I nodded. “As I tell many of your folk, it’s not a pleasant journey if you’re not careful, but I can give you creatures to help you with the trials. You keep them, too…long as you survive it in one piece.” I hesitated, staring at her warily with thoughts of whether or not this is a good idea after all.

She smiled wider and says, “Having a bit of fun, is all. You magi are so serious.” She wiped a handkerchief across her face, succeeding only smearing dirt. “It shouldn’t be so bad, and you get my little lovelies in the process. So,” she leans on the handle of the pick, smirking, “are you willing to go on the journey?”

I flash her a confident, winning smile. "Always willing and ready," I inform Anita. She gestured to the creatures in the caverns around us, and I study each of them. I was tempted to grab a Crystalwing to accompany me, but a series of howls caught my attention. A pack of hellhounds were currently busy heckling a small group of Icists. They spread out, flames licking their jaws. One of them stood out, some sort of Alpha.

I cleared my throat, taking a few steps forward and called out, "Alpha!" It was a sudden shift in mood, and the lead hellhound swung her head around to look at me, peering at me. We both thought the same thing: We were not of the same elements. She was a creature of fire, I studied earth magic.

"Alpha," I tried again, inching forward. "I need your help in a journey. Your power and skill is something worth admiring, and earth and fire are sisters. Your power rids of dead life, mine gives you sustenance. Work with me, and together we can succeed."

The hellhound tilted her head, and twisted, barking at her pack. They growled quietly, and they all seemed to arguing. Finally, the Alpha stepped out and trotted over, looking up at me. Her pack behind her lifted their heads in an eerie howl, and through the chaos, I could hear Anita inform me that my destination was to be the fiery lands of Voltar.

The Alpha turned and looked at me darkly, stamping her feet in impatience. "Look," I said irritably, "Remember that whole specialty in earth thing? Well, I don't cope too well with this heat. So would you wait just a bit for me to adjust?"

The Alpha merely snorted and sat down, waiting. I resisted the oh-so tempting urge to coax vines out the ground to entangle her, but resisted. The last thing I wanted was the Alpha trying to kill me. I had raised a hellhound before, but it was tamed by Magi standards, unlike the Alpha, who at heart was a feral, dangerous creature. And she knew it.

Once more, I was starting to regret my decision making skills. Voltar was not the loveliest of places (Seriously, don't ever vacation there), and I was at the end of my rope. The heat was stifling, the smog was suffocating me. I couldn't decide whether I wanted to risk the hot ground and curl into a ball or not. The Alpha was completely unimpressed, and I could hear her sarcastic snort again. Weakling. Pathetic.
I could almost hear her say, and that made me upset. Who was this upstart Hellhound, to call me weak! Bracing myself, I trudged up the mountain, gritting my teeth.

The Alpha suddenly let out a cry, and a blast of flame nearly charred me to a crisp. On a cliffside, a fire gryphon let out a screaming challenge, flaring its wings. I could barely see the twigs and dead debris and rock that made up the gryphon's nest. Spectacular. Not only was it on fire, but it was a Mother. The Alpha gave her own cry of challenge, focusing and sending a burst of dark flame at the fire gryphon. It crouched low, weathering the flame and protecting its eggs. Once the fire dimmed, it launched itself off the cliff and dived for the Alpha.

Acting fast, I called up vines from the barren ground, and they stretched up, grabbing the flaming avian. It shrieked as it was suddenly suspended and trapped by thorny vines, twisting and writhing and screaming ferociously. The Alpha danced around it, barking gleefully. The flaming bird snapped at the vines and plummeted, nearly crushing the Alpha. She sidestepped away, and the bruising and bewildered gryphon took back into the sky and returned to her eggs, stamping her taloned feet and lashing her tail in warning, hissing low and deep in her chest.

"We won't hurt your eggs!" I called out to it, in case it would understand. The bird squawked in reply, but it didn't keep attacking us, so I assumed we could carry on. The Alpha took the lead up the mountain again, tail gently flicking as she turned back and gave me a toothy grin.

"I know, right? Smooth moves." I stated, proud of myself. "Anyways, Alpha, you know this place better than I do. Are you sure phoenixes nest as the top of this mountain?" I asked, and the Alpha merely barked in reply, trotting ahead. I scowled, trudging along after the hellhound.

----

"How good are you at distractions?" I whispered to the Alpha, looking out at the flock of phoenixes that currently were nested. The Alpha whined softly in reply, and I could tell that even she was a bit nervous about the odds. Anita had been sort of cruel to ask us to steal phoenix egg shells. They had magical quality, capable of alleviating any disease. Unfortunate, where there were egg shells, there were hatchlings, and if the fire gryphon was any indicator, these creatures did not approve of Magi and hellhounds by their chicks.

"Okay." I said quietly, "Here's the plan. You run in, I'll grab the shells, we run." The Alpha looked up at me irritably, and I could tell the demonic hound didn't approve the plan one bit. I didn't blame her, I wouldn't want to be the one to distract the phoenixes. "Fine," I said. "We'll wing it. Ha, get it? Wing it?" The Alpha obviously didn't approve of my amazing sense of humor, as she gave me a dry look and lashed her tail. I swear, if she could've rolled her eyes, the hound would have.

The Alpha moved first, slinking along the outer edge of the Nest. The Phoenixes hadn't noticed her yet, and she was started to inch closer towards the eggshells. I slowly lurched upright, watching the Alpha move along. Then, a sharp keening sound let me know that the phoenixes had seen the Alpha. The hellhound snarled ferociously, barking loudly. The birds all swiveled and looked at her, clucking and surging forward.

I gathered my magic, focusing. I was not going to let the Alpha get hurt, that would just prove the hellhound was better than I was, dammit! Vines twisted from the ground, entangling two phoenixes while a third one fought the Alpha. The two trapped phoenixes had quickly scorched their binds and came for me, wings flared and screaming. I hissed to myself (I was going to kill my Keep Guardians when I returned from this adventure) and released another blast of magic, focusing it at the ground. Rock spiked up and entombed one phoenix. The bird shrieked and flames burst out from around it.

The other had reached me by now and was currently studying me savagely. It croaked and flapped its wings, causing a wave of flames to rush forward at me. I twisted out of the way, barely being becoming charcoal. The smell of singed hair and clothes told me I hadn't quite ducked properly, and there were bits of me that may or may not have been on fire.

The phoenix chirruped triumphantly, thinking me easy prey, when I relinquished the spell I was holding. Suddenly, the ground beneath it was quicksand, and the phoenix found itself mired and its lower half was slowly sinking into the earth. I made sure that it was trapped enough it couldn't escape immediately, but could probably break free with effort. Sand wouldn't last here, it would become glass or something.

The Alpha had already finished dealing with her phoenixes, though she hadn't the same mercy I had. The hellhound looked at me, grinning toothily, a feather caught in her teeth. I resisted the urge to faint. Any magi felt great respect towards the creatures. Still, their deaths were permanent.

I stalked over to the egg shells, picking them up and looking at the hatchlings defiantly, as if daring them to come after me as well. It'd only be yet another creature here trying to kill me. Instead, they peeped confusedly and looked at me, one of them bold enough to hop over and sit on my foot. "Hey, birdie. Hop off," I told it, but the phoenix looked up at me and squeaked, flapping its stubby little phoenix wings. The Alpha padded over, studying it and smelling it. "Oi, no hurting the kid." I told the Alpha, and she looked up at me with a smirk.

The hatchling still refused to remove himself from my foot, squawking irritably and beginning to nibble at my toe through my shoe. "Oh, fel." I said to myself. Well, if Epsilon and Bones were going to stay because they had to watch hatchlings, then they had earned themselves a new hatchling to guard. "Come on, little guy. You want to come home with me?" I asked. The phoenix chirped contentedly, leaning against my leg and lighting the bottom of my robes on fire.

Anita grinned at me, still looking as jubilant as ever. Some of the creatures from before were gone, and I assumed the possibly crazy lady had sent them on their own quests of possible doom. "Your eggshells." I told her, picking up a small flame retardant bag from my larger backpack and offering it to her. Anita brightened, taking it from me.

"Oh, thank you, Azunara!" She bubbled, "I don't know how I can repay you! Perhaps your companion would like to stay with you?" She asked, and looked at the Alpha. The hellhound looked at me, yawning toothily, tail flicking.

"What kind of answer is that?" I asked her, and she barked, leaning against me companionably. It was like we were now old war veterans who had suffered the same horrible conflicts and were now old best friends. I could hear my phoenix hatchling friend cheeping in my bag, and I knew the little bugger was going to get hungry soon. "So?" I asked the Alpha, and she tilted her head. Her Pack all turned to look at her, and they leaped closer, snuffling their Alpha and whining, licking her jaw and lying on their backs, belly up. All of them did but one, a large male who was only slightly smaller than the Alpha.

The Alpha stood up and barked at the male, who growled in reply. Both hellhounds bared their teeth, hackles raised and fur bristling. I stepped back to watch, but it was practically over before it began. The Alpha stepped down, with an almost casual shrug, and returned to my side. Once more, the Pack gave its odd howl and they turned away, led by the male.

"I think that's it," Anita said. The Collector had been looking at the contents of the bag the entire time, and just now fixed her attention back on me. "Alright. I'd like to thank you for your assistance. I'll let you know if I ever need anything from Voltar again." She smiled brightly at me, and to my credit, I didn't groan out loud.

The Alpha grinned in that doggish way of hers, and turned, barking. She began to pad out of the cave, and with a wave to Anita, I followed the Hellhound to home.

There was a tale Lachesis had heard long ago, from a wandering storyteller who’d stayed at the keep for half a year, where a poor girl sought a land beyond where the sun rose, past where the moon set.

Mysterious and unknown lands. A place that did not exist, if only because it waited to be discovered. Perhaps the very land within the story. Lachesis idly toyed with the thought, wondering if it frightened or exhilarated her. Perhaps it was a bit of both. The journey was swift as a blink of the eye, and the thought had only just left her mind before the crystalwing fluttered gently to the ground.

Here was right, wherever “here” was. She could feel it as she dismounted. It was a frozen place, with fields of snow as far as the eye could see, blinding as the crystal caves as they reflected the sun into a thousand jagged points of light.

“Why do you come, magi?”

Lachesis spun around at the voice, to see a man so tall he easily stood at twice her height. She craned her neck to look at his face. His hair was golden and fine; his eyes were sea-green. His face was chiseled and expressionless and unnaturally handsome. Lachesis opened her mouth and said the first words that came to mind.

“Are you a god? Where is this place?”

The man turned away, looking somewhere far out into the distance. He sounded thoughtful as he replied, “I know not what I am, but I am no god. This place is the in-between, the crossroads, and I am simply the one who points the way. Why do you come, magi?”

“I—” Lachesis paused, not knowing what to say. “I am on a quest.”

“What do you seek?”

Lachesis stared at the ground, her voice quiet as she replied. “I don’t know.”

The whisper of wind across snow was the only sound for a moment as both the magi and the pathfinder were silent. “The quest for the unknown,” he finally said. “The most rewarding quest of all, for it is a quest for yourself.” He extended his giant hand, lifting her face up to look at him. “Take flight into the east,” he instructed. “Your crystalwing will show you the way. And take this,” he added, handing her a golden walnut. “You will need it.” The giant released her and turned to the crystalwing, whispering something into the creature’s ear. Then, in a flash, he disappeared, leaving only drifting flakes of snow where he stood before.

Lachesis stared at the newly empty space for a moment before looking down to examine the walnut. It was solid gold, far heavier than a real nut would be. The maker had carefully crafted each striation and ridge, so that it was a perfect replica of an uncracked kernel.

She felt an odd compulsion to keep the nut in her hand, so she kept it tucked into her palm as she mounted the crystalwing again. “Let’s go east, then, shall we?”

The crystalwing nodded, stretching his wings out and flapping experimentally a few times. Then he launched himself into the air, towards where the sun was beginning to set.

The ocean stretched on forever, endless stretch upon endless stretch of water, and not even the crystalwing’s powerful flight could cross it. They had slowed in their journey long ago, until they soared gently over the water, falling ever lower and lower.

Lachesis gripped her companion’s back harder as the ocean drew closer and closer. “Just a bit further,” she whispered in a desperate mantra. Surely their journey couldn’t end here, not like this, in a watery grave!

And then—perhaps she’d clenched her hand too tightly, or perhaps it was the fine layer of sweat covering her palm—however it happened, the walnut slipped out from her hand, landing in the water with a small splash. Lachesis gaped, staring behind her, for what little she had gained from the journey was now gone, sinking into the bottom of the sea.

And then her jaw dropped further, for at the spot where the walnut had dropped, a tree burst out of the sea, branches springing forth from a trunk that rose and thickened with every passing second. Branches sprang from the branches, and more branches sprang from those, and as they grew little buds slipped into existence on each limb and unfurled their leaves, gently shading the tree with a delicate green hue.

“Hey,” Lachesis called, tugging on the crystalwing when she recovered from the sight. “Turn around, there’s a tree, it’s growing from the walnut. Maybe you can rest on there.”

The crystalwing’s head perked at the thought of rest, and he turned and rose from nearly skimming the surface of the sea to land on the tree. The branches sagged under his weight but held. The leaves were larger now, and more intensely green, and as the magi watched golden walnuts sprouted between them and started to grow.

When the nuts no longer expanded noticeably with each passing moment, Lachesis plucked two and slipped them into her pack. One for the return journey, and the other because surely this was what Anita had sent her to find. The crystalwing munched contentedly on several more as they rested.

They set off again close to an hour later. Lachesis turned back to look at the tree as they flew off; it crumbled to dust before her eyes, until only the ever-present foam and waves were left on the sea.

*

The sun was beginning to set by the time they reached dry land again, on a shore covered with reeds. Lachesis sighed as she dismounted and took a few trembling steps, not quite used to solid ground anymore after spending so long riding.

“Thank you,” she whispered to the crystalwing, patting his nose. He shook his head and sneezed in response. “It’s probably time I named you, isn’t it?”

The crystalwing nodded, so Lachesis placed both hands on his head and cleared her mind. Through the silence in her head, she heard a whisper. Peridor, it said. Peridor.

Lachesis released her hold on the creature. “Peridor. Will you accept Peridor as your name?”

The crystalwing nodded again and nuzzled her arm. Lachesis grinned before going to unload her pack from Peridor’s back. In no time, she had a small fire crackling behind the reeds. Peridor curled up beside the flames and promptly began to snore. As Lachesis set up her tent beside him, her foot struck a small object and sent it skittering over the sand. Intrigued, she went to investigate.

The object turned out to be a small set of panpipes made from the reeds that grew on the shore. Lachesis frowned as she turned them over in her hands, wondering who could have made it; the reeds were not even dried. She could feel, too, some latent power within the instrument, magic that hummed in time with her own even though she could not identify the spell.

As she examined the pipes, a sudden flash of light burst from her right, and she turned to see a liyan and a valcerian dragon materialize. The liyan pounced on the dragon, dealing repeated blows with its heavy claws to the dragon’s head.

“No!” Lachesis cried, horrified at the sight, and threw the pipes at the liyan without thinking. They connected solidly with the liyan’s head, far more forcefully than should have been possible. For a moment everything stood still. Then the liyan collapsed in on himself and turned into a small brown bird that rose into the air, singing bright trilling notes as it soared away. The pipes dropped softly onto the ground.

“Thank you,” someone said, and Lachesis whipped around to find herself face to face with a strange woman. And what a strange woman she was! Her skin was made of gold and orange scales, and she wore no clothes. Her unnaturally fine hair was bright yellow, and her eyes were deep pink.

“You’re—”

“The dragon, yes,” the woman replied, eyes crinkling with amusement. “And I thank you for saving me. But I’m afraid I must repay you by asking of you a favor.”

Lachesis lifted her eyebrow. “Go on,” she replied.

“The liyan—well, the lark now—he is another dragon under an enchantment, by an old enemy of ours. Will you go free him?”

Lachesis stared at the dragon woman. “I can try,” she said. “But you’re every bit as powerful as I am—actually, you’re almost certainly more powerful. Why send me?”

“Because, as you know, every spell such as this must have a way to reverse it built into it.”

Lachesis nodded, comprehension dawning. “It specifies a human must carry things out, doesn’t it?”

“Exactly.”

“And what is it that I must do?” Lachesis asked.

The dragon waved her hand, and three golden eggs appeared out of thin air. She handed them to Lachesis. “I am not allowed to tell you,” she said. “But these eggs contain the items you will require—open each egg at your moments of greatest need. Remember the tales you have heard, and you will know what to do.” She picked the pipes up from the ground and blew a note on them. Slowly, a layer of gold crept and spread over the instrument, until the entire thing was gilded. She handed the pipes to Lachesis as well. “This will grant you a single wish. Play a tune and it will grant your heart’s desire.” She leapt into the air, transforming back into a dragon as she ascended.

“Wait! Where is—” Lachesis trailed off as the dragon flew off, disappearing from view before she could finish her question. The magi sighed and rearranged all the objects she had received more securely in her arms, before returning to finish setting up her tent for the night.

Peridor soared gracefully ever more and more to the north, past endless plains, swooping valleys nestled in soaring mountains, and vast brilliant lakes, until the open land gave way to fields of snow. How Peridor knew exactly where to go, Lachesis didn’t know, but she trusted him to show her the way.

She shivered as the temperature dropped further and pulled a heavy cloak from her pack, being careful not to jar her items in the process. In the distance loomed several heavy mountains. Peridor flapped his massive wings heavily and turned towards them, and in no time they were among the peaks. Peridor found an outcropping on the lowest one and alighted there.

Suddenly the world around her shifted and dissolved, and she stood before a large palace instead. Peridor was nowhere to be seen. In fact, no one but her was around. Lachesis plucked up her courage and approached the door. It creaked open before her, and she found herself inside a huge, empty golden hall. It was fancy and beautiful to behold, but what caught her eye was the cage on a stand at the end of the hall with a small grey bird inside. She walked towards the cage, quickly, but not too quickly.

She was a foot away when a woman materialized before her, decked from head to toe with gems and glittering golden garments. She was very pretty, with shining black hair and hard black eyes, but Lachesis instinctively felt fear upon seeing her.

“That bird is mine,” she intoned, her eyes boring into Lachesis. “You are not welcome here.”

Lachesis swallowed. She had a mission. She couldn’t back down. “If it is so, how may I obtain the bird?”

The woman looked her up and down, an appraising expression on her face, before finally smiling hungrily. If she had been scary before, she was truly terrifying now, and it was all Lachesis could do not to bolt out the door right that moment. The woman snapped her fingers, and a small green valcerian dragon zoomed into the room, hovering beside her.

“Stay three nights by the cage,” the woman said. “If on the third morning it is still beside you, you may have it. If on any of the mornings it is gone, I will keep it, and you as well.”

The deal was far too simple. But she didn’t have any other option, so Lachesis gritted her teeth and nodded. “Deal.”

The woman grinned. “Very well. I will see you tomorrow.” She turned and walked out through a hidden door in the wall, the dragon following beside her.

Lachesis drew several symbols in the air with her hands, her pack materializing before her when she finished. She plucked it from midair before it hit the ground and pulled out the first golden egg, breaking it. A multitude of small, perfectly round gems fell out, far more than should have been possible from one egg.

At that moment, a sudden heaviness fell on her eyelids, and though she tried, she couldn’t help but fall asleep. The last thing she saw before drifting off was the dragon coming back into the room and flying towards the cage.

*

“Get up.”

Lachesis jumped up, instantly terrified. Surely the dragon had taken the cage, and she had lost the bet. She glanced at the woman, who looked…quite annoyed? Not the expression she’d expected to see. She turned to the side, glancing at the stand. The cage was still there. Beside them, the small green dragon was scurrying about, playing with the perfectly round gems.

The woman scowled at the sight and snapped her fingers. Dragon and gems both disappeared instantly. “There are still two days left,” the woman said, and walked out once more.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. A small golden bird brought Lachesis some food. A few other creatures, all golden, tugged at her insistently until she allowed them to braid her hair. There was no way of telling the passage of time, but she somehow could feel when evening fell. All the golden creatures disappeared, and the hall fell silent.

Lachesis reached into her pack, pulling out and breaking the second egg. A tiny, ornate mirror fell out and expanded, until it was about half her height and twice as wide. Lachesis propped it against the stand. Just as she finished, sleepiness overtook her again, and she sagged to the ground. She thought perhaps she saw a peacock walk up to the stand, but perhaps it was just a dream.

*

She was woken unceremoniously by someone roughly shaking her. The woman’s scowl was deeper than the day before, as she snapped her fingers and made the mirror and the peacock admiring himself before it disappear.

“There is still one night left,” she said, before sweeping out again.

The day passed much as the one before had, and when evening fell again Lachesis broke the third and last egg. An uncountable number of fine golden butterflies fluttered out. Their workmanship was exquisite; Lachesis couldn’t resist carefully catching one and placing it into her pack. As before, a sudden weariness struck her, and she lay down on the floor, unable to resist. As she closed her eyes, she felt something soft and silent brush by her. She cracked one eyelid open just long enough to see a cat, attempting to catch the butterflies.

*

She woke up by herself, jolted from sleep by the uncomfortably hard rocks beneath her. She was back on the mountain, Peridor dozing protectively beside her. Next to her was her pack, and on top of it, the lark in its cage. She clambered up and unlatched the door, letting the lark flutter out.

As she expected, the lark flapped its wings and expanded, turning long and golden, and took on the shape of a valcerian dragon. At that very moment, an earsplitting screech rang through the air. Lachesis turned, looking for the source. It was from a huge blue bird swooping through the air towards the cliff. It transformed in midair into the woman from the castle. She pointed at the dragon, flames blasting from her finger. Lachesis flung a shield spell between them just in time, and then the dragon had risen into the air and slammed into the woman.

The blow seemed to break the woman’s hovering spell, for she began falling. As she fell past Lachesis, she swiped for the magi but missed. She blasted flames at Lachesis instead.

Lachesis stared at the fire, watching it approach, knowing she did not have enough time to dodge, but somehow Peridor flew before the flames before they reached her.

For several moments Lachesis could only stare as the crystalwing flew backwards, blown by the force of the spell, and struck the side of the mountain, before sliding down and landing in a badly burned heap. She stared, unwilling to believe her eyes.

“The pipe,” someone said, and Lachesis whirled around, to come face to face with a man. He was like the dragon woman who had sent her on the quest, covered with scales. “She gave you a set of pipes, right? She had to have.” Lachesis stared at him uncomprehendingly. He pointed at her bag, and the golden instrument burst out, soaring into the magi’s hand. “Use them.”

Lachesis gripped the instrument tightly, staring at them, unable to speak as tears built in her eyes. This wasn’t supposed to have happened. It was supposed to be a simple journey to fetch Anita something interesting. It wasn’t fair for Peridor to die. She brought the pipes to her lips. She wanted Peridor to live. She wanted the trip to be over. She wanted—

She wanted everything to be okay.

She blew.

The world dissolved again around her as a single, hollow note rang out, echoing from the side of the mountain. The dragon man waved as he disappeared, dissolving into white and blowing away, and then—

She stood before Anita again, in the crystalline caves where she had started so long ago. She still held the pipes in her hand. Peridor stood safely beside her, perfectly well.

“Hello there, back from your trip?”

Lachesis nodded, not trusting herself to speak just yet.

“Well, what did you bring back for me?”

Lachesis swallowed several times before she spoke. I nearly killed your crystalwing, she nearly said. “You can pick one of a few things,” she picked instead, and reached for her pack. The butterfly fluttered out as she opened it, and Anita arched her eyebrows as she watched it fly. Lachesis rooted around, finding the walnut, bringing it out as well. She handed it, and the panpipes, to Anita.

Anita turned both over in her hands, examining them carefully. “Pretty trinkets,” she finally said, and handed them back to Lachesis. “But ultimately worthless.” Lachesis opened her mouth to protest, but as she took them back she could feel the truth in the woman’s words. Only the faintest residue of magic was left in either. The butterfly gave one last flap of its wings before settling on the ground before her, and when Lachesis bent to pick it up, she felt the spell slipping away from it as well.

“I have nothing else to give you,” Lachesis said as she tucked all three objects away.

“Nonsense,” Anita said. “There must be a story behind how you obtained all those objects. Unless, of course, you want to go on another trip for me. I hear the land on the other side of the world makes divine ham sandwiches.”

Lachesis shook her head, opening her mouth for several seconds before she could think of a suitable reply. “I think we’d better find a nice place to sit down, then. The story will be very long.”

Anita smiled, putting her pickaxe down and patting the magi on the back. “I support that idea. Let’s go to Remy’s then, shall we? You can start as we make our way there.”

Together the artificer, the magi, and the crystalwing made their way out of the caves, the magi perhaps looking a little worse for wear. It was evening by the time she finished her tale, and more people had gathered around to listen to her tell it.

Anita took a drink from her glass of cordial and passed a receipt to Lachesis. “That story is worth the crystalwing. Go on, take him home with you.”

Lachesis grinned at Anita. “Thank you,” she said, taking the receipt from her. She walked outside the inn to where Peridor was waiting.

“It’s time you had some rest,” Lachesis said to Peridor. “Come with me. I think you’ll like Swallow Point keep. It’s not as exciting as the lands we went to, but still.” Peridor nuzzled her hand, and together they walked off towards their home.

The Crystalline Caves were said to be a remarkable sight, clustered with crystals of various colors from blues to greens to reds, and sporadically placed all over the walls and floors of the deep passages so that one could venture into them without a light of their own. This is where I find myself, carefully stepping over rocks and squeezing through tunnels.

It’s not long before I hear the echoes of gentle tapping. Upon rounding a bend, I find who I’m looking for. A woman is beating at the surrounding crystals with a pick. She’s dressed in brown trousers, heavy boots, a loose tunic and leather jerkin with a multitude of a tiny bags and pockets wrapped around her waist and legs. Atop her head is a mass of curly brown hair. I clear my throat to gain her attention, and she stops in mid-swing to peer at me from behind large, circular goggles. She lifts them from her face and smiles.

I’ve heard of this woman from time to time in the Keep. Anita the Accumulator. Or, for those less inclined, Anita the Pack Rat. She often sends magi out into the world to collect samples of her discoveries, and in return she’ll award them with creatures. However, she is not what I expected.

“Hello, mage,” she says quite cheerfully. “Here for the journey, I wager?” I nod. “As I tell many of your folk, it’s not a pleasant journey if you’re not careful, but I give you creatures to help you with the trials. You keep them, too…long as you survive it in one piece.” I hesitate, staring at her warily with thoughts of whether or not this is a good idea after all.

She smiles wider and says, “Having a bit of fun, is all. You magi are so serious.” She wipes a handkerchief across her face, succeeding only smearing dirt. “It shouldn’t be so bad, and you get my little lovelies in the process. So,” she leans on the handle of the pick, smirking, “Are you willing to go on the journey?”

I pause hesitantly. There was no turning back after this. I begin to think twice, but then I just blurt out, “Of course I will!” Me and my big mouth… But it doesn’t matter. How bad could this be? So what if there is a chance of death? Not a problem, right? I turn to leave before realizing that I didn’t know anything about the journey. Nor did I get my creature, or any other information. Oops.

I turn back around to see Anita smiling at me in amusement. I’m always tripping over myself and doing things without thinking them through. A blush deepens on my face and I quickly compose myself hoping that she didn’t mind my rash manner and embarrassing blunder.

She continues with a smile saying, “Great! What I am specifically looking for is a little object called the Behir’s Draconce. It has an interesting power to disintegrate anything into mere ashes, heal any wound, and locate or communicate with any species of dragons. In order to obtain this object, you must either get a Behir to be extremely good friends with you and it can give you its Draconce or you can kill a Behir and take its Draconce. I highly suggest the latter, because Behirs never trust anyone besides themselves, and love to eat anything that moves. And besides, Behir scales make excellent scale armor because it’s almost impenetrable and is beautifully colored. Any questions?”

I pause and ask curiously, “But what is a Draconce? And exactly how dangerous is this quest?”

She smiles saying, “A Draconce is a jewel that all Behir’s are born with. It’s like their heart. It also secretes a special chemical that makes their eyes glow brightly a certain color, depending on the Draconce. It also enables them to shoot lightning from their horns. But this is beside the point. You need to start moving! To accompany you on this journey I will lend you an Icist, his name is Remorhaz. But of course you can shorten his name to Haze. You will be heading to the chilly caverns of the north. Pack warmly.”

My mind blurs taking in all the information as I only process one word. Icist? My face breaks out into a grin as I remark, “How cool! If you’ll excuse the pun.” But then she shoves me along and introduces me to the Icist before quickly disappearing from sight.

I realize that she never did tell me how dangerous it was. And what was a Behir? And finally that last statement hit me. Wait, the freezing cold caverns of the north?

Great. The cold? Maybe I shouldn’t have agreed to doing this quest. Me being a warm, beach-loving magi and all, it doesn’t really appeal to me having to venture into the freezing wasteland of the north. Even though I AM a water magi I prefer controlling water rather than ice. Although technically I could turn all the ice into the much preferred water, that wouldn’t work because then everyone and everything would drown. There was literally that much snow and ice. I let out a shudder, and Haze glances at me skeptically as if asking, “What? You don’t like this, Aeva?”

“Shut up.” I mutter under my breath as he gives a snort of laughter right in my face. And even THAT chills me. The white steam of frost emitting from his nostrils hits my face as he chuckles. It should be warm like any other normal creature’s breath, but he’s an Icist so of course it is cold.

I get off his back to go sit down and look at my map again, and nearly trip over a loose stone. Haze catches me gently and shakes his head as if I’m the clumsiest creature in the world. But then again, of course I am compared to the agile Icist. His eyes seem to dance again with laughter. Am I really that amusing? “Thanks.” I tell him although I’m not sure if I’m being sarcastic or not.

He wanders up ahead for a bit and shovels some of the snow into his mouth. His head jerks up as he notices a collection of icicles dangling delicately on the sidelines. He walks forward as his tail wraps around a beautiful, fragile, but sharp icicle, tenderly breaking it off and munching on it quietly. It is quickly gone and diminished within his massive stomach. These Icists sure do eat a lot. I watch in interest as he continues gobbling up more and more ice and snow. I winced imagining how freezing cold it must be to eat all that nonstop. It would give me a permanent brain freeze. Haze sees me watching him and he picks off another icicle and offers to me, his tail outstretched to me like the longest arm in the world. I kindly decline.

Instead I give him a pat on the head, far enough away from his sharp antlers, and my fingers skim across the beautiful gem on his forehead which chills me yet again. He smiles as I flinch away. While he seems to have boundless energy in the cold, I am stuck feeling miserable and just freezing to death. Just my luck.

Haze smirks at me once again, but then his face changes in an instant. “What’s wrong?” I ask. He snorts hard and he starts to breathe even harder. His hooves start to stomp around as he paces back and forth impatiently waiting for me to jump on. I rush over to him and swiftly leap onto his back grabbing the supplies and reattaching it to his back. He breaks off into a heavy gallop, and I ask, “Whoa! What’s the hurry? What’s going on?” His eyes are filled with panic and I know something is truly wrong. Then the ground starts to tremble.

Out from the snow explodes a fearsome blue beast with 2 large insect-like eyes and a whole bunch of legs. It’s at least 20 feet tall and you can feel the blistering heat radiating off of it. That must be why it’s back is glowing red. It lets out a mind-numbing trilling shriek that blasts my eardrums. Like a striking snake, it rears back beating its wing-like cape and snaps forward at us barely missing us by an inch as Haze nimbly leaps forward out of harm’s way.

I leap into action as the gears in my head start turning and I analyze the monster. I narrow my eyes and gather some snow around me and instantly turn it into sharp shards of ice as I smash them against the creature hide. The ice instantly melts even before it reaches the creature. It’s then that I realize that my powers won’t work on this beast, and I had to resort to physical means.

I used my powers to freeze all the ice around its numerous feet and keep it still momentarily. It lets out an ear-piercing screech, and in the blink of an eye, I get a steel-tipped arrow from my quiver and draw it on the string of my longbow. With a loud twang, it goes flying into the creature. The steel arrows instantly melt at the impact. I freeze up. Did it just… melt?

Haze looks at me with fearful eyes as if saying, “Nice job, you got it angry. Now hurry up and save us!”

It roars again, infuriated as it easily snaps its icy bonds. Its insect-legs twitch as they rapidly drum the ground making its way closer to us.

Then I notice its exposed underbelly as it rears up once again. I flick my hand back again to grab more arrows and 3 arrows immediately lodge itself into the creature’s stomach. It screams in pain, and I relentlessly shoot it again and again just before it lowers itself to the ground to protect its belly.

I got in at least 10 arrows. I notice some sizzling red liquid spilling from its belly. It’s like acid as it eats away the snow and anything else around it with ease. The beast lets out a final bellow before falling still to the ground. Dead.

Haze and I just stand there for a moment to recover from the shock. I soon get up to investigate. It’s completely dead. I dance away from some of the red liquid that starts to trickle near my foot. I wouldn’t want that burning hot liquid to get to me. I get an idea and go through my supplies, fishing out a small vial that I use to collect some of the liquid. Lucky for me, certain vials could carry pretty much anything without breaking down. Thank goodness for magic. I cap the top and put it in another bag just to be safe before I put it away. “You ready to go buddy?” I ask Haze who gives a shaky nod. “Can you believe it? We’re alive!” I chuckle almost crazily. I recall the words I told myself at the beginning. There was no turning back. And I was right. I needed to be prepared for whatever obstacle was next.

I hop onto Haze and we start to set off. We walk right over where the dead beast first appeared. And then the ice broke underneath us revealing the cleverly hidden hole as we fell down down down its hole deep into its lair. I did the most natural thing. I screamed.

((And I based that creature on this one so if you want a picture than here it is...
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/excerpts_mm2_0427.jpg
http://wiki.gildwars.pl/images/3/3c/Remorhaz.jpg ))

As we slid down to a halt, I realized that we were in the lair of the very same thing we just killed. This is just great. So much for being prepared for the next obstacle. Because this was it. We needed to get more quick to adjust to these things. Anything could happen. We walked down one of the tunnels trying to find a way to escape. How did I ever get in this whole mess? I need to look for the Behir’s Draconce. But that means I need to know what a Behir even is. So that means asking someone. But who was there to talk to?

I soon got my answer as I realized something. On the map we were supposed to be following a winding path that first rose up and then winded its way down into the caverns. If we had fallen down a hole and into the lair of the beast, did that mean we were already in the caverns? I checked the map and calculated some distances, and it turns out I was right. We had made it into the caverns. A long trek across the northern plains had been shortened into a simple drop into the caverns. I felt a combination of relief and exasperation that I had ever planned to take the long way around. I let out a cheer as I grinned, “We did it Haze! We did it!”

“Who goes there?” calls a voice. I freeze. Haze and I exchange a look. There was someone down here? I decide to respond and I clear my throat shouting, “We’re over here! Do you think you can help us?” We pause and wait for a reply. After a while we hear the voice again. “It depends. Why are you here?”

“We need some information and just a place to stay for a bit until we figure out what we’re going to do next. We’re looking for something. Do you think you can help?” I repeat again.

A girl walks out. She is very pale and her white hair wisps out from behind her. She wears a pale flowing dress and she cocks her head curiously at us as if she’d never seen a person in her life. “Well a couple questions never hurt anyone. My name is Selena.” She shyly smiles.

“I’m Aeva, and this is Haze. Nice to meet you.” I take out my hand for a hand shake. She stares at it strangely and then walks up real close to us, and stares at us. I back up a bit uncomfortably and she apologizes, “Sorry. So what did you need to know?”

I pause and I start off telling her about my journey so far as she silently sits on a block of ice and listens. I finish up and catch my breath once more before ending off with, “We need to know what a Behir is and where to find one. And how to get its Draconce.”

She pipes in, “You mean you need to know how to kill it?”

“Yes…” I agree nervously. I wasn’t sure I wanted to kill a creature I didn’t even know. But judging from what Anita told me, they weren’t that nice. But she could be misled, right? I sigh and ask, “So do you know anything?”

Selena nodded saying, “Probably, I’ve been around a long time so I know quite a lot of things. Especially Behirs. They are huge dragon-like creatures that can slither around smoothly like a snake and then they can suddenly unfold its dozen legs tucked underneath it and race ahead with lightning fast speed. Get it?”

She chuckled to herself and said, “You’ll get it later. They have two large horns on their head and neck which can shoot lightning hence my joke earlier. They have extremely hard scales that can rarely be penetrated and they absolutely despise dragons. They will stop at nothing to kill one. They have a poisonous bite and usually are very beautifully colored.

After you kill the Behir it should gradually dissolve leaving behind a couple things. 2 of its horns which still have the power to conjure up lightning, its scale armor, and the Draconce. I’m not sure how you would kill one though. They are super fast so you can’t outrun it and they are highly intelligent and sly. Very hard to harm. No weak spots that I can think of…”

I was starting to get more and more depressed as she kept listing unbeatable traits. But how on earth was I supposed to kill this creature? I flatly remarked, “Well now that it seems impossible to kill one, then do you know where we can find any Behirs?”

Selena sighed saying, “I only know of two. Behirs are solitary so of course they will fight to keep their territories safe. I only know of two rivals. A male and a female. The female is very vicious and sly. She’s very slippery and calculating. Don’t get fooled by her. The male mostly just wants his territory protected and is always defending it against the female. He is vicious and loves to fight so watch out for that. He’ll do anything for a good fight. I can show you where they are if you want.”

I perked up, if I can’t think of a way to kill them then I might as well study them for now and look for any weaknesses. “Sure that would be great!” I smile. Selena nods gesturing for us to follow her. “Are you sure you want to walk?” I ask her as I climb onto Haze’s back. She smiles and nods saying, “I’m used to walking around like this.” I skeptically stare at her bare feet and short-sleeved dress, but say nothing else.

In another section of the caverns she leads us to the lair of the first Behir. This one is the female. Selena walks straight through the territory and into the heart of it, and Haze’s ears flatten nervously. They were dangerously close and vulnerable here. “Are you sure this is safe?” I whisper.

Selena nods saying, “She of course guards her territory viciously like all other Behirs but she prefers to first check if she can gain anything of interest from her trespassers. She’s always looking for a good bargain or a deal on things. So she usually doesn’t attack rashly unless you are a dragon or you anger her really badly. So we’re fine.”

“But still…” I mutter uncertainly. We move on in silence and I awkwardly ask, “So… how do you know so much about Behirs?”

She faintly murmurs, “Let’s just say a long time ago a certain Behir killed… a girl. I’ve spent a long time learning about them and plotting my revenge.”

I respect her privacy and say nothing in reply. We keep walking.

The Behir’s lair is so well-hidden that I didn’t realize we were there until I saw two glowing green eyes staring right at us. Haze backed up in surprise as he clawed at the air in defense. The Behir walked out of the shadows with a charming smile as she licked her lips saying, “If you’d like I can take that one off your hands. He’d make a good meal.” Haze gave a snort and angrily swiped at the Behir. She watched in amusement and was laying down with her legs tucked underneath her as she waved her scaly whip-like tail in the air in interest.

Her scales were a deep amethyst purple color and her thick scales were tough and glossy. Nothing at all about her showed any sign of weakness. She was healthy, strong, and in her prime. Her golden horns were sharp and well contrasting with her purple and black scales. Her bright emerald eyes glowed ominously at us and she kept her legs tucked away as she slithered towards us gradually pushing us into her lair from behind. “Come in come in. Welcome to my lair, my name is Shard.” she smiled with a mouth full of razor sharp teeth.

Haze and I looked at each other nervously. This was not good. We were in a position we didn’t want to be, and could easily be eaten in a flash. We glanced at Selena who had a pale emotionless look on her face. She showed no emotion and we wondered what was going on with her. Shard, the Behir, watched us intently asking, “So, what is your business here?”

Haze and Selena both looked to me and I gulped. I couldn’t say I wanted her Draconce because that’s pretty much just asking her to kill herself for me. I pause to think, and say, “We’re here to offer you a deal.”

Her head perks up and she charmingly smiles, “A deal? How marvelous! I’m listening…” Her large body stretches throughout the den encircling us as she maneuvers herself closer to us.

I squirm a bit uncomfortably as she gets awfully close to me and her green eyes bore into mine. What deal? We need to somehow get her killed. All we know about her is that she will of course hate dragons, and it’s hard to kill her. The only thing that can kill her is… another Behir.

I speak up saying, “We want to offer you a proposition. We were sent here to you by the Head Dragon named…uh… Jagger.” I pause hoping she would buy the bait and not rashly kill us.

She hisses in annoyance ass she roars, “You work for pesky dragons?!?! I should kill you right on the spot.”

I hastily add, “But we don’t like them either. We don’t like working with those snobby beasts, and we want Jagger killed. But we just need someone to do it for us, do you have anyone in mind?”

Shard gives a wicked smile as she purrs, “I’d love to do the honor. But what do you want in return?”

I think on my feet as I blurt out, “We want information. We heard that… there was a traitor who advices Jagger in secret, and gives him the orders to kill Behirs. But we want to know who it is. All we know that it is a Behir.”

Shard growls saying, “That’s not true. Our kind despises dragons. There is no way that any one of us would go near a stupid dragon without killing it.”

I raise an eyebrow saying, “Oh really? Okay then, if you say so… I just thought you would know another Behir in this area who might be a traitor, but we’ll just let whoever it is slip by because who cares right? He or she is “not the traitor.” I guess we’ll just be leaving now. Goodbye!”

I close my eyes as I turn around hoping she would fall for it. Shard pauses to think and states, “I know another Behir in the area. A nasty petty one too. Always concerned over his territory. I rarely even see him. He could be the one you are looking for. He’s exceedingly stupid and over-obsessive. We get in disputes a lot. Maybe he wants other Behirs dead so that he can get more territory. What do you plan on doing with him?” She leaned forward eagerly, her long neck reaching forward around us as she listened.

“Um… we need to kill him.” I remark.

“How foolish of you, a little shrimp like you can barely take on a Behir. Especially your little group here. It’ll be much easier for me to do it. Besides, I need to settle a few scores with him…”

In my head I start to cheer. She had fallen for everything I had said! I nodded saying serenely, “I can lure him out and you can fight him and ambush him. But you’ll have to be fast.”

Shard sneers saying, “Fast? I can do fast.” I heard a drumming noise that moved so fast it almost sounded like a hum or a slight vibration in the ground. In a heartbeat, her legs had been revealed from where it had been hidden underneath her and her 12 legs had easily carried her quickly around. “Now leave. I will get ready…” she smirked shoving us along.

We exited hastily and I gulped, we were going to kill a Behir. 2 in fact. We head over to the other Behir’s lair where I tell him the exact same thing that I told Shard. I hoped this plan would work.

Here are some pictures of Behirs:
http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/4763/behir4.jpg
http://www.elfwood.com/art/b/y/byrdness ... rawing.jpg

“And that other Behir is waiting right outside.” I conclude as I watch Scar’s reaction. Scar was the other Behir. The extremely territorial one. We of course almost got killed when we crossed his land, but we barely made it.

Scar narrowed his eyes at us debating whether or not to believe me. His rough, coarse voice spoke up as he rasped, “If that is the case, then I shall be chasing her out of my territory shortly. Although I do prefer to kill her…”

“By all means, do so!” I hastily add. This is what we wanted.

He gets up sighing, “Very well. This will be easy…” He seems to be even faster, and he rushes out in the blink of an eye, leaving us there. He rushes back in before we even could say a word, and he says, “Get out. Now. Did you think I’d let you stay in my lair? Gosh, you humans certainly are slow.”

I gave a weak smile to Haze and Selena as we walked out. “Stay here.” He muttered gesturing to a frosty boulder off to the distance. “If you move from that spot, I’ll kill you myself. So stay put.” He growled.

He walks back out and in a big bang he goes flying backwards upturning rocks and trees. We finally noticed a small blur of a movement that halts to stand in front of Scar. It’s Shard.

She snarls saying, “I never did like you.” She lets out a snarl, her lip curling and exposing her deadly, sharp, dagger-like teeth. Her neck rears back and she lunges forward in a vicious snap as she aims for the throat. Eyes on the prize.

Scar growls in anger and his horns start to crackle and a blast of lightning shoots out knocking Shard backwards. She gets up hastily, and disappears from sight again as she moves around with lightning fast speed.

We are no longer sure of what is happening as lightning crashes through sky in large blasts that strike the earth. Who knows whether or not they hit their target. We occasionally glance a blur of movement, but it’s hard to tell who is winning. There is a lot of roars and hissing going on as they repeatedly attack each other. We are mesmerized, lost in our own little worlds, only watching them fight and not paying attention to anything else.

After a while, the commotion suddenly comes to an abrupt stop. I peek out curiously to see what had happened. I see Scar with his mouth dripping with blood, and some long severe gashes across his shiny dark blue scales. His neck is arched back and he hisses. What is he glaring at? Haze’s eyes widen as he realizes who it is. Of course his eyesight is better than mine. I wipe away some snow that hit my eye, and I squint seeing a pale figure standing in between Scar and Shard.

Shard lies on the ground. Her eyes are glaring at the figure with burning hatred. A bolt of lightning shoots from her horns and goes clean through the person. Shard seems to come to a realization as the person leans over Shard to whisper something. Then there is a sudden movement and then Shard lays still. I then realize that the pale figure was actually Selena. She walks over to us glowing brightly.

Haze and I stare at her in awe. “What the heck just happened!?!?” I shout in shock.

Selena smiles cheerfully saying, “I killed Shard. I was waiting for the perfect opportunity to. And now that she was weak, I took the chance to get my revenge. Now I’m free.”

“Wait… what? But you’re not dead! She just shot you with lightning and it went right through you!!!” I sputter.

Selena beams at me saying, “A long time ago, Shard killed a girl. Is this sounding familiar? Well that girl was me. I’m a ghost. I can only be freed when I accomplish my goal of revenge. I couldn't exactly tell you because you would probably freak out. So... I guess this is goodbye. Thank you and I hope you get what you wanted…” Her image starts to disappear bit by bit until she is no longer there.

Haze and I just stand there in shock. Little did we know, or remember, that Scar was limping towards us.

Haze snorts as he realizes the Behir sneaking behind us. The pack on his back falls off as he rears up. I pick it up and sling it on my shoulder as I ask, “What happened buddy?”

I scream as Scar picks me up with his teeth. His teeth tightly grip my pack. I hurriedly try to slip out of it, but then I realize that if I slip out of it, then I’ll plummet far down and probably won’t survive the fall. I cling onto the flimsy straps tightly. I’m hanging only by my hands as my feet dangle downwards, and my arms desperately try to hold on. I am left barely hanging despite the hot breath emitting from Scar as he glares at me with hatred, his teeth glinting. He knows I tricked him. He knows…

I wince, and close my eyes. There is no way I would survive this. And I thought this would be easy… Suddenly something falls out of the pack and hits me on the head. I hurriedly catch it. My eyes widen. It’s the vial of blood that I collected after battling the first monster. The type of blood that eats away everything like an extremely powerful acid. I get an idea.

Haze bellows and snorts below me. Icists have the power to mimick other’s abilities, but not to the full extent. A small, weak crackle of lightning arcs across the sky striking Scar who bellows angrily, but still holds onto me tightly. In anger he lunges out striking Haze and ripping a large gash into him. Haze bellows and falls down. I scream in a mixture of horror and anger. Tears stream down my cheek. Haze had to be okay. He had to. Scar turns back to me and his dark black eyes bore holes into me in anger. I notice the slightest gap between his teeth as he clenches my pack.

I couldn't miss. I couldn’t miss. With a shout, I throw the vial into that small gap and it slides down his throat easily. His eyes bulge and he starts to burn a bright red color. He’s being eaten away inside out. He lets out a roar and falls to the ground, writhing in pain. I fall down fast to the ground. A straight plummet to my death. I scream. I hit the ground and a big thump catches me.

I wince at the rough landing and let out a painful gasp. I was alive? Haze breathes heavily below me. He had run under me, and barely caught me in time. My eyelids flutter as I whisper a thank you to Haze. I only have some bruising. Not sure about any broken bones. But as for Haze, I wasn't sure... I lean towards him to examine his wound carefully.

And then Scar interrupts us, as he screeches angrily and convulses on the floor. He’s dying. I close my eyes tightly not wanting to watch. Soon there is silence and Haze nudges me gently with his muzzle. I open my eyes and we both stare at the remains of the two Behirs. We both breathe heavily. We were hurt, but alive.

The carcasses of the Behirs were gone and replaced with 2 pairs of horns that gave a single spark to show that it still crackled with the energy and power to conjure up lightning. Scales were shed amongst the ground. It could easily be intertwined and linked together to make an impenetrable scale armor. One would be a dark violet and black color. Dark, glossy, and haunting.

The other was a dark blue. Mighty, powerful, and bright. Last, but not least, was the item we had been waiting for. The Draconce. Anita and Selena were right. It was the same color of the dragon’s eyes. Shard’s was bright green while Scar’s was a jet black in color.

But all of that didn’t matter. I needed to tend to Haze. I wiped away my tears bravely. “You’ll make it buddy. You have to. Hang in there Haze.” I sob. He glances at me weakly and shakes his head like I’m the stupidest crybaby in the world. I burst out sobbing again. He shoves me roughly with his head, and then it hits me. Wasn’t one of the powers of the Draconce to heal any wound? Haze rolls his eyes at me and faintly lowers his head gently. He would laugh at me later. I knew it.

I sprint towards one of the Draconces and muttered, “How do you use this stupid thing…?” It starts to faintly glow as it nears the gash on Haze. The gash had severed Haze’s tendons and he was bleeding heavily. With normal healing, he would have never been able to walk again. If he had survived. But I hoped with all my heart that this Draconce would do the trick. I closed my eyes, scared of the results. Something behind me shoves me roughly forward, and I do do a faceplant on the floor. I get up angrily and turn around to find Haze staring at me in amusement.

I sniffled and choked back my emotions as I roughly shoved him saying, “That wasn’t nice. Come on, let’s go home.” I turned away from him so he wouldn’t see my tears of relief as I delicately wrapped up the Draconces so that they would be ready for the return trip. I also packed up the horns and scales. I kept one of the horns safely in my belt just in case we came across any other monsters. Our quest was complete.

After the long trek home, I finally caught up to Anita. She smiles at me, her curls of brown hair spilling out as she took off her hat in a single flourish. "Now that wasn't so hard, was it?"

Haze and I both snorted at the same time. "Right." I mutter.

She chuckles asking, "Do you have the Draconce?"

I nod tossing her both. Her eyes seem to glitter as she examines her prize. She handles them daintily, understanding how fine of an object she was holding.

She smiles saying, "As much as I would like to keep both, I think you deserve one for that hard quest." She tosses one back with ease. I clumsily catch it. She strokes Haze's muzzle one last time in farewell. She turns smartly to me and salutes, saying, "Hopefully we'll meet again, Aeva. I shall be on my way now. Feel free to come see me again if you are ever in need of an adventure."

"Right. Like I'll come back." I laugh, rolling my eyes.

Anita shakes her head and grins with a twinkle in her eye. "That's what they all tell me. But in the end, they all come back. And it's off on another adventure. I'll see you later Aeva. And I wish you luck in the future. Take care of Haze."

I smile and wave goodbye as she walks off to the distance. She was right. It had been kind of fun and thrilling at the same time. Maybe I would come back. I wistfully wondered if I'd ever see Selena again. But of course not. She was a ghost. And I had no idea where ghosts went after completing their goals. I keep watching and waving as Anita walks off to the distance. By now I can barely see her except by her shadowy outline against the warm glow of the sun.

Just as I turn to leave, I faintly hear her voice call back. Perhaps it was just my imagination, or just the echoing of the caves. But what I heard was the soft words that sang crystal clear into my ears,

"I know you'll be back. Don't you want to see Selena again and know where she's gone? And what happened? But alas, that's another story and a different quest in another world. Perhaps some other day, eh?"

The soft crackling of fire, accompanied by the snorting of the white elk that slept by the entrance of the cave was enough to keep Aleron awake. He’d given up on sleeping long ago, despite the fact that both he and the elk had been travelling for well over a week with little rest.

With a small sigh, Aleron looked up at the portion of the sky that was visible from inside the cave. Ever since they reached the tops of the Alasre Mountains, the night skies lit up with the eerie glow of the northern lights. The green and blue light never disappeared, it never slowed its pace or flickered, it was always there, shining with a steady glow. Aleron enjoyed watching the light rush over the skies, he liked the way it slithered and billowed, almost like it had a life of its own. Not that it had, but there was something unearthly about it.

A log fell over in the small camp fire and sent a cloud of glowing ash into the air. Aleron moved his gaze to watch the flames flicker, the orange light tossed long shades around the cave. It was calm, almost peaceful this high up into the mountains, few people ever came here, and Aleron found himself re-evaluating his life.

He was getting old, he couldn’t deny that. He’d soon reach his fiftieth birthday, and he could feel that unstoppable cold creep into his limbs. Death didn’t scare him, but he was worried about the time he had left. He always felt like he didn’t have time to do everything that he wanted, but he’d begun to fear that he wouldn’t have time to do anything that he wanted.

He scratched his short, black beard and hummed to himself. His beard, as well as his short cut black hair, started to become grey with age, and you could almost see the grey hairs multiply over a single night. He had a son, he outlived his wife, and he had friends. But he still felt that urge to travel around and experience everything the life had to offer, much to his son’s dismay.

A small twitch in the corner of Aleron’s mouth turned into a small smile when his son’s angry and sour face appeared before his eyes. Sinan had been so mad at him for leaving, even if he’d told him that this was the last time he travelled like this.

“So you’re leaving again, without telling your son?” Sinan stood in the doorway to Aleron’s study, his arms crossed over his chest and his mouth twisted into a frown. Aleron barely looked up from the bag he was packing.
“I’m against you leaving, and you know why. I don’t want my daughter to grow up without her grandfather.” He said and continued to stare at Aleron’s hunched back. With a small, barely audible sigh, Aleron was still before turning around to look at his son.

“You know very well that I can’t sit still, Sinan.” He said and looked at his angered son. Sinan’s hot temper and stubborn personality came from his mother, who sadly enough passed away a few years ago. Right now Aleron didn’t know if it was a curse or good luck, Sinan would most certainly try and stop him from leaving.

“You’re getting old, Father. Look,” He gestured at Aleron’s greying hair, “Even your body admits that you are getting old. Why can’t you accept this, and just stay here, for once? You know how my daughter loves to listen to your stories. She would be devastated if you left now and didn’t come back.” Sinan angrily slammed his foot into the doorpost and cussed when pain shot up through his leg.

Aleron looked at his son for a moment before turning to finish packing his bag.
“This will be the last time, I promise. After I’ve done this, I’ll settle down like the old man I am.” He said and checked that the straps of his bag were secured. He didn’t want to drop anything, from previous experience he knew that it could be catastrophic to leave your bag open while you walk.

Sinan’s light footsteps reached Aleron’s ears and a tanned hand grabbed the bracer around his arm.
“Father, please don’t leave, not now, not to where you are going.” Sinan nearly hissed and stared at Aleron with those storm grey eyes of his. He’d inherited his mother’s eyes and temper, and Aleron’s sharp, slightly square features. Aleron shook his head and straightened his back, wincing slightly as the bones in his spine popped uncomfortably. Sinan’s grip of his arm hardened, and Aleron turned to look at his son.

“Sinan, please. Let me do this, at least once more while I still have time.” Aleron said softly and put a gloved hand on Sinan’s. Sinan stared at him for a long time before sighing and taking a step back. He rubbed his temples with closed eyes and exhaled slowly.
“Fine. But you better come back, or I’ll curse you for the rest of my life.” Sinan said quietly and balled his fists.

“Thank you, Sinan.” Aleron said and pulled his son into a rough hug before pulling back and grabbing his bag.
“Don’t mention it…” Sinan mumbled sourly and looked at his father angrily. Aleron put a hand on his son’s shoulder and gave him a comforting smile.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be back. And to make up for it, I’ll spend all my time with your daughter.” He said and patted Sinan’s shoulder, despite the feelings that swept across the others face.

Aleron looked around his study, he would miss the room while he was gone, but he would have time when he came back. The walls were covered in bookshelves that nearly broke under the weight of the books on top, and in the middle of the dimly lit room there was a desk. The desk was covered in paper, parchment rolls, books and various other items such as quills, ink pots and whatnot. Aleron spent most of his time in here, writing or reading, researching on myths, stories, or just interesting places he came across during his years of travelling.

“Father. Go before I regret my decision.” Sinan’s unusually calm voice brought his attention back to his son and he nodded quickly.
“See you then, when I’m back again.” He said and flung the bag over his shoulder. He looked at Sinan, and Sinan looked at him, then Aleron promptly turned around and walked out through the door.

The sudden snort from the elk startled Aleron where he sat, deep in thought. The elk looked at him for a few seconds, then it got to its feet and snorted again before taking a few steps towards the entrance of the cave. Aleron caught the gesture and sighed heavily before rubbing the bridge of his nose.

“You got it, you got it.” He mumbled and got to his feet slowly. His muscles put up a fight, this unnatural cold and the constant travelling could wear anyone out, especially someone as old as Aleron. Brushing a few snowflakes off of his grey and blue robes, Aleron looked at the fire and scooped snow into the flames, putting it out with a hiss and a cloud of smoke. He adjusted his red, gold and green sash, as well as the belt on the sash that held his sword and hunting knife.

Aleron flicked his hood up over his head and took a few steps towards the elk. He put a hand on the animal’s side and looked at the white snow and dark, almost black shapes that were rocks outside of the cave. He was a bit reluctant to leave, he had to admit, but the elk was his guide and travelling companion, so he followed it and trusted it that it would lead him to his goal. Though he didn’t really have a goal, that woman who requested him didn’t tell him what she wanted, just “something” would do.

The elk snorted and started to plod through the thick layer of snow outside. Aleron followed after a few seconds, he threw his bag over his shoulder and looked around to make sure everything was as he found it. Apart from the smoking wood he used for the fire, the cave was no different from when he came there, so he could leave it behind. Content that he hadn't disturbed the his surroundings, Aleron followed in the steps of the elk with one hand on the hilt of his sword, the other clutching the strap of the bag that hung over his shoulder.

The wind violently tore in Aleron’s clothes as he stumbled through the snow, trying to keep up with the elk next to him. The animal didn’t seem to mind the wind, but Aleron couldn’t handle it much more, he needed to find a shelter and rest. He raised his head and squinted against the wind, but it was nearly pitch black now that the dark storm clouds blocked the northern lights.

“Damn it…” Aleron mumbled to himself and hunched his back to shield himself from the force of the snow storm. Every time a snowflake hit his bare hands or face, it felt like someone threw a needle at him, and by now it felt like a thousand of them. His fingers dug into the thick fur of the white elk, and Aleron felt how the animal slowed down, if just a little bit.

“Good. Now I have to find somewhere to rest.” Aleron thought and glanced at the dark shapes that towered around him. It was another pass, though it should have been shielded from the wind by the mountain sides, it was too wide, which allowed the wind to slip down and compress itself to enhance its force. Aleron desperately tried to find a cave or a rock to hide at, but he couldn’t see more than a few meters because of the snow in the air.

He started to feel nervous, and slightly scared. If he didn’t find shelter soon enough he didn’t know what would happen. Death almost certainly waited, he guessed that much, but he didn’t want to freeze to death only to never be found. It was that, and his son. Sinan would really curse him for as long as he lived, and probably beyond that, Aleron raised him to be a man of his word, and he was.

The elk raised its head and looked at the bare hand that gripped the thick fur around its neck. Bland, as he called himself, sensed the discomfort that the man next to him felt. He didn’t exactly understand why Aleron was so nervous; the storm that raged around them wasn’t that bad. But then again, humans were different from most animals. They weren’t as strong and sturdy. At least that’s what Bland learnt during his time as a companion to humans.

With a loud snort that was quickly drowned by the roaring of the storm, Bland turned away from his course and headed towards the side of the mountain pass. He easily pulled the human with him, but he made sure that they didn’t lose each other, because that wouldn’t be good. Bland was entrusted with this man and his life and Bland would carry out his task. He sensed something that he couldn’t see, but his instincts urged him to move towards the steep stone walls of the mountain.

Aleron grunted in surprise when the white elk turned away from its previous path and dragged Aleron along. It seemed that they headed for the edge of the pass, towards the mountain walls. Maybe the elk realized that Aleron was running out of power, or that they simply had to take cover and waist the storm out.

With a few long steps, Aleron managed to catch up with the elk and walk next to it instead of being dragged behind it. Aleron pulled his cloak tighter around his shoulders and lowered his head, his eyes weren’t useful, so he might as well spare himself the pain of the cold snow and rely on the senses of the elk instead. He felt a little calmer, knowing that the elk would look out for him, but he couldn’t shake his nervousness off completely.

Bland raised his massive head and stared ahead. There was a dark shape in the mess of white snow that the wind threw around them, but it wasn’t a part of the stone wall. It was more like a dark hole. Bland lowered his head again and turned to look at the miserable figure that stumbled next to his own massive shape. The human looked cold and tired, and the discomfort he felt affected Bland, it urged him to move faster. With a long grunt, Bland quickened his pace towards the darker hole in the mountain.

Aleron nearly lost his grip of the elk when it jerked forwards. He tripped, but managed to get his feet under himself and continue to walk. He looked up and was surprised to find a darker shape ahead. It looked like some sort of cave, or hole for that matter, but this had to be what made the elk so excited. Quietly thanking any god that might listen, Aleron followed the elk into a dark cave.

The wind abruptly stopped, though he could still hear its roaring, but Aleron was relieved, he could finally rest. He let go of the elk and waved his hand in the air, muttering something inaudible. A werelight appeared over Aleron’s head and filled the cave with its steady orange light. Much to his surprise, the cave didn’t stop, but it continued further into the mountain, though Aleron wouldn’t see where it ended because of the insufficient light he created.

Bland stood still and blinked a few times when Aleron’s light appeared. It was strange really; Bland wasn’t satisfied with this place. He felt drawn into the cave, like it wanted him to continue until his found the end of the dark path ahead. Bland decided that the human should come too if he were to follow what pulled him like a magnet. Feeling the hand that still gripped his fur, Bland snorted and started to walk further into the cave.

Aleron was about to let go of the elk when it suddenly began to steam ahead. White clouds formed around their heads when Aleron reluctantly followed the elk. His werelight soared above his head, unmoving. The steady light fell over the uneven walls and created long a myriad of different dark holes, cracks and shapes. Aleron couldn’t help but shudder, somehow this place felt dangerous.

“Hey, stop it.” He mumbled and tried to pull the elks fur, but without success. The large animal continue to walk, its pace seemed to slowly quicken, as if it were eager to reach the end of the tunnel. Aleron sighed. He couldn’t stop it, so he had to follow it, even if he didn’t like it. With a defeated sigh, Aleron put his free hand on his sword and got prepared to either fight or flee, depending on what the end of the cave held.

Aleron was stunned. He was so taken aback by the unexpected scenery that he could barely breathe. He clung to the elk’s side when his legs threatened to fail him and at the same time he tried to calm himself.

The end of the cave hadn’t been a small hollow area, nor had it been some other normal formation. It was a hall, a large hall with massive stone pillars that carried the ceiling high above. Aleron could barely believe what he was seeing, it was that magnificent. The light from the orange ball that soared above Aleron’s head barely did anything to light the surroundings, the light never reached the top of the pillars, it only created an island of bright orange light around Aleron and the elk.

“This.. This is-” Aleron began to say but he became quiet when he heard his own voice bounce back at him. Curious to see what was beyond the darkness, Aleron let the werelight grow until it was at least three times as bright as it was before. He looked around in astonishment and slowly he began to walk through the grand hall.

The cave from which Aleron and the elk emerged was located at the short side of the large room. Marble pillars in white, cream and black lined the white walls, they were too thick for one man alone to reach around, and at least four full grown men would be required to reach around the smooth stone. The base of each pillar was richly decorated with patterns of flowers, wines, animals, people and unknown runes.

The floor was made out of the same marble as the pillars, but it seemed to shift from white and cream to a light shade of gray with a barely visible tint of purple and pink. Darker veins ran through the stone, but there was something odd about the floor that Aleron just couldn’t put his finger on. It seemed to miss something, something important. As he stared at the floor under his feet, he slowly realized that there was no dust or dirt on the smooth, cold stone, there was no dust on the pillars, and the air was clear and crisp.

It was strange that a place like this wouldn’t be at least a bit worn down. Aleron had never heard of anything like this, so it must be old, very old. Aleron scratched his black and grey beard and shrugged it off. He continued to scan the room with curiosity shining in his golden hazel eyes. He didn’t realize that the elk was still by the entrance, standing there and looking at Aleron with large, black eyes.

Aleron’s footsteps sounded disturbingly loud in the compact silence of the large open space. As he continued t walk, the air gradually changed and became colder. Aleron noticed that when he walked through the cave, the air was warmer and more confined, but now it was getting as cold as the stormy winds outside. Small white clouds formed with each breath he took and he pulled his scarf further up his neck to stay warm.

Aleron passed a large number of columns before reaching the wall that faced the entrance; he was now at the opposite end of the large hall from where he emerged. He traced a dark vein in the creamy golden marble with a finger and looked up to try and see what lay above, but all he could see was the pillars that disappeared into complete darkness. He reluctantly moved his gaze to follow the wall instead, and he slowly walked along the wall until he saw a black hole.

It was all too symmetrical to be a wall that collapsed; it looked more like a gate, or a doorway, but without the door. The edges of the open gate were decorated with the same pattern as the base, and probably the top, of the pillars, but the marble that the figures were carved in weren’t like the marble in the walls or the pillars. It was a pure white, set aside from the dark veins that were imbedded in the stone, and it didn’t shift into the creamy golden color of the walls.

Aleron cautiously stepped through the gate and found himself in a long hallway lined by almost identical pillars to those in the large room, but these were smaller, and he could see the ceiling above his head. The ceiling was made out of a dark blue stone, it didn’t have the dark streaks like the marble, and it seemed to shine differently in the orange light from Aleron’s spell.

The hallway was large, both wide and high, wide enough for at least five people to walk next to each other, and high enough for four grown men to stand on each others shoulders. The arched ceiling had golden inscriptions carved into the dark blue stone, but Aleron couldn’t read what it said. Along the hallway there were more passages like the one Aleron passed through, and he guessed that they ended in rooms like the one he first saw, or smaller ones, maybe living quarters or other public areas.

Aleron continued to walk down the hallway, amazed by the architecture and the skill that whoever created this possessed. The whole place had something unearthly about it, like the northern lights. Aleron traced the curling wines next to a doorway and inspected the carvings more closely. It had animals that rested, played or fought, humans that hunted, flowers that grew or died, but at the very top of the arched passage there were a symbol he didn’t recognize. It looked like two separate beings, but at the same time they seemed to belong to each other. With a hum, Aleron left the carvings and looked down the hallway.

At the end he could see a faint light that he couldn’t recall seeing there before, and he immediately became tense. He knew a lot about magic and strange things, but he never took anything for granted. But somehow, it felt like he’d been here before. Maybe not exactly like that, but there was something vaguely familiar about the light, and the whole temple, if you could call it that.

Aleron unsheathed his word snuck closer to the light, careful to keep his back against the wall to avoid getting ambushed. His hand squeezed the rough leather handle when he unconsciously dimmed the werelight. He crept closer and closer to the end of the hallway, and when he reached the pillars that guarded the gate, his werelight disappeared completely. Taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly, Aleron peeked around the golden pillar.

The sight that met Aleron was even more stunning and strange than the great hall he found himself in after walking down the dark tunnel. The room was round, completely round, and the walls arched into the dome like ceiling. Above the center of the room there was a large opening, perfectly circular and open to the skies above. The northern lights shone through the opening and spread its light through the grand room. Pillars ran along the walls, just like the other rooms, but these were golden. Different creatures were carved straight out of the stone, and they seemed to reach out into the room as if they had been turned into stone in an instant. Statues of animals and other unrecognizable things stood between the golden pillars. They too were golden, just as the gargoyle like creatures that rested at the top of the pillars, at the bottom and on the walls.

But that was not the strangest part, neither was the black stone of the walls or the checked floor. In the far end of the room, opposite of the arched gateway, there was a second level, almost like a balcony. Two curved stone stairs on each side of the balcony led up to a large stone altar, and behind that altar was a large, golden sculpture. It was similar to the symbol that adorned the top of each passage or doorway, but this looked like the origin of those symbols.

It was two humans, two young boys to be exact. They were joined together at the hip, but one reached out into the room with a gentle smile, as if he was offering his hand to a lady. The second stood proudly with a sword crossed over his chest and a grim look in his eyes. He was clad in a cuirass, bracers and a billowing cloak rested on his shoulders. The other figure was clad in billowing robes that displayed thin and delicate shoulders, and he had jewelry the other man lacked.

Aleron stared for what felt like days before he finally snapped out of it. He carefully took a few testing steps towards the middle of the room, testing if it was safe or if there were any traps that would activate. When nothing happened, he moved slightly quicker, and he soon reached the white marble stairs that led up to the balcony. He slowly climbed the stairs while holding his sword, ready to strike at the slightest sign of danger.

When Aleron laid his eyes on the plain stone altar, he felt another wave of familiarity. There was a piece of red silk draped over the altar, and on the silk laid two golden items. The first was a golden quill; the second was a golden dagger. Aleron had his eyes fixed on the golden treasures as he moved closer, inch by inch. He slowly sheathed his sword and let his arms drop to his sides.

He continued to stare at the golden quill and the golden dagger for what felt like ages. Somehow, the atmosphere in the room gave you the impression of it being timeless, like once you entered, time stopped around you. The cold air that came from the circular hole in the middle of the dome turned every breath into a small cloud, and Aleron could feel the biting cold creep into his hands and face.

Ignoring the cold air and the timeless feeling, Aleron raised his hand and reached out to touch the objects on the altar. He breathlessly held his hand over the quill, hesitant to actually touch it. It seemed like a crime that a human would touch something so beautiful, so sacred. After a few seconds, Aleron quickly grabbed the quill and pulled it closer to his chest.
With a groan, Aleron swayed where he stood and stared up at the light the flowed through the opening in the ceiling. Visions flickered across his eyes, too fast for him to be able to distinguish anything, and voices filled his head. It felt like he was being torn apart from the inside. He convulsively held onto the quill when he dropped to his knees, unable to stand straight under the immense pressure that filled his mind. He heard voices, he saw things, different sensations filled his body, but everything came like a giant tidal wave.

He opened his mouth to scream, hoping to relieve himself of the pain that cut through his head and spine, but nothing would come. No matter how much he wanted to, he couldn’t scream, or even move. When a sudden jolt of power rushed into his body, he managed to stand up. He leaned against the altar, holding the quill close to his body and mumbling incoherently with dimmed eyes.

Aleron wasn’t aware of what was going on outside of his body, the strange power of the golden quill consumed him and all that he was. He stood there and stared into the distance, eyes clouded and unseeing, mumbling of things not meant for the ears of mortals.

Blue and green strands of light began to descend from the opening in the dome like ceiling. It moved slowly, inexorably. It twisted around itself as it crept down towards the checked stone floor in front of the balcony. Its light danced over the golden statues, making it look like they had a life of their own, but Aleron saw none of this, he stood unmoving, holding the golden quill in his hand.

The green and blue lights reached the floor and filled the room with a blinding light. A second later the light disappeared, and where the lights touched the floor, there stood two young men. One had the garb of a rich man, billowing robes and a fair, gentle face; the other had a sword in his hand, armor on his body and a stern, almost cruel look in his eyes. They were still for a moment, then they both looked at Aleron. He wasn’t mumbling anymore, he was simply staring into the distance like his soul left his body.

“Brother? Is he the one who summoned us?” The fair man asked. The room was quiet for a moment, though his words seemed to linger in the air.
“Yes, Brother. He is.” Came the answer. The two of them looked at each other before parting and walking towards the altar on the balcony. They were identical, set aside from the clothes, and they both moved with the same grace and power. They seemed to float up the stairs and over the white marble floor before stopping on each side of Aleron. The gentle looking man put a thin, elegant hand over Aleron’s who clutched the golden quill.

Aleron jerked away from the touch like he was burnt by a hot knife. He stumbled backwards and fell to the floor with a shriek of pain and surprise. It took him a few moments to regain his composure and clear his mind, he was still holding the quill, but the power it had on him seemed weaker, like it was pulled back by something.

“You found us, Mortal.” The man with the sword said and looked down at Aleron who quickly turned to look at the figure who spoke to him. His eyes widened slightly and he crawled backwards before slowly getting to his feet. He looked from one man to the other, then down at the golden quill and back at the men.

“W-who…?” He stuttered before coughing violently. His throat hurt like he swallowed sand or hot mead.
“We are Castor and Pollux, The Twins.” The man in the robes said and looked at Aleron with a gentle smile. Aleron stared at him for a moment before it dawned on him what he said. The Twins, Gemini, the constellation on the night skies. Gods.

Aleron could barely stand straight from the shock this knowledge brought him. Before he could say more, the man with the sword spoke up.
“Why did you call us, Mortal?” He looked at Aleron like he was expecting him to disappear at any moment, like he wanted Aleron to just disappear from his sanctuary.

Aleron buried his head in his hands with a groan. A stabbing headache set in now that he was relieved of the power of the golden quill.
“I-I needed a shelter, from the snow storm. I came here, and found this.” He mumbled and straightened his back.

“You are Aleron, are you not?” The gentle man said, the one who was Castor. Aleron was startled by his words and nearly dropped the quill in his hands.
“How do you know my name?” He asked, puzzled. In return, he got a rumbling laugh from the one who was Pollux, and an amused smile by Castor.

“Leo told us about a human that found his temple and called him. We are gods, few things pass by us.”Castor said and reached out to take the quill from Aleron. Aleron stared at Castor in disbelief, but returned the quill to the fair man. He knew what Castor meant. Years and years ago, when he was exploring the Etain Desert, Aleron stumbled over a temple much like this one. He found a golden claw, and Leo, a great lion, appeared before him. Aleron had been foolish enough to try and challenge Leo, but the god refused to kill him when Aleron lost. Instead he sent Aleron into the desert to either die by himself or return home.

“What do you want with my Quill of Knowledge?” Castor asked as he put the quill back on the red silk. Aleron noticed how the god’s skin seemed to glow, and he also noticed that Castor’s eyes lacked pupils.

“I want nothing with it. I was curious, forgive me.” Aleron said and bowed for the god, hoping that he wouldn’t become enraged. Castor only looked at Aleron and then at his twin brother.
“Then there is no need for you to apologize.” Pollux said instead of his brother. He had a curious look in his eyes when he studied Aleron.
“Most men would have taken my Dagger of Power. But you did not. Why is that?” Pollux asked Aleron and gestured to the dagger on the red silk.

Aleron was quiet for a few seconds before he could find his answer.
“Because I value knowledge over power.” He said as if it was the simplest thing in the world. Pollux looked at him with an unreadable expression before turning to his brother.
“Brother, shall we send him home? He cannot stay here.” Pollux said and earned a slow nod from his bother.

“W-wait, I have so many questions!” Aleron exclaimed now that he cleared his mind enough. He looked from Pollux to Castor, then back to Pollux and then at Castor again. Castor smiled softly and placed a hand over Aleron’s chest, which caused the man to take a step back.

“Do not worry, you will find the answers you seek if you keep looking.” Castor said and removed his hand. Pollux nodded slowly and looked at the golden dagger on the altar. Aleron followed the god’s gaze and realized what he was thinking.
“I’ll leave these here; Leo gave me enough for a lifetime.” He said calmly to ensure the god that he wouldn’t steal anything.

Pollux looked at Aleron, closed his eyes and lowered his head in a respectful gesture. Castor chuckled, a soft, unearthly sound, and took a few steps towards hi brother. He joined his brothers left side and rested his hand on his shoulder.

“Then go, Aleron, Son of Man. Tell none of this, but share with them your knowledge.” Castor said when Pollux raised his head and looked at his brother. They both smiled, then their bodies began to disintegrate. They slowly turned into the same light that came from the Aurora Borealis, until they were completely freed of their physical forms.

Aleron was fascinated; he continued to look at the swirling light as it floated through the air to the middle of the room and fled the same way it entered. Just before the last of the light disappeared, a soft voice echoed through the room;

“Travel safely, Aleron, Son of Man. Spread light and join us one day.”

When the voice died out, Aleron snapped out of his spellbound state. He looked around as if he just woke up, then he glanced at the golden quill and the golden dagger on the red silk. He continued to look at the beautiful objects before running a hand through his hair with a sigh.

He left the beautiful room and headed back the same way he came, all of his thoughts soared back to Castor and Pollux. He’d been talking to gods, and him of all people. He barely noticed his worn out body when he entered the large hall and sent his were light into the air over his head. He ran across the room, his heavy footsteps echoing between the walls, until he came to the opposite end.

The white elk was still there, waiting for him. Aleron came to a stop next to the elk and looked back into the darkness from which he came. He then looked at his own hands, and then back at the darkness, and then at the elk. With a small smile he grabbed a hold of the elk’s fur and urged it to walk back into the cave from which they entered. It was reluctant, but soon they were walking back through the tunnel.

After a few minutes of walking, Aleron saw how daylight flooded the tunnel. He was surprised, he had no idea how long he was in there, but at least a day, it felt like. Putting the werelight out and stopping at the entrance of the cave, Aleron took a deep breath of the cold air. He felt relieved, in some way, though he didn’t know how.

The elk snorted and took a few steps into the snow, then it stopped and looked at Aleron. With a grin, he followed the elk and stopped next to it.
“Wait till I tell Sinan about this…” Aleron mumbled to himself as he began to walk back the way they came through the storm. He had completely forgotten why he came here in the first place, his mind was far away from the strange woman who requested him to go on this mission.

With a smile on his lips, his heart at ease and his mind buzzing with ideas and thoughts, Aleron patted the elk next to him and began to hum as he walked, happy to be on his way home.