Skar opened his eyes. Were was he? He tried to move his arms but found that they were chained to the wall. This applied to his feet as well. "Asmirath Condorak!" He utter some unknown black magic.The old chains shuddered, rattled, and finally broke. Skar painstakingly got up.

Skar's eyes adjusted to the dim light. He was in an ancient temple, with statues all around. He was in the Temple of Banishment. Those "statues" were those who were banished here, and over time became part of the temple. But not him. He found his great battle axe and headed to look for a way out. "Those Guardians banished me once, they won't do it again. I'll show them."

Vidian looked through his pouches as he prepared for the day to begin. He had to make sure he had everything he would need. One pouch containing his notebook and pencil. Another held various healing supplies in case of an emergency. There was a third containing other odds and ends that he had found useful in the past.

As he atteached each to his he reached his hand inside to be sure he could pull anything he needed out where he placed it. Last of all, he attached a dagger to his belt. The sheath was bright because he'd only polished it the night before.

Finished with that, Vidian headed towards the breakfast hall, but he stopped in his tracks as he heard Ember and the dragon.He watched the scene play out in silence. It seemed even his breathing managed to avoid making noise. When finally Ember had finished with the dragon, his footsteps fell in rhythm with hers as she went to the breakfast hall. If he could speak, he may have greeted her. Since he could not, he kept a short distance as she entered the hall.

(Fine with me. My only fear is that our convo might flood the topic.)

[Hilo]

"Lucky guess, I suppose."

My head took the time to start aching again; she had sighed, and that's rarely a good sign. I can't remember the last time it was a good sign, actually. But then I hardly remember anything at all. Take last night for instance. All I know is that I drank a lot, and woke up a few hours later with some gashes in my leg.

One of these days I'm not going to wake up at all.

"So it seems like you were going to head off all by yourself. Little dangerous, wouldn't you say? In these mountains, the Coronians could become the least of your problems. Ever think about enlisting some help? Maybe a hunter or trapper who knows the area? It wouldn't be hard to get lost, I bet. Might be problematic."

No idea why I'm doing this. I should just shut up and get out of here. Let her do her own thing.

Yet …

Karana

This man was certainly strange. No one had ever dared to even come near me before; I was known throughout the Heldon territory for my short temper and strength with magic. But he still stood there...talking to me casually, as if nothing was wrong.

"That is only too true, especially since I am hunting a dangerous creature." I looked at him harder, trying to find a way into his mind so I could read his thoughts. Nothing. Only fuzz and distortion. Drunkenness? "Help would be advantageous. You are a man of the forest, I take it?"

(Phindin, you should read Catherine Jinks' Pagan series. She has a similar style, and I think you'd like it.)

Ember turned slightly and smiled. "You have a very distinctive way of walking, Vidian," she said. "It is Vidian, right?"

Then she continuned, "Of course, if you are indeed Vidian, then I can hardly expect an answer, and if you were just a quiet enemy, then I would have a dagger in my back."

(I'm sorry, Reakeda, but I don't know how our characters can interact. I can't read and you can't talk. Do you have an idea?

Thank you all who has joined!)

(I'll look into it.)

[Hilo]

"Ah. Yes. Dangerous creatures tend to be dangerous. I think I heard that somewhere."

Gods. Brilliant, Hilo. Next thing you'll telling her is that headaches make your head ache.

Mine certainly does.

"You ask if I'm a man of the forrest. I would say no, but that's not entirely truthful. My father was very fond of hunting, especially around these parts. Excellent with a bow. I never saw him miss – not unless he wanted to, that is. See, he used to drag me along, and would sometimes botch the shot on purpose to make it more exciting for me. Tried to teach me a few of his tricks, too, but I've a useless bow arm."

This is going somewhere, I swear.

"So. I do know a thing or two about the land around here. Might be a useful guy to have along."

…

I think I just volunteered myself. What. Am. I. Doing?

Karana

I knew it now. He was saying obvious things, meaning nothing more than that he had a hangover or was drunk.

Still, he was interesting. He had a point to what he was saying otherwise.

"Well, you needn't worry about handling a bow. I would cover that." I nodded, not sure if I was doing the right thing or not. Could I trust him? Oh, why was I asking that?! He seemed decent enough. "You can join me if you wish."

I think I know now.

Think. A dangerous word in this context.

A dangerous word for dangerous creatures who by the way are dangerous. Like irony except not.

My life was devoid of purpose. Was. Now there is something inviting – I'd go so far as to say echanting – about helping this elf out in whatever lunacy she'd been concocting while I was busy drinking my brains out. Purpose. A word with a nice ring. Nicer than the ringing in my head.

Still hungover. Yeah.

"All right. I'm in."

Wait.

"Ah. That is … what variety of dangerous creature are we after, exactly?"

She could say giant, fire-breathing bears that kill with a single glance, and it wouldn't matter. I had purpose.

Purpose.

Karana

I smiled. Hilo seemed overjoyed by the answer I had given him. But his question bothered me...when I tell him the answer, would he turn away?

"That's a good question, one in need of an answer," I began, hoping to build suspense. "A dragon."

[Hilo]

Rather close to a giant, fire-breathing bear, actually.

Okay not really.

"Dragon. Hm."

Dragons rocked Purpose to its foundation, but Purpose still held strong. Not that easy! I'm committed now.

I laughed. At the insanity. At all of it.

"Looks like we'll have our work cut out for us, then, Karana." I motioned eastward, toward the Corone and the hidden danger that lay beyond. "After you."

Karana

I shook my head at him, surprised to the extreme. I couldn't keep that entertained smile from my lips.

I chuckled to myself as I turned and began to walk away, heading east, towards my destiny, towards my goal...

You won't defeat me with just a human as an ally, that voice echoed near me.

I gasped, almost tripping as the probing took me off guard. The dragon...he was reading my thoughts, skimming through my head!

I put two fingers to my temple as I closed my eyes, focusing my magic. "Solvere e!"

Then it was gone. The presence disappeared, cast away from me by my simple spell.

Damned creature! How did I not feel it's invasion? How did it pass my notice, my Guard? Trying to push the aggravation aside, I continued to walk forward, Hilo beside me.

The world was different. Smaller. In his time, the world was built for a larger society. For a society that was nearly twenty feet tall, and had immense powers. Now the world was tiny. The once golden unpolluted land was covered in large brown and green towers, and the normal golden dirt was soft and green. He would smite this world. No one would stop him. He picked up his battle ax and began hacking down these dirty trees.

[Hilo]

Just a few steps and my new partner inhaled sharply, a slight stumble plaguing her stride. My hand jolted for one of the knives strapped to my body underneath my jacket; what could the problem be? I knew little of magic. Was some invisible force seconds away from killing us both? Was the dragon already making its move? Could dragons even use magic?

Seems a little unfair that dragons could be so enormous and physically powerful while at the same time adept in the magical arts.

Maybe I was in over my head.

Amazing that ten seconds ago I was laughing.

"You … you all right, there?" I asked, unsure of what to do. "Something wrong?"

Karana

I looked at him, grinding my teeth.

"Y-yeah," I stuttered. Anger always made me tongue-tied. "C-Cursed creature was just insulting my l-lack of...help. The d-dragon does not think that you a-and I alone will be able to kill him."

I exhaled slowly, trying to keep my cool. I had to focus. If I lost my temper here, we'd never get there...in one piece, at least.

"He's amused that I'm...working with a human."

[Hilo]

My hand eased from the knife.

So that was it. This dragon could communicate with her, taunt her, laugh at her from inside her head. And apparently it didn't think much of the human race – more specifically, me. Arrogant wart. I find it hard to believe that dragons wouldn't bleed like the rest of us. We'll see how fares his sense of humor with a dagger in both eyes!

But this wouldn't do.

She was rattled, that was certain. It wouldn't do. We weren't even fighting yet!

"Do you believe him, then?" I asked softly. "Do you think we can't win?"