A frozen morning came and went unnoticed. The hours before noon blurred away into his continued, uneventful march northbound. Though, to call it uneventful might discredit this strangling anxiety taut around my throat.

When the sun finally reached its zenith, he pulled through the edge of the forest and nearly plummeted down a sharp incline through jagged rocks and icy shards. The snow-covered plains seemed to stretch on forever beneath him, speckled with hundreds of glowing frost cacti, and scattered, towering pyramids of ice that seemed to glow and pulsate a burning blue amongst the horizon, filling the sky with a shifting aurora of purple and blue dancing lights.

“The frozen desert of Abadhar… I wonder how many layers of snow cover the sand?” he muttered in awe. "A few hours more, through the tundra beyond, and we'll end up at the glaciers of Kylinstrom's peak. That far out, there's no coming back."

The distant echo of a powerful roar shook the world. He quickly recognized that amidst the clutter of colors and lights were the two towns of Nesamus and Jiza, completely engulfed in ice and snow. The clustered colonies and tribes around this end of the continent have likely shared the same fate. These towns… they must have been thousands strong each. All that progress after what Tovas did…

He turned away. What does it matter? They're slaves to the wilderness, slaves to a government of Hunters… to Kasian. And now they send the scraps of their dead culture to us, to Dreslon. We're all dead men here.

He lowered himself over the precipice and began a careful descent, firmly planting his boots on each sharpened edge to ensure that he wouldn’t slip, or he might have met a cold fate at the hands of the spiked ice clawing up toward him. A grueling climb down it was, with every slip of his boot another reminder of how close his mortality lingered. Serkukan watched all the while, silently admiring the perseverance of a dead man walking.

The ground trembled when he finally stuck himself into the knee-deep snow at the base of the cliff. A heavy roar stole the wind’s voice. He could hear the great wings of dragons beating the air into submission from above the violet clouds, like the gentle beat of a war drum from this far off. Not only have those northern dragons passed by, some may yet remain.

“You’re not thinking this is Llestren?” He continued to plod through the heavy mounds of ice covering the ground.

The voice was quiet.

Cedric groaned, but continued onward.

A second, more furious roar shook the world as a massive, ice-white dragon coated in a layer of azure frost plunged through the forebodingly dark clouds ahead, followed closely by powerful rays of glorious sunlight. Cedric gasped in awe and hope. The crystal in his pocket reverberated with much of the same at the deistic sight.

And then a spark of discomfort. A twinge of fear.

Algirak is here. But… how do I know that?

He turned and shuffled toward the western village without hesitation; Nesamus. I'll hide there for now. If I can get there before they spot us…

A red glow came from within his jacket. The Relistar began to hum.

“What are you doing?” he cried out, trying his best to sprint through the thick snow.

A black, swirling entity suddenly slammed itself into Llestren’vatis’ spine, dragged him out of the sky. Rain poured around them as the acidic body of Algirak revealed himself through the clouds. His black wings bore horrible rips all throughout, and his body had enough loose skin to drape down around his unhinged jaw. His eyes burned in mesmerizing amethyst. His arms danced like vicious tendrils.

Cedric slammed his eyes shut and swallowed burning saliva. This is it. This is where we die and Caloria is destroyed, every ounce of our damned, blasted, and tainted history is stripped away in an instant. All of it to waste. Every second we’ve ever spent, all for… for nothing!

Algirak swept down. His spiked teeth immediately bit down onto Llestren’vatis’ throat. A spray of frost shot into the air as the two dragons tumbled into the frozen forest beyond the tundra, uprooting a mile of land as their bodies violently wrestled and carved through it.

Llestren’vatis quickly regained his defensive footing and rose from the crumpled trees around him. His pristine white figure shimmered as the rain danced upon his glossy scales. A dark spot marred the shimmer of his face, a reflection of the approaching darkness through the clouds of dirt and snow floating lifelessly through the air.

“Algirak.” he began with a hiss, watching the torn black dragon raise his own figure up and flex his wings. “It’s been a while. Your sudden attack must mean that you’ve found it?”

“Hmm?” He cocked his head as if to feign ignorance.

“Even a handful of mortal men have heard the news, and have watched with eager eyes. Forgive me for asking; you’re not playing the fool again, are you?”

Algirak twitched. “I’ve come to forgive you, Llestren—”

“I’ve never met a creature who stabs another in the spine before forgiving them. Nor have I known a being of Etheria who so desperately clings to a naive, desperate façade during the final throes of their master plan.”

Algirak didn’t hesitate past that. In an instant, their bodies clashed. Llestren’vatis easily swept away from each of Algirak’s hastened slashes, their eyes each pulsating with foul magic.

“A predictable move, Algirak.”

“That hubris will be my advantage.”

“It’s laughable that you think I’m the one playing to hubris here,” He stretched his glistening wings as he leapt back into the rain. He took a deep inhale.

“Llestren, with my creation we could tear fate itself away from Azafel—”

“That is not your power to wield.” he declared, blasting a missile of ice toward him.

Algirak shattered the ground as he launched back, leaving the missile to violently quake the earth.

“You could barely find the Relistar on your own, yet you believe yourself to be capable of destroying Azafel? And then taking his place?”

Algirak blasted a wave of deafening sound at Llestren’vatis, who easily outmaneuvered it.

“I mapped it out. I watched his every move, from that first taste of blood at Nelreign.” Llestren’vatis muttered, firing a series of frozen bolts at the grounded black demon. Algirak finally launched up to meet him, twirling away from the projectiles.

“And yet you didn’t know well enough to run.” Algirak swept in close, with his sharp claws at the ready. His descent slowed to a crawl, to his surprise, and soon came to a peaceful halt before the white dragon. Llestren’vatis smirked at the familiar layer of ethereal frost that had coated every surface around them. The strange, unerring silence of frozen time fell around them.

He stretched as if uncomfortable, “It’s been a while since I’ve used this ability. It’s been a while since we’ve fought. I’m sure you’d like to know what’s going on back in Etheria, no?”

The rumble from his throat was overwhelming in the silence. Algirak’s fury was inaudible, perfectly captured in his frozen snarl. His purple eyes had shifted red, burning with trapped rage.

“Everybody’s gone, now. Only Tirolith and I have attempted any reformation of the planes. And without Albion to help…

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Well, needless to say: this strike shall suffice as his vengeance.”

Llestren’vatis bolted forward.

“Dyosius will fall—”

A sudden, sickening snap stole Llestren’s voice. He choked, gagged, and whined out at the awful sensation that had filled his throat.

“I'd be disappointed, were I in his position…” Algirak whispered upon Llestren’vatis’ voice.

Llestren closed his shattered glass eyes in agony as the world grew dim, and Algirak crawled out of his throat, tearing his jaw apart.

“Sound, Llestren’vatis. You may have had time on your side, but time is nothing without its twin brother of space…” he cackled as white mist sprayed out from Llestren's body. “And now, Lles—”

Llestren’vatis forced out one last gasp of energy, suddenly engulfing the forest around them in a gust of blinding light. A mere second later, the field of ice swarmed in around them and surrounded them, tearing away until they were absent from the sky.

Cedric had collapsed into the snow beside Nesamus’ spiked wooden fence. He panted and huffed for air, shuddering and hugging himself against the cold and panic.

A red glow stretched out of his jacket as the Relistar appeared to work its magic.

“Where'd they go? What are you doing?” he frantically gasped.

“Then where is he? Where’s Llestren?” He twisted his head back and forth across the sky.

A soft female voice chimed in suddenly, “A sole survivor? You wouldn't happen to be Cedric Castelbre, would you?”

He turned in surprise. His green eyes quickly turned red as Serkukan took over to ask, “Tirolith? I’m shocked that you survived, of all creatures.”

A young girl, snugly packed into shimmering turquoise scales with a winged helmet, approached from where they had just come from. She scanned Cedric with her azure eyes as she circled him, her voice breathing delicately from soft, blue-painted lips with a strangely elven inflection, as though common words were hard to pronounce, “So this is the pawn…"

His eyes shifted back and forth between colors, “Cedric is not a pawn.”

Tirolith chuckled as she plucked her helmet away to reveal the long, bluish-silver hair that drooped down one side of her picturesque face and over her shoulder, ending at her waist.

“You're not just here to waste my time, are you?” Cedric stood, stepped toward her at Serkukan’s whim.

“I’m here on Llestren's orders.” She cocked her head to look up at Cedric, who stood a few inches taller than her. "He’s young!”

“You look younger than me…” Cedric muttered, turning away before Serkukan took power again. “How long has it been since that day? Have you been in Caloria since it happened?”

“Uhh…” She scratched the side of her head with a pout. “I’ve got no clue. Llestren remembers. But... I can hardly remember all of the things that happened in the past week.”

“You useless damn wyrm, nothing’s changed with you.” He waved her away and turned to leave towards the north.

“Hey, get back here!” She charged after him. He turned suddenly and she stopped before ramming into him.

“What possible aid could your short, clueless lifespan provide? Stay out of my way.”

She crossed her arms. “My age is of your concern? You don’t even know how much time has passed since the Collapse, yet—”

“Time?” he glared. “Enough time hasn’t even passed for your scales to whiten. And do you know how long that takes?”

“I…”

“You haven’t the slightest idea of how much time has passed, yet you’re the most pertinent, breathing example of time in all of the realms."

"And you're rude." She slipped her hand under the armor at her neck and revealed a small round locket. "And speaking of time… ta-da!"

Cedric blinked. She held a golden pocket-watch with a spiraling white pattern across the surface, though with no particular indication of its significance.

"I hope you're not expecting me to ask you to explain."

She rolled her eyes and popped it open. The inside was filled with miniature crystalline gears and complex carvings that could be inferred to represent decades of Etherian lore, not that Cedric nor Serkukan cared to interpret. "This shows us how long we have until Llestren'vatis reappears."

"So he has planned this." Cedric stepped forward and reached for the watch. Tirolith leapt back suddenly and kicked him hard in the shin.

He collapsed into the wet snow. "Ow, you—you bitch!"

"Llestren'vatis entrusted it to me." she said with a smug smirk, "And I'm one to keep my promises!"

His twin personalities growled together as he stood. "Explain this, then, because I'm far from understanding: why aren't we fighting Algirak now? Why is Llestren'vatis delaying our inevitable fight with this mockery? I could kill Algirak in an instant. And he was right there."

"Maybe Algirak, but Dyosius? There's someone else who'll help with that..."

"Spit it out."

She grinned. "Grivonym."

Cedric's eyes widened. "I didn't know he still existed."

She nodded excitedly. "Yup, and I know exactly where to find him."

"Very well, wurm, but do not expect me to fuse with you."

"Oh, come on! That's half the fun!"

He turned away impatiently, continuing toward the north. "Yes, for you, I'm sure. But for me to fuse with a lesser being is comparable to a set of manacles around my wrists."

"How do you know it’s that way?" She bounced alongside him.

Cedric shrugged as Serkukan began to subside again. "We've been going this way for hours. Wouldn't it be counterintuitive to lead us all the way out here just to send us back south?"

She stared at him blankly. "Counterintuitive, maybe, but..."

He stopped. "Which way is it?"

"South."

"How far south? Where?"

She lowered her head. "There's a town in the desert—"

"Oh, you—" He nearly threw himself at her.

She cowered and squealed impishly, "I'm joking, I'm joking! Serky, learn to take a joke!"

"Do not call me that." He became serious again as he turned to walk away. "And, to be clear, that was the boy. Not me."

She chuckled and blushed. "You two really are made for each other…"

Cedric reached up to hold his frostbitten ears as the snowstorm grew around them. Soon enough, it would engulf them.

We'll be lucky to even face Algirak, at this rate...

His eyes trailed after his new companion with disdain. So carefree. So... so ignorant...

He grit his teeth against the ceaseless chatter, the carefree humming, and the blowing, growing winds...