Captain Rael Draconis entered the ancient Catacombs, answering the summons from the Eldest of her people. With long strides she made her way through the web of carved chambers and passageways to the Shrine of the Light in the very center. She sensed the one who summoned her come up from behind as she ducked down on one knee to pay her respects to their Maker. When she straightened, she turned and nodded to the slightly taller figure in his male phase. "You asked to see me, Eldest?"

Her eyes grew wide as she saw what he was wearing, then she flinched as she realized what it meant. Instead of his usual garb, his thin form wore the simple white shift and slippers of those who were Passed. The Eldest nodded down at himself, "It's my time, Rael." As she drew breath to protest, he held up his six fingered hand to stop her. "My mind is already made up. I called you here because it was only right to let you know," he said. He turned and made his measured way through the shadowed caverns, passing the first and second circle of tunnels that wound around the central Shrine.

"This doesn't make any sense," Rae argued as she followed him, studying him for any trace of frailty. His skin was a healthy shade of gray, and his movements were free and unhindered. "Why now? You're the last of your era, the link to our past. We can't lose you!"

"And that is precisely why! I can barely relate to what's left of the next generation, let alone you youngsters." He faced her, finally letting her see his crushing weariness as he rubbed his silver hair. "I'm so tired, little one." He gestured around them, where the shadowed forms of her ancestors lay in perfect repose. "In these tombs, all our ancestors, all of my generation, and even some of my children's generation lie in eternal rest. It's time I completed the third circle."

Silent tears streaked from her silver eyes as he stopped in front of the funeral niche at the head of the third circle, one that was long prepared for him. It was the only unfilled resting place of his era. He brushed over his name and titles carved deep in the rock.

"No, please…" she said, laying a hand on his shoulder, then lifting it to touch his bearded cheek.

He surprised her by hugging her. "The only reason I've waited this long was to see you come into your own. I trust you to lead and protect our people, even without me around." Rae shook her head mutely against his shoulder. He cupped her face in his hands, long fingers sunk into her short dark hair. "I believe that you are the equal of any challenge to come. Believe in yourself, as I do." He pushed her gently back at arm's length, then kissed the Gem she wore on her forehead before turning away.

She took a step back, shivering, as he laid down in his niche. He wriggled a bit, finding a comfortable position on the smooth stone, then crossed his hands over his chest. His blue eyes stayed on hers for a moment more, before he closed them for good. Her gaze fixed on his chest, watching him breathe once, twice... and then his breath leaked out of him slowly, and he was still.

She sank down on her heels and shook her head again, bewildered. No. I can't believe that… after all these years… He… Why? I don’t understand… A wild impulse struck her suddenly, and she scooped him up and threw him over her shoulder, rushing to the dim stairs that led up and out.

Spectral winds began to howl behind them as she pounded up the stairway, the Eldest's body heavy on her shoulder. If she could get him to her ship's med-bay in time… His legs limply swung against her side as she made the last turn of the stairs and saw the outline of the wide double doors, picked out by the brilliant light beyond them.

Her fingers started to sink into the once firm flesh of his torso. Her burden grew lighter as motes bled off him, drifting back the way they'd come. She stumbled, and with a deafening roar, the winds caught up to them. The massive doors blasted open and the wind sent her sprawling under the fierce suns. Stunned, she shook her head, and squinted, just making out the last of his motes slipping back into the yawning darkness. Then he was gone.

Rae laid her head down on her arms, half muffling the keening moans that escaped her amidst her panting breaths as she lay on the stones. Why did he...? We needed him!

Firerain quietly sprinkled over her clothes, tiny sparks of molten matter tossed from the burning skies. Dusky Lava-birds hopped over the stones, hunting the cooling bits of metal before they hardened too much to eat. One of them approached her, and she turned her head to look at it, her silver eyes meeting the pale orange of the bird.

It hopped away, losing interest in her, only to flutter aloft when she levered up, forcing her aching legs to bear her mass upright again. She swayed, trembling. Her eyes blurred as reality itself bent around her. Molten metal seas on the far-off horizon bucked into jagged lines. Above her, the flaming auroras twisted and tore, speeding madly across the honey yellow skies in ruby ribbons.

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Trying to ground her perceptions, she lowered her gaze to the ancient ruins of the Eldest's day that littered the island around the Catacomb entrance. The broken piles of stones jumped suddenly into clean spires and decorated buildings, as memories that couldn't be hers overwrote her vision briefly and then shifted back again. In one breath the ruins were empty and deserted and then filled with the shades of her people at their society's height in the next. The flickering visions made her feel sick as the whispering breezes resolved into words in an unfamiliar voice.

'Worthless failure... You've let your people down... He mattered more to them than you ever will.'

The meter-thick doors of the Catacombs rumbled, slowly closing on groaning hinges. Rae’s breath quickened, fearing if they finally shut it would be too late to fix this. She threw herself forward, pulling on the hoary rings to no avail. Shifting inside the doors she pushed with all her flagging strength, but they swung inexorably shut, ignoring her futile scrambling. She dove out under the suns again, unable to bear being trapped within them.

Standing, she felt a tremor coil from her feet to the crown of her head. With a gasp, she slammed shut the doors of her mind from all others as a fierce pressure built up inside her. Sorrow, pain, and self-hate trickled along this pathway, and burst from her in a scream of denial that tore agonizingly through her throat. The force of it cracked the ground in a wide radius around her. A shockwave bubble expanded out and flung the firerain away from her, startling flocks of lava-birds that took wing in all directions.

She coughed wetly, a warm pale trickle appearing on her lips, glinting silver as it dripped down her chin. Rae looked at her reflection on the dark metal panels of the doors. Rail thin, she easily topped two meters in height. Her disheveled black hair hung over her maniacally glowing eyes, sunk into deep sockets. Rae wiped the blood off her chin as her eyes rose to her reflected forehead. Above her brows was a blue-green Gem set into the gray of her skin.

It was a thumb-sized, kite-shaped rhombus, and she felt its powers thrumming through her. Sparkling, it picked rays off the sunslight, tinting her visage with prismatic refractions. The Crysfire Gem was both a Crown and a sword, and it symbolized an office and the duties that went with it. The Gem made her Chieftain, the living bridge between her people and their literal Maker. The Eldest had borne it once, and his heir after him.

Now it was hers, a burden suddenly too much for her to bear. She reached up to trace the four unequal sides, then covered the Gem behind her hand, hiding it in her reflection. Suddenly she began to claw at it, baring her pointed teeth. She dug her nails into flesh until fresh rivulets of metallic blood dripped down her face as she caught an angle to pull it off. Weighing it briefly in her hand, she thought of who to send it to, then teleported it to her predecessor before she could second guess herself.

In the panel, angry scratches marred her forehead where the Gem had been, and she turned away from the sight. Her hot rage drained out of her, and she limped away from the doors. Passing through the still jittering ruins, she made her way to the shoreline. Masses of foamy silicate bubbles writhed along the boundary of solid and liquid rock. She splashed through it to a large rock where she sat and looked dully out onto the deeps. In the distance, lesser sea serpents surged along the tall waves, snorting frothy red spray into the hazy air that glittered with gaseous metals.

Molten surf lapped rhythmically over the lower part of her boots, enticing little salamanders and minnows to curiously nibble on them. Rae felt another drip off her chin and looked down to see silver splatters of blood on her trousers. She dipped a bloody hand into the ocean of liquid rock, shooing off any small creatures, and splashed her forehead. Hissing, she gritted her teeth as the heat seared the shallow wounds closed. The lava ran down her face, some trickling into her mouth. Hunger pains seized her, and she used both hands to scoop it up, drinking her fill until a measure of strength returned to her.

The world quieted, and she could finally look around her without seeing the illusions of the far past that plagued her earlier. She couldn't quite remember when or why she'd come here, but she had no desire to stay. Rae looked down the rough, rocky shoreline where her ship waited for her, hovering over the seething surf.

After all the years since she'd designed the Peregrine class of starship, she still admired the clean lines of them. The Question's sharp-beaked prow hung between the crescent wing tips, the vessel trailed by a split tail. The metal raptor reflected the warm lurid colors of the bay. Around it, the air shimmered with heat.

Rising, she toggled her comm unit. Trying to speak, she only succeeded in making a harsh croaking noise. A fresh wave of agony gripped her throat, and she bent in a coughing fit that spattered more shining blood in the surf. She reached down to gulp more of the lava, wincing as she swallowed until the coughing subsided. She clicked the comm several times and called out telepathically, 'Come pick me up, Taylor.'

"Aye, Captain," the comm answered, and the Question headed her way.

The ship resettled with the prow rising high over her head, the talon landing struts digging into the stony beach. A personnel ramp folded down from the front belly, and she shuffled up, her back bowed in defeat. At the top, she turned and watched as the ramp shut out the planet's blazing light as it closed.