Amaranth sat down at the table, and this time, he brought visuals with his arcanist pad, which he was using to project images above the table. A small remote in his hand allowed him to shift between the images and manipulate the three-dimensional interface. Angela noted that, in essence, he was treating this as he would as his lessons London Academy–a place she hoped to visit with Joey, and the others, once they had a chance.

“I’ll give a brief recap. Joey filled me in on the details of the Asqualia events, and what our nefarious foes in the Talons have been up to, in that intervening time. I have been in touch briefly with Volkir while we silently followed up on leads in our research, to figure out what it is we are dealing with.” He took a measured breath, and clicked on a series of images rendered into a three-dimensional display. Images that Angela thought looked familiar. “I found details of the Kilnstar’noth, buried in now blacklisted research journals of Crosomer, in addition to the ones from Asqualia. There is a big piece of the puzzle missing that Volkir noted, and something he did not follow up on, on the advice from a few close friends, to not draw attention after his presumed demise.”

“I simply didn’t correct the records,” Volkir grunted. “Suffice to say, one thing bothered me: that device went missing shortly after the Ascension events, and it is not fully documented where it was moved to. It is a product of what we believe are the Kinsgard, an ancient draconic race that predates the dragons. We have only found a few samples of their magitech over the years–in fact, there were significant efforts to destroy their records, presumably to cover what it was, exactly, the device did, and how to manipulate it.”

“Hold on. You’re saying that Sam, and Alex, their souls were sent to the aether because of that thing?” Angela interjected. Amaranth nodded.

“We believe so. The crystals used for their ritual were a medium to carry out their misguided process. I now believe that the process they used was sabotaged. Because guess what? You can traverse traditional three-dimensional space using it. It just takes a little extra math to figure out where you’re going to land, that isn’t in the hard vacuum of space.”

“That’s unsettling,” Angela said while rubbing at her arm. That tingle of mana was ever-present across her body, something she hadn’t felt before her test with the new armor Kyle had prototyped–or maybe, because of her constant contact with Luminari? “I’ve asked Sam if she recognized the device. She does not.”

“Hang on. Speaking of which, one little bit that I’ve researched on, Angela, to cut down on middleman time.” Amaranth pulled open a case that Volkir slid to him. “Volkir, you’re sure it’s working?”

“In theory. But I haven’t tested it. Given current events, we need to cut down on the intermission time. I need Alex and Sam’s input, and we can’t play telephone all day,” he grumbled.

“Uh, wait. Why do you need Alex and Sam?” Drenar asks with a raised eyebrow. Angela hasn’t seen him this apprehensive since–only since yesterday. Which highlighted how off-the-rails life has become lately.

Volkir cleared his throat. “It is tied to the device. Drakensouls are something entirely different compared to traditional dragon species. I’ve made a small device that should be able to render a ‘projection’ of a soul. It's been done before, similar to the way information can be embedded into mana crystals. Alex is, technically, imprinted in the mana in your body. Just like Sam is imprinted on Angela’s mana lattice, though hers is…” he paused, and she glared at him. “Looking a little more developed lately.”

“Yeah, Volkir, I glow. Stealth is no longer an option. Seriously, shouldn’t I be dead from mana poisoning?” she asks impatiently. “Because I don’t think I can take any more surprises.”

“It is not quite like that. Expenditure of the energy is where the ‘burn’ comes from, or from free radical mana in high concentrations,” Volkir explained.

“Dude, that was a lot of five Euro words from you eggheads, just give me the thing, and I’ll test it out first. I’m used to being the guinea dragon,” Drenar added while shooting a glance at Joey, who nodded proudly.

“He’s such a good sport. Seriously though Volkir, if this breaks him, I will have Jackie turn you inside out.”

“I thought we agreed imploding people is both barbaric, and above my skill ceiling,” Jackie protested with an anxious face, and picked at her chipped nails.

“Okay, crushed into a singularity, close enough.” Drenar short-circuits the diatribe by reaching for the silver band that has a hinge and a clasp, and a small dial adjustment that allows him to fit it around his wrist snugly. “Do you feel anything, Drenar?” Joey asks softly.

“No. I mean, should I?” He asks hesitantly. A silvery trace of light wraps around the band, and solidifies into a mist that seems to wrap around his body. “Uh, okay, it feels like someone just dunked me in a shower. Volkir, this thing better not extract my soul, or there will be imploding,” he added testily.

“Oh, relax. Like I would ever risk lasting harm on you guys?” Volkir countered. That soft silver light seemed to be drawn to the bracelet, condensing into a thicker and thicker form and glowing brighter. It slowly took shape into the rough shape of a humanoid. No, that wasn't it. Angela peered closer, watching the formation of a roughly dragonoid shape, with the strange vapor condensing into an almost solid form. Little scales and feathers started accenting the form, horns grew in, and the wings took shape, as did the rest of the limbs.

“I feel a little…dizzy,” Drenar said shakily, and Joey forced him to sit down, reaching for the bracelet.

“It should pass, it’s mostly passive. A small mana trace is used to power the device, and forms a bridge of the mana lattice network. This should work,” Amaranth said as he crossed his fingers.

This is dragon science taken to unhealthy levels, Angela thinks unhappily.

Yeah, I’m not keen on this either, Angela. But let’s see how this plays out. Sam gives her a reassuring mental nudge, while that dragon condenses to the size of a cat, now sitting hovering just over Drenar’s wrist, and it opens its eyes with a swirl of vapors, and lightly glowing green eyes are seen on the projection.

“Did…did it work?” a new voice projects out of the vaporous figure. It’s different than Drenar’s voice, brighter, more aloof. It is a distinct separate voice, in the same way, that Samarina sounds distinctly different than Angela’s own internal ‘voice’.

“Can you hear us?” Volkir asked quietly, and leaned in, green eyes gleaming in the darkened room. There is a slow pause as the projection blinks, and feels themselves with their hand claws, as if to confirm that they do, indeed, exist. After a few seconds, the dragon nods, with a light stretching of their wings and limbs. “Audio is working. Can you see us?”

“I…I see. And not through Drenar’s eyes, either,” he says almost excitedly. “I am…I’m me. I mean, what I think I looked like. It’s been so long, I don’t remember–”

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Steady. Can you see Drenar?” he asks, and he cranes his neck to look back at him, and Drenar nods weakly.

“I can.”

“State your name, please,” Volkir asks with the measured calm and restraint of one who has handled extraordinary things before, and Amaranth also looks on with a modicum of awe.

“Alexander Sandrick Rashalda, former head of the Luminaires, wielder of Luminari. Husband and lover of Lyssa Rashalda, Fifth Champion of the Valkyries,” he answers, and exhales heavily, as if all the weight of the world were bearing down upon him at the moment. “My host–my bonded person is Drenar Tiberus Rashalda, Leader of the Luminaires, a great grand-son of mine…and despite your insistence, no, he hasn’t taken too many hits to the head,” he added in a shrug and ruffled his vaporous feathers.

Drenar smiles faintly, but he sways a little bit. “Oh, this is a bit trippy. I mean I’ve got my vision, but then I’ve got this other vision of what Alex is seeing. This is going to take some adjustment.”

“Soul tether works, Volkir, looks like you are quite the sage you made yourself out to be,” Amaranth said proudly. The senior man nodded softly, and gestured to Alex.

“Alex, we created this device as a means to communicate with the drakensouls. I believe this is a key component in solving this mystery, as they have connected to the same place where Gaia may be imprisoned. A one-way trip, that has now become a round-trip, instead. Just separated by seven hundred years, and a hell of a lot of experimentation,” Volkir said proudly, and Alex nodded excitedly.

“Ah, it is a delight to have my voice again! And eyes! And ear crests, though, the body needs some work,’ he added with a shrug, as his ‘claws’ seemed to pass through him when he set them down on his digitigrade leg. “Yeah, Drenar has issues, thought you should know that, being cooped up in there for the past few months. He needs a good spa treatment, among other things,” he added in a slow grin aimed at Joey.

“Oh, that’s Alex alright. I have the overwhelming urge to set you on fire. And now that I have something physical to aim at…” Joey pulled out a canister, glowing orange. “Do not be testing my patience.”

Angela couldn’t help but smile when Alex’s lecherous smile faded into one of sheer anxiety, and his wings drooped. “Why am I so small?”

“Because that’s the limits of the projection,” Volkir shrugged. “It’s based on passive mana circulation, so it doesn’t eat up too much physical energy on Drenar’s body.

“And, that’ll work for me, too?” Angela asks finally.

“Whoa, hold up. First another test or two,” Volkir cautioned. “Alex, do you recall the day you died?”

“Stabbed in the back by some grunt, after I beat the ever-loving piss out of Crosomer,” he added with a growl. “Not much I remember after that, this I’ve already communicated to Drenar previously. Seriously, get this kid a therapist, he–”

Drenar put his hand up, teeth gritted nervously. “Alex, we can still talk internally. Thanks, I do not need to wear my literal soul out on my sleeve,” he added. Julia took this moment after holding in a gleeful smile for the past minute, and couldn’t contain herself.

“Oh, he is so cuuuuute! I will hold him and squeeze him, and call him George!” she declared as she tried to go for a hug on the tiny dragon. Except as soon as she touched the vapors, the form went discorporate and melted around her hand, before roughly reforming just adjacent to where he was a second ago.

Alex looked on, a claw plastered against his face. “Please don’t do that again, tsundere. That feels…weird when you do that. I don’t know how to describe the sensation of a hand passing through my literal essence.”

“Essence? Is that what we’re calling it?” James asks, glasses perched on his nose and he looks at Alex pensively. “So you’re the little dragon sitting on Drenar’s shoulder, huh? It’s one thing to hear Joey and Drenar relay it, another thing to hear it. You guys sound nothing alike.”

“I know, I keep telling Drenar to forget about restraint, and charge against his enemies with berserker frenzy. He has not listened to me once on this, Alex grunted. He looks her way, eyes puzzled. “Angela, a query for you. Do you hear a ringing note, at present? Because I do.”

“It’s Luminari. She's been doing that nonstop lately, and I don’t know what it means,’ she says warily. It had been on a low note before, but now, it was higher pitched, more urgent sounding. “Alex, I need to know something. This is going to be a crazy question, that I didn’t really give much thought to, because I have no idea where it came from.”

She takes a deep breath, and asks the question that has been bothering her for a week ago. “When you held Luminari, did it ever warn you about a demon?”

Alex looks at her, pressing his claw-points together, before he lowers his head, shaking back and forth. “No. I never experienced anything like that when I held her. Neither has Drenar.”

I think it’s time, Angela. Put the bracelet on. There is another piece to this puzzle that I have only just started putting together. Joey’s ears perk up when Samarina speaks, sounding resolute. I am all but certain it is tied to the pending danger that I think Luminari is warning us about.

“Give me the bracelet. Sam has something to say.”

Amaranth opens the case, and pulls out another bracelet. She doesn’t hesitate to fasten it to her wrist, knowing that she should prepare herself for anything when this thing activates. As soon as she closes the clasp, she feels a draining sensation across her limbs and down her neck, as if all the energy were leaving her body. The room grows dark, and the light across her veins fades just a little bit. But then, the sensation stops, and the vapors form around her body and coalesce around the bracelet, forming a familiar dragon shape.

Except, something is different. There is not a single set of wings. There are two sets that form across Samarina’s body, and her scales are the purest silver she has ever seen. Her projection is nearly the size of Angela, and Angela has to stand up from her seat, steadied by Joey as that dragon with green eyes forms.

She can see and feel Samarina, able to see from two positions at once. She can feel Samarina unfurl those phantom limbs, and can feel the trace of divinity through her, and then–the crystal scales form across her body, almost in tandem.

“Uh, what is happening?” Joey asks nervously.

“It is alright, my fellow soul touched.” Samarina turns and regards the apprehensive kitsune, and Angela feels like she in awe at the power of Samarina’s voice, it seems to carry so much more weight here than it ever did in her mind. And it is hauntingly beautiful, Not unlike the voice she’d heard in the aether. “I’m here, now.”

“Sam, you sound…different.” She’s still feeling dizzy–she can see from her point of view, but it’s being juxtaposed with what Samarina is seeing, as well.

“A little trippy. Um, this is…” she trails off and turns her claw over, examining, and sobs. “I’m sorry, Angela. I haven’t seen myself since I resigned myself to leave with the rest of the dragons. And was…utterly annihilated as a result.”

“I would give a hug, but, um…we proved that didn’t work,” Julia says quietly. Her soulbound counterpart nods, and smiles faintly.

“I appreciate the gesture, though. It is the first time I have met you, Julia. And the rest of you. It is a pleasure to meet you all. And Alex,” she adds with a sidelong glance at Drenar’s drakensoul, who puts up a hand hesitantly.

“You’re…you’re stunning.” It’s like Alex doesn’t have words to describe it, and then Angela has to remind herself that he fought a war, lost the love of his life, watched his best friend descend into darkness, and then got banished from existence for seven hundred years. “Um, hi.”

“What’s the matter, Alexander? Drake got your tongue?” Samarina laughed. Angela still is trying to ignore that juxtaposed double vision, because it is certainly disorienting. Samarina folds her vaprous wings and takes a stance beside her. “Hmm. Why am I a larger projection?”

“Because Angela’s mana shard is hella powerful, and she’s the new chosen one, now that Drenar’s tapped out of crazy shit to bring down on our heads?” James suggests with more than a hint of vitriol. “I thought dragons had only one set of wings. Am I missing something here?”

“A few have had lesser, secondary wings,” she states. “But, that trait did not carry over to Angela.” She peers in Volkir’s direction, her expression etched in curiosity. “As for your predictive query, dragon sage, I am Samarina Baraghast, Mate of Halandar, and I am a former Valkyrie of that ancient and mighty order. As I have been returned to some semblance of life, My only focus is on the survival of Angela, her friends, and those she allies with. You must have grave questions, to dedicate time to crafting such sophisticated magitech to speak with us.”

“It's been theory until Joey got us more data,” Amaranth explained. “We’ve been working this on the side, between everything else going on. My query is specifically to Alex, then you. I need to patch some holes in our understanding of this device, the Kilnstar’noth. And, your encounter with Valosterla.”

“We have a theory,” Volkir inputted. “But, absent recent events, we weren’t sure it was a solid one.

“Very well, then. Ask your questions, sage. I hope we can shed light on this one,” Alex chimes in quietly.