"Things aren't going as planned," Jasper growled under his breath. "You know how much I hate it when things don't go by the plan."

Crouched behind the bushes of the tree line, he squinted to see across a vast field. Not that it would help him see any better through the cover of fog that had blanketed the area in the early morning. All they could see was the vague silhouette of an ancient building a few dozen meters ahead of them. The occasional stifled snore reminded them there were some very large and dangerous creatures hiding in the damp distance. They had heard the wing beats in the night while they had carefully made their way to their positions from where they had left Randel.

"Give them another minute," S're urged softly behind him. "Might be having trouble seeing."

"Yeah, that's what I'm worried about," he retorted, eyes scanning through the fog, ears straining to hear. "Black's as reliable as a fixed orbit and his nose is ridiculously good. It's the girls I'm worried about. Hope they remember which way to run in this."

Reaching out her hand to reassure him, they both startled at the blood chilling growls reverberating through their chests. The ground quaked with the thundering steps of immense beasts much closer than Jasper would have liked.

"Told ya," S're poked with a grin as she rushed past him. With a big breath and shake of his head, he followed her into the thick fog, heading towards the ruins.

Pressing against the weathered wood of the wall filled with holes and broken boards, he glared at S're. "You're having entirely too much fun."

Grinning at him, she peeked into the building through an earth smeared, cracked window.  "Clear," she confirmed.

His grip on her wrist whipped her around the corner just before the crunch of an unnaturally large foot came around the opposite corner. A towering silhouette rushed past into the mist, following a small, swift figure.

"What...?"

"That was a Q'Hu!" Jasper hissed. "A fuckin' Q'Hu! Because this wasn't bad enough! Only two Riders– of course he knew!"

The reaction was in her whole body, shuddering with a hitch in her gasp.

"We're in too deep now," Jasper growled under his breath. "Fuck, let's go."

Slipping into the building, it was dark and hazy, but they noticed someone had already rifled through the bags. The hairs on Jasper's neck stood on edge, eyes wide. "That wasn't Slina he was chasing.... Someone beat us!"

A soft beeping drew S're's attention. Just enough light filtered through the filthy window to see a pile of things tossed over something metallic and glowing. Moving the debris meant to camouflage it, she revealed a high tech egg basket the likes of which she had never seen.

"Hey, look. Let's take this."

"What? Are you crazy?"

"Well, if those were documents for something important, then this has to be a prototype, right? Maybe we can sell it. At least we won't be empty handed."

Glaring at her, then the massive backpack, then back at her, he glanced around and nodded. "Fine. You're bringing it. Let's go."

Heading for the door, he checked around, motioned for her to hurry, and vanished. Pulling the straps over her shoulders, a low, feral growl behind her caused every hair to stand on her body. Looking over her shoulder, the Q'Hu's pale face hung there just outside, bisected by the crack of the filthy window, the green glow of his reflective pupils shining like lasers locked on her, his teeth bared in a snarl.

As if a lightning bolt of pure terror had struck her, every nerve went numb, freezing her in place, even when his enormous foot smashed through the wall under the window, causing the dry, rotting wood and glass to crumble and shatter. His long elven ears brushed the ceiling when he stood straight and towering over her. Each sharp thump of his heavy boots on the wood closer– crushing the glass beneath them to dust– caused her hearts to pound harder, trembling up to her ears.

Like flushed prey, she turned and bolted towards the door. His iron grip fully encompassed her arm, bringing her to an abrupt halt. Turning to meet her captor again, her eyes followed the black dragonscale armor clad body up until she leaned her whole spine back to peer into his reflective gaze, mouth agape with the thought to plead for mercy.

Staring directly into those shimmering centers, she felt a wave of sensation surge through her. Her breath caught, unsure how to process what was happening inside her mind. Drawn into their enchanting depths, she saw him without flesh, everything that he was, a great eye, a marking. A spell that bound all things, and it bound him to her completely. But, how did she know that?

Shock spread across his near flawless features. He knew she was seeing his soul. He knew he had just awoken her. He had a vision, too, a new eye opening within him to see within her, and her gaze was causing him discomfort, but he could not look away and could not keep her out. A ragged gasp left him, his voice inhumanly deep. "Shit, you're a...."

He stiffened at an audible thunk against the back of his head, his eyes wide and rapidly blinking. Staggering, he growled and began to turn slowly, but another strike across the side of his head knocked him off balance, stumbling over some broken debris. Jasper leapt over the massive man, smashing a blunt metal pipe against his skull until he stopped moving.

"Jasper..." S're whispered in horror.

Stopping, he panted and turned to her, dropping his weapon. "We have to go! Now!" Slipping a hand into his vest, he pulled out a fire starter and twisted it, tossing it to the nearest wall as it began to grow hot and sparks flew from it. "Let's go!" Grabbing her hand, he dragged her after him as the wall caught fire.

When they were past the tree line, Jasper slowed and then stopped, turning to S're as she panted heavily and wobbled, still confused and shaken, finding it difficult to focus her eyes. Now he became concerned. "Are you alright? Did he hurt you?"

"I-I don't know. He-he did... something."

Gritting his teeth, he glanced around nervously. "He might have cast a spell on you. It might release once the fire gets him. We can't rest here. If he does wake up, he'll come after us, and he'll kill us. Can you keep going?"

S're knew he spoke the truth, nodding in a daze, but each step grew more difficult until she stumbled. Jasper turned back to her, reaching out to catch her as she fell and fell– and fell.

Into depths deeper than dreams, she plunged through a veil and into a void. Peering about, she noticed the faint shimmers of spider's silk that seemed to float about her, but she could not tell where they ended. Looking at her hands, she realized the strands came from her. The threads suddenly tightened and through them entered into her an angry might she was not sure she could contain. The strings tugged her into the darkness, but they could not move her.

She felt the urge to look up, if one could call it up. Equally part of the darkness and individual, there appeared a dragon, difficult to make out. Brilliant, metallic copper eyes peered down at her. Its maw opened wide as if it might reach down to swallow her.

Instead, liquid fire cascaded forth, pooling high above her until they became the disembodied eyes of a serpent, dispassionate and omnipotent. Something immeasurable slithered around her, a being of infinite power. Immense coils of ages young and old encircled her, slithering over one another. Every scale held its own universe as vastly complex as her own– each a different path, a different moment.

She thought she should feel afraid but, somehow, that didn't make sense. This place felt safe, warm and familiar, as though she were cradled, somewhere she knew she could simply observe. The celestial being had no intention of harming her. She just knew that.

"Tamer." The ether softly hissed all about her, as deep as the void and without hurry for it knew no urgency of time. "Eternal Tamer. The beginning... and the end...  So many before you have come... gone... for-got.... Do you know why you are here? Your existence? Your Purpose?"

S're could not speak. She opened her mouth, but there was no air in this void. Confused and uncomfortable, she could do little more than stare up at the eyes that further expanded as the shadowy form of the dragon, the shape of which she had never seen, continued to pour magma from its mouth.

"There was an Order. We made it so. It is your Purpose. ny'Salohm of the eternals. Little drop of the mountain. Bold is thy Wanderer, marked by your love. They will know him. Trust in the son of Light Maker. God among Men. In his strength. In his will. In his Oath. In his... Purpose...."

The word drawled on longer than it needed to, a reverberation through the universes, time itself rolling about in different directions throughout each scale. Once again, she felt the fantastic might that attempted to drag her into the darkness. Still, she remained unmovable but puzzled until the sensation relented.

"Our Order has been unraveled. Fools seek what they cannot conceive of. Attempt ascension with sacrilege. For-sake... the Order of things. Test... your resolve. They know nothing of this path they have set, or how far the ripples of desperation travel." Again the scales shuddered, a wave distorting the coils as it rolled past her view.

"FOOLS!" The word reverberated all around her, the scales becoming turbulent, galaxies colliding and flinging worlds asunder. "They will not be blessed! Only our children feel the touch of our love! There was an Order! We made it so! It is your Purpose! They must obey."

"Heretics!" An anguished sob echoed in the space between worlds. "What have they wrought?"

The lava overflowed from the eyes as if the being wept, flowing into a mighty river of fire while the form of the dragon became a peak, standing mighty and alone. The fire lapped up the sides, raging and dancing on a darkness that oozed through the stone, turning the mountain bleak and black, joined by others, where the Eternal Storm seethed, long protecting glittering dunes vast and arid. Through gates of living sand, into a lush citadel raised from the very desert. Danger lurked here, a menace to take her, swallow her into a chasm below the city. Falling into the molten fire, unable to stop, the fear of plunging into the searing froth caused her body to thrash.

"There will be Order or it will all be burning... burning... burning...."

"You are burning! Lie ssstill."

Her eyes fluttered open, sucking in air, the stars fading from her vision. Immediately aware they were back on Randel, she stared up at the roof until Black's glassy crimson eyes and reptilian face appeared over her, furrowed in concern. He placed something cold against her temple. Already, the heat within her body was subsiding, her strength returning.

"Jasper!" she gasped, trying to focus, but a constant... buzzing was making it difficult.

She felt his warm hand entwine with hers, his presence a light in the fading fog of her fevered vision. "Thank the Seven Serpents! I wasn't sure if you'd awaken again, lulumi."

She turned to peer at him and met his warm, dazzling gaze. In that moment, she knew without a doubt none of it was a dream. None of it had been imagined. Within him was a whole life, a flood of emotions in her... everything, and a great eye that tethered him to his dragon.

She knew in his gasp and breathless whisper he felt her pierce him. "S're! Are you...? Oh, god! It all makes sense."

Squeezing her eyes shut, she struggled to make sense of what she saw. All at once feeling powerful and drained, it became so difficult to focus on her reality that she no longer could.

***

"Roscrow!"

The familiar voice was so far away. In another world. Perhaps, even, another life.

Plunged into the depths of undeath, he opened his eyes and found himself entangled in a web, strands so inconsequential yet so unyielding as to hold even his glorious display of vitality. In the quivering silk was a confusion not his own. Relenting, he instead focused, peering about in the abyss.

Beside him, a pair of metallic gold eyes appeared, the body of his dragon part of the depths they had been drawn into. A dragon went with its Rider anywhere, even into undeath. This was the order of things.

The void exploded into resplendence, twin suns coalescing into existence before him. They became the disembodied eyes of a reptile, contempt in the ethereal gaze that burned down upon him.

"Guardian." The hiss seemed to draw on for eternity. Perhaps it would continue through the lifetime he spent in this place.

Slithering around him were the immense coils of a radiant serpent, each scale containing time and space of places long dead, yet born and every second that came in between.

"Betrayer!" Thunder rolled like the pluck of a cosmic string. Universes shook, calamities sowing the seeds for new ages. "Blood... thief." The indignant hiss was a vibration that rippled through time.

Roscrow wished to argue, to correct this erroneous god, but found the breath lacking. His father had told him to expect this during long winded lessons in his youth. He was not meant to stay in this place- only so long as his soul could hold its breath. Instead, he scowled up at the eyes, spiteful and defiant.

"Did you truly think you could run? Escape the truth of your existence? Only now to chase that which you fled. Running is not where freedom lies. Not in your might.... Not in your will.... Only in your... perspicacity. That you will bow before your duty. Your Oath. Your... Purpose." The last word drawled on for eons while new galaxies spun into existence with the materials of the earlier destruction.

Roscrow bared his teeth in a feral snarl, but for all the inhuman strength that he could muster, he could not pull the delicate strands from his body. His dragon could not assist. Not in this place. He was a witness, that was all.

His efforts were mocked in a slow hiss twinged with sarcasm. "So audacious, God among Men. Blessed child of the eternals. Rule... breaker.... The end... and the beginning.... Searching for what he cannot grasp within his grasp. As mighty as your mountain. Full of FOOLS!"

The suns grew fiery and dark, waves of heat washing over him like opening a kiln. "There was an Order to things, and they have broken it. They know not the path they have set before you. Obey your Oath, son of Light Maker. Follow your Tamer, and in your moment of understanding, let... them... burn!"

The suns blazed down upon a vast emerald forest. The god had become a dragon made of fire, the char of its flesh as infinite as the void. Lava flowed from the maw of the dragon, oozing through the forest like a mighty river, setting it ablaze before rising high, becoming a lonely mountain that stood fast against the flames. The fire billowed into inky clouds that roiled about a vast mountain range. Roscrow knew of the arid land beyond the Eternal Storm, long isolated from the world, its knowledge kept in scrolls as ancient as the magicks that held the citadel above the desert, an eerie scar gouged into rolling dunes.

He could not be sure, but he thought he saw a person falling into the boiling chasm. Before he could decide, the web that held him tightened into a net and dragged him along. The veil ripped open with radiating brilliance, calling him back to his life.

Idly, as though in after thought, he felt the being snag him and hold him back for just a second, adding, "the costs of entertainment can be high, Roscrow. I'm waiting, Roscrow...."

"Roscrow!"

His eyes snapped open, startling the man crouched over him. "Shit! Nivlahn! I thought...."

"Kalvin!" he whispered with all his might, staring at the sky.

"What? You shouldn't move. Your head..."

"Kalvin, I..." He sucked in a breath to all three lungs, his voice quickly returning to him. "I awakened a Tamer."

The man blinked in surprise. "W-Wait, what? Are you sure? You know, Roscrow, you got hit pretty hard on the head..."

When he turned his eerie eyes to the other man, it did not matter how often he had seen them in his life, the intensity of their full attention could make him nervous.

Sitting up abruptly, Roscrow felt the side of his head where the blood had caked his hair, growling deeply. It was such a feral sound that Kalvin had never truly grown used to that, either. "I will end that grun. He messed up my hair."

As he took to his feet, the other man sat back on his heels, rolled his eyes and threw up his hands. "Why did I even bother? It would've been easier to just let the building burn around you. You would've risen from the ashes, brushed 'em off and complained about getting soot on your boots."

The scowl curled up into a crooked, tight lipped smirk. "That seems accurate." Turning abruptly, he headed to his dragon, his long strides leaving Kalvin to chase him.

Out in the field, Roscrow's colossal black dragon shook the sleep of soul travel from his body. Beside him, a vibrantly chromatic female had kept him warm, guarding his vacant body. She peered at him closely, concern showing in her reptilian features. Nuzzling her briefly in reassurance, the beast made himself ready upon laying eyes on his rider. Roscrow walked with purpose. Despite his haste, he paused to diligently check the saddle belts while Kalvin caught up to him.

"Wait, Roscrow! Where are you going? If you did awaken a Tamer, it couldn't have gotten far while having a vision. I should at least come with you...."

"Dane must know of this immediately," Roscrow cut him off as he effortlessly climbed onto his dragon, strapping himself in around his waist and upper thighs. "I'll scout around, but it seems I've been out for a couple of hours. She had friends, I'm sure they helped her escape. Do a wider search once I've left, but if you do see them, be wary, stay back, and report only to me. I've got the feeling she doesn't know her powers and that can be dangerous."

Without waiting for a reply, he slammed his helm over his head and spurred his dragon to the air. The beast lunged up with powerful haunches, his mighty wings taking him high into the shimmering sky. The layers under his dragonscale jerkin prevented the cold air from reaching Roscrow's skin. His helm prevented the deafening noise of the wind, though he could easily still hear the other sounds of his surroundings.

Like the warning sound his dragon made, a vibration felt through the body. A luminous iridescent band many kilometers long was forming before them. Both dragon and rider had but a second to squeeze eyes shut before the particles spun tightly enough together to burst into such an intense radiance that even the dragon's thickly scaled eyelids barely helped him so close, while the automatic darkening of his helm glass hardly did better for Roscrow as the phenomena harmlessly but loudly fizzled away, slithering across the sky. The particles spun away, growing ever smaller until they returned to the background of the sky.

"Good boy, Granger." He patted his dragon as they opened their eyes again. Checking his sensors, he grit his teeth and cursed under his breath when he found that the close range of the Glimmer's static had shorted his delicate systems.

Indicating for Granger to swoop down lower, he hoped to see through the treetops. The only thing to note was a small range of walking mountains traveling down one of the paths the great beasts had laid out for generations before them. They were all so thickly lush that he could not tell if any might have a Tender traveling with them at such a distance.

With a frustrated growl, he instructed Granger to begin heading towards a lone mountain barely visible in the far distance. Leaning back in the saddle and resting his head on his bedroll, he set his feet on the wide pummel, safe in the cradle of the pillion, and stared at the sky. There was often enough time to take a nap when enroute, but he would not be sleeping this trip.

***

"A moment of your time, Dane."

Roscrow's head craned back when a pale, alien face with eyes like his own turned to focus their intensity on him. The Q'Hu was unmistakable in a room where even his own son barely reached his stalwart shoulders, not to mention the ears that stretched up further still. He peered silently at his son for a mere moment before elegantly addressing the small gathering of Speakers around him that he would return.

Turning on his heel, he brushed past his son, giving him that sidelong look Roscrow knew so well. Pursing his lips, he accompanied his father's long legged stride, finding a corner near a landing platform. After a quick glance around the area, Dane turned with eyes narrowed, his clear, inhumanly deep voice low. "I told you the Speakers only let you into the military to snag them a stray Tamer. Now where are they?"

Sucking in his breath, Roscrow indicated his wound with a sneer.  "One of her saipaki attacked me mere seconds after the awakening process began. She stole the prototype I was sent to transport and... escaped me."

Dane's eyes narrowed, glancing about. "A woman?"

Frowning, Roscrow replied distastefully, "A H'elfling."

His father's eyes widened more than he had seen in many years. "What? Are you certain?"

"I believe her ears were quite distinctive, yes."

Astonished, Dane was lost in thought for a moment, shaking his head. "This is no coincidence you two have crossed paths."

"Yeah, tell me about it," Roscrow muttered bitterly to himself. "This is why I avoid the fantasy genre. Such strange occurrences are my reality."

With a quick glare and shake of his head, Dane thought a moment longer. "Tell me everything. And then you must find her, quietly."

Roscrow recounted nearly the entire experience in fine detail. There were a few choice words used to skirt the things he did not wish to share. Whether or not his father had ever caught on to him doing this throughout his life, it never showed.

Dane remained silent for a long thoughtful moment before he scoffed softly, muttering, "'Blood thief.' It's been a while since I've heard that."

Roscrow wrinkled his nose in a toothy sneer, his voice ugly. "I have stolen no one's blood! I was merely born! Thousands of years after that event, I might add. I had a perfectly fine career, and now I'm the puppet of a snake with a grudge."

Dane's cold glower made his son's lip curl in defiance. "Just remember that you are a Guardian first. All the rest comes second to that."

"I have made no Oath!" Roscrow snarled, which made the few servants walking past scurry away. "I have a seat on the council and an army at my call, and this bitch might have ruined me."

"Now is not the time for this debate," Dane snapped, glaring about before turning it back to him. "She is your Tamer, whether you like it or not. You say she seemed confused, so it's unlikely she knew about her lineage. You need to find her before things become chaotic. We will have to make it worthwhile for her to come forward."

Roscrow pursed his lips. "I was thinking about that during my return. I know it's not exactly 'quiet' but it will be effective. She is a traitorous thief. While I may have killed one of her friends who tried to make off with the documents, she made off with the prototype and stealing top secret prototypes from the government isn't something we just let go. I will have to report this."