Cedric stepped out into the glaring light, held his forearm up to shield his eyes...

...And there was Llestren'vatis, reflecting the scorching desert heat across his glistening white scales. He bowed his head down to black-masked Kasian, to white-furred Akvum, to the two dozen black shades hovering all around them. People. But evidently not people Kasian remembered very well...

The two men exchanged a glance before enacting their own bows at the magnificent creature. The creature who Cedric would have slain just a few hundred years later...

He shook his head in disbelief.

Akvum and Kasian demonstrated their own evident disbelief as the dragon mutated quickly, shifted into a man. A man with a big white beard, long white hair... Two pupils which each shone with eight-pointed stars.

"I am Llestren'vatis, servant of Evra." He bowed again. "I thank you for your hospitality."

Akvum began hesitantly but with some vigor, "Llestren'vatis, if I may be so bold, are you the one which slaughtered the twenty-three men which came this way?"

He raised his head at that, inquisitive. "Slaughtered? There were indeed twenty-three who came before me. Those men displayed deadly intent even as I made apparent my peaceable desires. I derived from their shouts a basic understanding of this language—you call it Huntish?"

Kasian remarked in astonishment: "You learned our whole language just from hearing soldiers bark at you...?"

The draconic man nodded. "Indeed. I did not slaughter these twenty-three men. I left them to rest in a cocoon of my own design 'neath the north star. I thought that appropriate. Worry not, they are sheltered and safe, and their every need will be catered to by my pawns."

"Pawns?" asked Akvum. "You don't mean to say you brought an army here?"

"Not an army, no." Finally, Llestren'vatis returned to his feet, stood upright to face the two of them.

"Can we ask from where you arrived?"

"I come from a place named Etheria. It was Evra's want that I should see how her second realm was faring."

"...Evra?" Akvum looked cautiously at Kasian, who shrugged in his own lack of understanding.

"Yes, Evra. The designer of your realm and mine. Now, if I could be so callous to beseech you—a tour of this realm, of at least your highest calibers of machination, would be warranted before my retreat to Etheria. I would be delighted to explain my purposes, and Evra's, along the way."

He shined a smile that was more sinister by far than he intended.

Kasian and Akvum looked askance as they both understood that there was little they could do to resist him...

This is just like Elesia...

Faunia nodded in understanding as she continued through the white-walled halls. She'd never seen Elesia herself, but the images which Tirolith flashed through her mind made the similarities apparent. "We're not actually in Elesia, are we? Is it another pocket dimension?"

I don't know... I'm trying to feel the ley for any similarities, anything I remember...

Faunia spun into the air as two more white golems blocked the path. A set of flying ice shards floated up, trailed after her, then lingered for a moment before they launched simultaneously through the chests of the golems. Down they went, just like that.

Faunia landed after them, continued her rush through the halls.

She turned the corner in haste. There was the spinning one from earlier—

BWEEEEEEEE!

The sound of the laser was devastating to her ears. It struck the wall just above her, blew a massive chunk out of the stone, then cleaved sideways, carved a deep groove all throughout the smooth halls.

"You're making a damn mess, aren't you?" Faunia raised her fists. "What's your weakness?"

The eyes on the spinning outer ring began to glow.

Faunia shot a chunk of rock from behind her with Tyverius' vines. It struck the ceiling above the thing, rattled the whole palace. Down came heavy stones, each bouncing harmlessly from the gold-glowing wings.

"Dammit," she muttered, then leapt backwards into expert dodges as a multitude of beams ripped through the air at her. "How do we even know if we're going the right way?"

Tirolith had a simple enough answer to that: If it matches the layout of Elesia all the way through, we just need to head for the heart.

The heart?

That's right. To construct a realm in Etheria requires a central 'heart' to sustain it. Llestren'vatis' throne. That's where Evra should be.

And from there, it's as simple as waking her up. Right?

Faunia sprayed a wall of ice between her and the angel, then dropped her elbow in a firm gesture which commanded the ceiling to collapse beyond her frozen shield, barricading her from it. She turned back to the way which Tirolith suggested, sprinted down the corridor and down another flight of wide stairs.

But she didn't see, up the stairs behind her, as the angel passed through her hasty barricade as though it wasn't even there...

"Kasian, if you were interested, I'd be happy to attempt a fusion with you?"

Akvum almost choked on his spoon.

They'd congregated around a large banquet table in the massive gothic dining hall within Kasian's castle. Cedric had taken a seat with the three of them, having given up on the idea that any of them might detect him in the memory and disrupt his eavesdropping. Masked Kasian was at the head of the table with the fireplace at his back. Not once had he revealed his appearance to any of them.

Llestren'vatis smiled more peaceably then, having learned a better facsimile of it over the three days they'd spent together.

And three days, indeed, it had felt like. For three full days and nights, Cedric had watched them ask every question imaginable of Llestren'vatis, learning things that he'd learned long ago. Learning the things that would cause the slaughter hiding just beyond the veil of Kogar's memory.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Cedric rubbed his eyes, tried to fight against the sleep.

If I fall asleep in here, am I trapped forever? Or can I actually rejuvenate myself by sleeping in someone else's mind?

No matter what questions remained to that end, it was becoming ever more difficult to keep his eyes open, to keep his mind buzzing. Especially with the tedium of their incessant repetition.

Kasian was sat far back in his seat, thinking. His plate of food was still full before him, completely untouched. Even Llestren'vatis was picking at his food periodically, seemingly not impressed by humanity's choice of cuisine.

Finally, the masked man asked, "Does that work? Fusing with a human?"

"I can't truly say. In theory, yes. But if you'd like, I could demonstrate a fusion between two of my pawns. You've already felt the twice-ley; if you can detect what their fusion feels like, perhaps you can replicate the sensation?"

Kasian waved his hand to Akvum. "Bring them in, if you would." The big cat quickly dropped the rest of his steak onto his nearly empty plate, swiftly wiped his dirty maw with a white handkerchief, and leapt up from his seat. He left their presence quickly, started on the long journey to the big door at the end of the room.

Llestren'vatis sat back slightly and watched Akvum, bemused. He murmured, "I have my doubts that alisars would be capable of the same delight."

"Oh? What makes you say so?" asked Kasian.

"It was my understanding that alisars were unable to reach the deadworld, unable to traverse the multiverse... If that holds true, I bear heavy doubts that they possess the intrinsic ability to wield even these few powers."

Kasian thought about that for a moment. "These few powers?"

Llestren'vatis turned to him with some slight surprise.

Kasian continued, "You speak as if these powers are nothing special, but such abilities are unheard of to my people. We have ley, we have magick, though the Age of Magi has long since passed. We did not forsake such abilities in the Age of Hunters, but they do not compare even slightly to the powers which you, yourself wield, Llestren'vatis."

"You underestimate yourselves."

"I think not. To have control of time, as you've demonstrated, or impermeable frost, or the ability of mental communion alone... All of this done in a secretive sphere of ley which most men don't know of... The ramifications of these discoveries are immense. The purposes we can use these abilities for are not lost upon me."

Llestren'vatis gave him a long, thoughtful look. "Do not think to bear us as weapons, Kasian, for that would be a mistake. And I'll remind you again—we live not in the age of Dyosius, nor in the age of Proxima, but when those powers are made abundant to your people, you will have no more grounds upon which to shirk the strength of mankind."

"Dyosius...?"

Even Cedric was slightly roused by that. But not just Dyosius—what the hell is Proxima?

Then Akvum was returning with two figures in tow.

Kasian and Llestren'vatis stood to welcome them.

"Hi!" shouted an energetic little girl. She was wearing bright teal armor, just like...

"Tir...!" Cedric gasped.

Then they all turned to him suddenly, broke from their scripts. Even the figure behind her, the boy only a head taller than her, in deep cobalt armor.

"Ah, shit...!" He raised his guard, sucked in a breath. The red sky bled through the illusion again. "Three days was just a bit too long!"

X

He said his name was (and, please forgive my spelling,) Llestren’vatis. He was from a place called Etheria, and he had come to see how Evra’s second realm was faring.

Akvum and myself were obviously perplexed. It was more perplexing that he immediately took a shape which mimicked ours instead of his previously draconic form. It was evident that this creature before us was extremely malleable, able to learn swiftly and employ knowledge without hesitation, ignoring the repetition curve that human understanding intrinsically requires.

We granted Llestren'vatis a tour of Midland Azar’kara, our most optimal defense (the northern Frexa’kara was still under construction at this time) and he supplied his own advice, his wisdom, and his admiration. He claimed later that he based his designs for Elesia on what he saw.

The most important thing we gained from this initial meeting (Akvum and I could not manage to sleep and ended up pestering the dragon relentlessly for three days straight) was the knowledge of Etheria. This knowledge forever changed the course of Calamon’s history. I wish to take a pause of this story here, that I may enlighten some things which we were made to learn:

There were originally eight colors which Etherians could attain. It was common belief that they were bound to their birth color, though that was a symptom of the Old Gods having never strayed from their designs. Their later kin were capable of changing colors almost at will, as fickle as their emotions were. The eight original colors represented eight elements, eight deities, and eight powers which they could wield. They were permitted, in Evra’s grace, the ability to alter and shape realities, the strongest to this extent being the great reds, burdened only by their lust for rage and violence—but I digress. Here are the eight elements, as was once common belief:

1. Black, as horror, as death, thought to be planned by Evra for use in adding sin and desire to peaceful planes. When Algirak the Firstborn reached the early planes, they would turn from desireless utopia only to scream and collapse under the collective weights of greed and gluttony.

2. Purple, as undeath, lust? I have ever been confused by the purple element. The Bone Queen, Queen of Death Ry Kae Di was the first of this element. I did meet her, once. At an altar in a faraway place that I won't speak of. She was a horror to behold—I won't dare write what it is I saw in her visage. I don't want to pass along the nightmares. I believe Evra created the purple element that grief could exist, and the sensuality that comes along with it. There's something erotic about death, isn't there? Unless that's my own warped psyche creating that ideal.

3. Red, as flame, as reality. Serkukan was a bastard child between the platinum goddess Evra and the first man, whose name escapes me. Somehow this birthed rage into the realm, and he lived to fight and kill. They have no higher will than that, but if they did, their reality-warping powers were no doubt intended to shape entire planes. For Serkukan to fuse with a Llestren'vatis would spell a being of infinite power, and the mind to wield it. Llestren'vatis did tell me that some planes were made in this way, dimensions which mirror our own within Evra's Ring of Fate. More on that later.

4. Yellow, as lightning, electricity. I never did meet or come to understand a yellow. When I inquired of Llestren'vatis, he only laughed at the question. I wonder in some capacity if they were real at all, or a strange hybrid as Rykaedi was.

5. Brown, as stone, earth. Perhaps creators of the land, sculptors of Caloria? I only met one brown who had not even a passing interest for me, nor my questions.

6. Green, as toxicity, arsenic. I found it odd that there was no color attributed to air and wind, but it was true that the greens shared some ability of this in that they could remove toxicity from the air, add oxygen and nitrogen and other compositions necessary for life. It could be said that without greens, life could not exist.

7. Blue, as water, as healing. A lesser form of white, I found a blue’s emotion to vary depending on their hue. Darker blues were dreary and depressed. Lighter blues would be happier, bubbly. A white-blue was quiet and intuitive, though with more emotion that Llestren'vatis might have. I'm not sure what scope they would have in Evra's plan. Perhaps the ocean, to give water to the world, but is that not the purpose of a green, in a sense? The blue makes me doubt if this theory extends further than the main three colors (more on that below).

8. White, as ice, as life. It was most intriguing to me that blues would evolve into whites after some period of time, or after some great event transpired within their lives. Blues and whites are very similar in that they are compassionate and thoughtful. Llestren'vatis was a protector, an arbiter sent down personally by—[the text here is illegible.]

The most interesting thing to note is that there are three primary colors between these. Red, white, and black. Between these, one could wield Reality (through a red), Space (through a black), and Time (through a white). This would grant almost limitless control over our reality, as these are the dimensions which make our universe. It could be argued that the rest of the elements are merely side-effects of these three overlapping. It fits, too, as Serkukan the Great Red One, Algirak the Dark Holocaust, and Llestren'vatis the Watcher were the first three beings to be spawned in their plane.

I could also enumerate on their fusion, but I don't know much about it. When an Etherian kills another Etherian, it's somehow possible for them to absorb their energy, or esera as Llestren'vatis called it. They become a scale on that dragon's soul, and that Etherian forever gains the power of the one they killed. If they're not absorbed, it's possible that their death is only temporary—they can escape past our deadworld (Llestren'vatis confirmed that a deadworld does exist, did not clarify whether heaven or hell). He introduced me to one Tirolith and one Albion who, at command and without harming themselves, could fuse into one being who he did not have a new name for. He smiled when he saw them fuse, though I know not why.