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Memoirs of Dragora

Chapter 12: To Each Their Own Way

After last night's unexpected party, Dragora woke up energized and prepared for the day ahead. Slypnir, however was looking out the window worriedly to the dawn sun that just peaked over the opposite port's tower. Zerion was currently nowhere to be found and Dragora assumed that's what was bothering Slypnir, walking over to his life-long friend to ask and make sure.

"What's wrong, it doesn't look like you slept at all..." He questioned, stretching broadly and flexing his muscles in small comfort.

"I had a nightmare, but it felt real... almost the same as when I had the premonition of your family's names..." Slypnir replied grimly, throwing Dragora off guard from what he expected.

"What was it about? Was another name mentioned or did a figure show?" asked Dragora, concerned about the premonition that was bad enough to be called a nightmare by his partner.

"I saw a... rather unique tiger... it was the most vibrant blue you'd ever see, only rivaled by the yellow that accented and striped his body. He was standing at the wake of a burning city, but there was nothing in his eyes..." Slypnir said choking back tears of fright. "His eyes were the same as yours, he had the same scar that you do on your chest, he even spoke in the same voice as you!"

"same... scar?" Dragora stuttered out, feeling the cicatrice on his chest and barely believing what he had heard. "Please, tell me more, I need to know!"

"All he said was 'I'm dead inside, I've lost my light' and he lunged at me and impaled me, waking me up in fright... what scared me more is that there was a small puncture, right where he stuck me in the dream! I'm afraid if he's real, and I'm terrified that he resembles you in the areas that make you unique..." Slypnir said, breaking out into tears finally, unable to hide the dread he was feeling.

Dragora went over to Slypnir and held him tightly, just as Slypnir had done for him before the battle of Krjn. His friend flinched slightly and then relaxed, not expecting Dragora to show such understanding of what he was feeling. Dragora sat there and pondered how someone could have almost all the same qualities as if they were a mirror, but have no emotion or hope.

Zerion walked in then and saw Slypnir digging his muzzle father onto Dragora's back, his eyes flowing as if he had witnessed his own death. He then rushed over, touching Slypnir's shoulder gently and tilting his head to Dragora, who seemed deep in thought. Slypnir looked up like a frightened child, relieved to just see his other companion, and let his emotions show on his face once more.

"What's wrong? Did I do something?" Zerion asked confusedly, wondering just how long he was gone.

"Slypnir had a premonition, and it was about someone who resembled me down to my eyes and scar..." Dragora answered quickly, holding Slypnir concernedly and comfortingly.

"What was his name?" Zerion retorted, a little stunned at the thought of someone with the same etching.

"It's Elevrity, he called himself Elevrity." Slypnir stated, calming down a little from the presence of both his friends, realizing his tongue had lolled out onto dragora's back out of the angle his head was in and old habit.

"No, it couldn't be... h-he... I slew him..." Dragora replied abruptly out of shock. "But there's no way you could have heard that name, I've never mentioned it."

"Was he an innocent? What did he do to provoke you?" Zerion asked, thinking nothing of it, as was the life of a mercenary, to kill for fortunes.

"Yes, I let my patience run out and out of anger I struck him down, He merely insulted me and he payed the final price... now he's haunting those close to me for my wrong doing." Dragora cried out, falling to the ground in regret, feeling his eyes well up in anguish as he punched through the floor, hitting the ceiling of the room below.

Slypnir and Zerion both looked at him in shock, knowing that killing an innocent was as disallowed to his conscious as Aerinia was strict about their love. They looked at each other, wondering what they could do to pull Dragora out of what seemed to be his deepest pain, as well as think of how to pull his bleeding arm out of the splintered floorboards. To their surprise, however, Dragora merely slid it out unhindered and unbothered by the bleeding, just looking at his hand in disgust as if it were a materialized nightmare in which he hated. They both went over to him, Slypnir pulling his kit out of his coat and Zerion holding his friend comfortingly.

"You must go on without me, my presence will just bring pain and injury to you... please, this is the only way I see that I will be able to protect you..." Dragora stated grimly,seeing the pain Slypnir was in from bending over and remembering the puncture wound, which he caught a glimpse of as the shirt shifted upward and revealed his belly.

Seeing Dragora's eyes make direct contact with his wound, Slypnir quickly covered it and went back to tending his arm, merely letting out an "I'm fine" as he bent further down. Zerion saw the mark as well, and caught on to what Dragora was saying, seeing physical proof of the damage.

"But we can't, it wouldn't be right, the three of us got into this together and it's going to be the three of us pulling to the end. Also we have others to travel with us, plus spacing yourself from your father would just hurt him more than the rest of us, more than a nightmare could possibly do physically..." Zerion said sternly, making eye-contact with Dragora and giving him a resolute expression to show he will not be swayed. "Don't make me carry you the entire journey, I had a hard enough time lugging you to the caravan two times and my arms almost gave out carrying you through to your father's chambers back in the tundra..."

Dragora smiled faintly, always finding humor in Zerion's comments and seeing that his partners would never leave his side despite what came to them. The pain finally caught up to his arm as Slypnir tugged the last stitch out of ten into place, and then looking at Dragora in apology, for he took a flask of lunarshine out of his coat and poured it onto the gash to clean it. Dragora roared in pain and whimpered as the heavy full proof liquor settled and wiped any and all signs of future infection off of his arm. He passed out from pain after a minute of faintly hearing Zerion and Slypnir trying to get him into focus, tipping to the side onto Zerion's lap.

"I'm sorry, it's the only disinfectant I have, I ran out of balms before we even started the journey, the king put in a big order to silo them so I had to oblige... I hope it didn't hurt him to much, I could never forgive myself." Slypnir puled in concern.

"I'm sure he'll be fine, let me put him on the bed and then we can ask Luxi for some money to buy you ingredients for those balms and remedies." Zerion replied reassuringly, but couldn't imagine what kind of pain it would be to have something of that stature poured onto a wound that large.

Dragora woke up feeling a familiar grain of wood on his face,and got up to see where he was. Immediately he recognized his ship and saw everyone working on all the positions, making him proud to have a crew and be on his pride and joy. He took the wheel and turned them to an island where a small hut resided, which he could only assume would be in possession of Ohteskhri, the otter Nij and Slypnir talked about. As he approached it, however, the island seemed to be moving. Dragora turned to catch the wind and move faster toward the islet, but then he saw what it was. The island was a ruse and they were heading toward an emerging maw of an ancient citaecean as it towered upward into the darkening sky, being surrounded by clouds that seemed to have come out of nowhere. Dragora realized his error and starting pivoting the ship in an attempt to get away as everyone else watched in wonder. The ship turned away from the trap and the monstrosity followed, delving back into the water as it moved toward the fleeing food. It closed in on them, opening it's maw again to engulf them. The ship started moving backwards toward the vacuum of water and air, leaving everyone no choice but to face their end. Dragora looked up in regret, only to see a grey dull sky rather than one last glimpse of angelic blue as they fell backwards into the fissure.

He jumped up, screaming "NO" into the dark room and then reeling in pain as he relieved the pressure on his tender arm onto his other one. Slypnir was sitting by him with a small mixture of ointment in his hand.

"You were crying in your sleep... are you sure you're okay? This all seems to have taken a devastating toll on your mind." Slypnir said gently, comforting dragora and rubbing the bags that formed under his eyes dry from the salty solution that had flowed from his oculi.

"I'm fine, I'll pull through this, I must..." Dragora replied wearily, giving Slypnir a faint smile in the shadow that devoured the room's color.

"If it's too much we can take a rest, we'll be on your ship soon enough where we can relax and sail the seas for a while... anyway, hold out your arm please, this'll relieve the pain, I already disinfected it with something that'll keep it clean for the duration of healing." Slypnir said guiltily, knowing it must have hurt to an extreme extent to make his friend pass out.

"Please, don't say that... that's what the nightmare was about, we were on the ship and I turned us toward Ohteskhri's hut, only to be eaten by a giant citaecean. I don't know if it's a premonition or not, and I'm scared..." Dragora said, feeling another tear roll down his cheek.

"Everyone is having nightmares... this is no coincidence, Zerion woke up with a mark on his arm that looked like he was slashed, Nij shot up out of his sleep with a tooth mark on his leg, something is going on here." Slypnir stated firmly, knowing that there was something more than a malicious spirit that suddenly showed up.

"Don't you see? It's already happening... I've cursed you all." Dragora said falling into despair.

"If it was you then why did Luxicitius wake up with a puncture in his shoulder? You barely know him at all, in fact none of us do, Zerion only knew him for that one battle..." Slypnir replied, trying to convince Dragora there was no curse at play.

"Then what's going on? Is it the ashes? Or maybe the UMU has mages trying to hinder us?" Dragora asked consecutively, slightly catching Slypnir off guard and confusing him a little.

"Our guess is that the UMU has mages in it's ranks and they had one hiding to hex the caravan as we pulled away." stated Nijraketo, making an entrance with the other two at his sides.

"Spiteful mages too, almost took out my eye..." Midnight said, pointing to a cut on his eyebrow.

"Then it's settled then, after we deliver these ashes we're going to confront the king of Lothgrenier about the recent happenings, because this is going a little far, trying to get us to seperate and demoralize us in such a cowardly way..." Slypnir stated, enraged at seeing those who would attempt to pull their band apart.

The group raided the kitchen in search of something that would keep them up, but all they found was one scoop of simarkan coffee. Not knowing what it was, Slypnir brewed it like any other coffee, unaware of how strong it was, and gave everyone a tankard of it.

"Argh! My mouth... this isn't coffee, this is fire!" Dragora said, having took more than a meager sip but was now wider awake than when he started the journey.

"May I see that container...?" Luxi asked gently, holding out his hand toward the small canister. When he was handed the small tin, he read the label and chuckled aloud, "this isn't normal coffee, it's the native coffee, simarkan to be exact..."

Midnight instantly set down his tankard to let it cool down a little, remembering how long S'kria let his set before sipping it. Nij took a miniscule taste, and found it to his liking. Slypnir grabbed his and made the same mistake Dragora did by taking too much in at once, and he ran over to the tap to chug some water and wash the grounds down. Dragora was just doing the same as Midnight now, seeing it as the only way to drink it without losing to many taste recepticles, for already the right side of his mouth, the drinking side, was numb and tasteless. Luxi went Nij's way of drinking it, also liking the flavor of the coffee but still being cautious.

"This is the last time I touch coffee again..." Both Dragora and Slypnir said simultaniously and looking at each other agreeably.

"What I miss?" Zerion said tiredly, walking into the room and rubbing his eyes from sleep. He instantly made way for Dragora's tankard and took a deep drink, shocking everyone and amazing them. "Simarkan, it's been a while..."

Everyone just stared at him dumbfoundedly, wondering how he was unfazed even the slightest bit by the potent wake-up call. He instantly opened his eyes from having a full drink and handed Dragora what was left of the coffee and wandering around to see if there was more.

"Why are you all looking at me like that? Oh wait, nevermind, I know, I was raised on that stuff so I sort of built an immunity to it..." Zerion said bluntly, answering everyone's unasked question.

It was not long before the night faded into dawn, filled with sips and the rare drink of energizing brew, and they all went out to the small caravan to ride it up to the monastery to deliver the ashes and be on their way to their newly appointed priority destination of Lothgrenier. Dragora, Zerion, and Luxicitius went over to the craftsman's round of the city to peruse new caravans for the party to travel in while Nijraketo, Slypnir, and Midnight went to hand over the remains and offer condolences. Dragora's side found an engineer who worked with making more developed means of transport. As they looked over his display of plans, they realized that they could also be used for assault as well as travel, for they found a blueprint that fit their needs. It was a modest sized one, able to fit up to 10 people including supplies for half a year, it was made of Tyralthium, the most advanced blend of materials of the time, as hard as diamond but light as aluminum, and flexible enough to absorb a cannon impact and distribute the damage throught the shell, almost completely nullifying the harm to both inside and outside. Luxi looked at the plans for any flaws, only spotting one, seeing that the bottom was as well planned as it could have been. They took the blueprint up to the counter, and after a few alteration and negotiations they settled on what was considered to be a very reasonable price.

"I focus on making my products longlasting, low maintenance, and high quality, all for a reasonable price, you will find I'm one of few who only charge 5% more than the actual cost to make it in order to make a living and keep everyone happy." The craftsman snickered, looking across the square to his rival's all but empty workshop, "He's an example of a profiteer, 300% the cost of manufacture..."

"I wish there were more merchants like you in the world, then everyone would be able to at least get what they need..." Zerion said kindly, smiling broadly to see corruption suffer under good will.

"Well I'll go get started on this, I should actually have enough scrap Tyralthium to make it, the last one I did was for some imperial order or something, shady folks they were..." The craftsman stated, happy to have conversation present.

"Were they from Lothgrenier? Perchance, or did they have it delivered the UMU?" Dragora asked inquisitively, knowing Aerinia had no intention to expand, and the only imperialistic nation that was relatively close was the one they were going to confront.

"Why yes, in fact, from Lothgrenier, what would that be the matter with?" The craftsman asked concernedly, wondering if something was afoot and if he contributed to it.

Dragora and Zerion explained the story to the craftsman, keeping his and their own voices down to not draw attention while Luxi continued perusing blueprints and marking suggestions onto them spotting a pattern in the caravans having a weakness on the bottom. In the meanwhile, Slypnir's side of the party had just arrived at the monastery and were getting ready to meet with the head there. Midnight hoisted the box onto his back and carried it inside carefully, making sure not to tip to one side while walking or risk having the contents spill. Nijraketo went into the room first, talking and explaining to the leader, and both Slypnir and Midnight swore they heard weeping.

"I hope it's going fine in there, I don't want to be turned around for trying to help..." Slypnir said quietly and feebly across the doorway to the panther carrying the large crate.

"There is no way I'm turning back with this thing!" Midnight replied frustratedly, feeling his back get weak from the constant strain, "However did Dragora cope with carrying the supplies, I can't even cope with a box, let alone 150 pounds easy worth of crap..."

"Okay you two, you can come in now," Nij said, poking his head out of the doorway to them and going back in, "just mind your manners."

Slypnir walked in first opening up the heavy door a little more to give Midnight space to maneuver in the tight quarters. They got in with almost no trouble, save for the messenger trying to poke around the panther, in the end making him turn his head sharply and glaring at the courier, causing him to freeze with nervousness. Once they were all the way in, the panther set the box on the floor, controlling his veining muscles to set it down gently in respect to the contents within.

"I thank you for cremating them for us, it is mandatory for them to mark a favorite location on a map before they are sent out to the field, so we have the records, you can leave this part to us, and only us..." The leader said solemnly, the fur under his bat eyes slightly matted.

"It was the least we could do, and we also have a suspicion as to who did this." Slypnir replied bravely, piquing the microbat's interest almost immediately.

They explained all that head happened on their journey to the listener in his seat, and he listened to every part, making sure to take note in his mind. It was around then that Dragora and Zerion finished explaining to the craftsman, who was now frustrated he had been taken advantage of. Both Dragora and Zerion convinced him that it would do better if he were to stay in Sylphistrine and save the people from outrageous prices, which in the end he could not argue against. He proceeded to the back of his workshop and grabbed something an old looking blueprint out from a heavily reinforced 5 lock chest.

"How about I make this for you? I'm sure it'll serve your purpose much better..." The craftsman, who's name they found out was Aurion, said eagerly, handing over the blueprint to Luxicitius' eager hands, who quickly unraveled the parchment and marveled at the plans before him.

The plans they looked at were that of siege origin, which Slypnir would've dated back to the siege in which Sylphistrine almost fell. It was comprised of an 8 wheeled structure with treads attached around the wheels for movement, it was reinforced with thick plated Tyrulthium, and the only way of entering or exiting was through a thick door on the side which could be sealed from the inside. On top of the spacious interior was an exquisite cannon, with a medium length cannonball shaped barrel and a blast amplifier attached to the end, a relatively easy way of getting up to the seat that's controlled from the interior, and the ability to see all around the siege caravan.

"These plans are almost flawless! But how much would it weigh? And I don't see your usual lack of protection on the bottom, so how come your other plans aren't like this?" Luxi asked ecstatically, seeing the marvel he'll be riding in.

"It is a bit weighty so you might want to secure more manticores, and that's because it's law to make a weakness so we don't get overpowered by our own weapons, but for a cause like this I'm going to make the most outlawed plan in the history of Sylphistrine." Aurion replied proudly, "No one uses my craftsmanship for an ill purpose and gets away with it, and they didn't bother checking the blueprints so you know where their weakness is."

"Works for me!" Dragora said gleefully as he got the plans to look at and inspect, wondering what his new ride would look like and how much better it was.

"We're going to need a lot more than 2 manticores, if this thing half as heavy as it looks it might just be cheaper to put in a magic propulsion device..." Zerion said concernedly, looking at how thick the walls would be and where he could install such a device on the rig.

As they continued to plan and discuss, Slypnir was explaining how the UMU was the only army that allowed and had demons in it. Midnight seconded this and threw in his opinion of the whole ordeal to support Slypnir's theory and he also mentioned how they all had harmful nightmares the night before the meeting, sifting his eyebrow up a little to let to bat get a better look at the mark. As the leader obliged to inspect the marking, he jumped back in fright from what he saw.

"What is it?" Midnight asked concernedly, looking for a mirror or reflective surface to inspect it himself.

"That's no magic, it's a curse... one only placed onto those who have made a great wrong. How do I know you weren't involved in the massacre?" asked the head monk suspiciously. "And you said you were all marked? Either the spirits have made a mistake due to inconvenient timing, or you are the ones responsible!"

"They weren't." A voice said behind them, walking into the doorway. It was a weathered fruit bat, who looked to have traveled quite a bit and was getting on in years. "Plus why do you suspect them so Oteranchi? Surely the killers would not go through slaying a demon, cremating the soldiers, and delivering all the ashes clear across the desert to here just to get the suspicion off of them."

"My lady, I didn't mean any offense, I'm just confused at the moment-" The leader, who's name was Oteranchi, staggered out only to be cut short by the female's firm gesture, signalling him to cease any excuse.

"Then let their actions tell their tale, not your assumptions and second thoughts." She replied firmly as Oteranchi lowered his head in embarassment, seeing his error of judgement.

"Please excuse our head's emotions, as you can imagine this is a heavy blow to us all, but he had four sons that were all in the army. I am the leader of this fair city, Terochria." The fruit bat said kindly, nodding her head in welcome as they looked over to her in gratitude. "So explain to me what happened and what your theories to the reasons why are."

Slypnir began the process of explaining to Terochria, telling every detail, even a few more in depth than told to Oteranchi himself. It took 2 hours to answer all the question she had about what happened in the tower and why they went to the tundra. Meanwhile, Dragora and Zerion were walking up the street out of the craftsmen's round toward the road leading up to the monastery, with Luxicitius asking to stay behind and monitor the progress of the new caravan. Both Dragora and Zerion agreed to take the back-alleys, seeing how crowded the center plaza was and not wanting to run along the tops of stands and people. The continued on, staying only one alley away from the main street for fear of getting lost in the maze of twists and turn of back streets that were so abundant in the city. Finally after three dead-ends and countless backtracks, they were on the road toward the monastery to deliver the news of their new caravan to the other trio who was currently explaining the situation to the upper ranking officials.

"You'd think delivering the ashes wouldn't take as long as hunting down a design for a decent priced caravan..." Dragora said to his partner who walking beside him, looking at the dusk sky and admiring the reds and purples, blues and whites that engulfed the horizon. "It's beautiful isn't it? The sky is always so vivid at this time."

"It is, I remember when the skies were like this almost every day, now it's a rarity." Zerion replied softly, grasping Dragora's hand lightly. "But we can't just look at the past, all we can do is merely cherish the sight that we see and continue on."

"You're right, but a sky is not nearly as cherishable as the bonds we share, nor the relationships one can develop." Dragora stated gently, leaning closer to Zerion as they slowed their pace up the street.

They eventually slowed to a stop and they kissed tenderly, locking lips and massaging the other's tongue with their own. The couple kissed for about three minutes before retreating their tongues back into their own mouths and embracng lovingly. After another trio of minutes flew by to their unbeknownst minds, they began to walk slowly again, holding hands with Dragora's head leaning sideways onto Zerion's broad shoulder. They reached the monastery in time to see Slypnir, Midnight, and Nij be escorted out by a couple of bats, who were eyeing the couple in uncomprehension to their love, all the while Slypnir walked over and joined hands with them, Midnight and Nij trailing behind and simultaniously waving their hands over their shoulders in farewell to the pair chiropterans.

"That just isn't right..." Oteranchi said to Terochria in agreement to her facial expression, who was just turning around and shaking her head.

Dragora heard this comment however, and snapped his head around in fury. Slypnir let go immediately, knowing how sensative his partner was to such comments and there was no way of stopping him from doing anything. He walked in his aggressive pace quietly toward the slowly turning microbat, being unheard by the bat's unknowing ears. He raised his hand, and brought down swiftly to the back of Oteranchi's head, sending his light body flying forward a few feet toward the ground in surprise. The bat's head snapped around to see who it was, and sank his ears in fear from looking at the suppressed rage in Dragora's violet eyes. He merely got back up and dusted himself off, walking quickly back to his chambers and keeping his ears sharpened for anymore footsteps behind him.

"Hey you, come on! We still have to go pick up Luxi, he's probably driving Aurion insane by now!" Zerion shouted out to Dragora, motioning for him to catch up to the group.

"I'm coming, I'm coming..." Dragora replied, still having a little adrenaline pump through his easily boiled blood.

As they were walking, Slypnir noticed Dragora looking a bit happier for being able to exert his rage into those who refused to understand and not feeling bad about it. Zerion kept walking, knowing how good it must have felt to release the rage the Dragora had a habit of hiding and harboring inside. They group continued on, Nij not knowing what had provoked such a strong response from his son and not knowing his habits. Midnight just looked at him and smirked, knowing that his old comrade hasn't changed a bit in the temper department. Eventually, everyone was breathing a little heavy from trying to keep up with Dragora's cheerful pace and needless to say they reached the craftsmen's round in half the time it took them to go from. Luxi poked his head out of the workshop and tossed a wrench to Zerion.

"Your turn, neither of us know how to make a magic propulsion device." Luxicitius said frustratedly, finally giving up on trying to make one.

"I can make the basic framework, but it's gonna need a powerful charge to keep it running for a good amount of time..." Zerion said concernedly, knowing Luxi was primarily a cleric and not gifted in the elemental arts.

"I'll do it!" Dragora said stepping forward, still cheery and optimistic.

"Alright, I'll get to work on it then. I hope you don't pass out from this..." Zerion said cautiously, going into the workshop to find the metal and tools he needed.

Zerion shooed Aurion out of the workspace, telling him it was for his safety as he began picking up pieces of scrap and shaping them as needed. Aurion just sat there, stunned by what just happened and slightly chuckled at how sudden it was. The sky was beginning to grow darker as the moon rose over the neighboring port, casting it's light unhindered thorugh the cloudless sky. Dragora looked up instinctively, noticing it was another full moon, and just continued to smile while watching sparks fly out the window and doorway, wondering what exactly Zerion was doing to create such a commotion. Zerion stepped out finally after another hour, everywhere that was clothed singed and everywhere that wasn't slightly cautilized, and he sat down in pain, allowing everyone to go in and look at his work. They were stunned at how well crafted the exotic system of mechanics looked and how seamlessly it all fit together. Zerion had already took the liberty of mounting the elegent looking mechanism onto a nonconductive surface, spacing the metal from connecting to the rest of the shell. Dragora walked outside to ask Zerion where he should cast it, and walked inside to inspect where Zerion was talking about.

"What are you looking for?" Slypnir asked curiously, standing right by the machina and trying to trace Dragora's wondering and bouncing eyes as he gazed at the contraption diligently.

"The core, he said it would be facing out away from the caravan." Dragora replied, moving over to where Slypnir was.

"Hey, Hey! What are you doing!" Slypnir cried out as he was being picked up unexpectedly against his permission, and was set down on a table a few feet away.

Dragora began closing his eyes, letting his thoughts run freely and he held his hands outward to conjure up the spell needed. He opened his eyes and thrust his hands forward toward the device, channeling a wide arc of electricity into a small point in the invention. Feeling himself get tired, he strengthened his power and pushed forward, letting all his energy go into the small intricacy of parts. The machine gave a rustle and started moving, absorbing the power that was being cast into it. Finally giving it his all, Dragora widened the arc once more and after thinking it was enough, collapsed to the ground in fatigue.

"Dragora! Come on, you can come to..." Slypnir said fearfully, jumping off the table and rushing to his partner's side.

Zerion walked in and saw the machine running at top performance and Dragora lying there a few feet away. He rushed to his mate's other side, holding up his head gently and stroking his hand softly. Dragora opened up his eyes to the best he could, seeing Zerion gasp in fright, and Slypnir looking at him worriedly. His eyes had changed from a vibrant purple to a dull grayish split of red and blue. As he saw his reflection in Zerion's widened eyes, he fainted, seeing that one of his unique qualities had faded fomr him.

"Why did his eyes change?" Zerion asked Slypnir in fear, stroking Dragora's head gently, and then seeing a small bead of crimson leak out from the side of his maw. "Why is he bleeding?"

"I don't know... maybe the spell chained back to him from him breaking of so suddenly, I've never seen someone make the wide of an arc before, and what do you mean bleeding?" Slypnir asked as he leaned over to see a small trail of blood coming out of Dragora's mouth. "He's pushed himself beyond his body's limits, he'll need a moderate amount of time to recover... until then we've got to keep him healthy, this sort of thing makes a person prone to all kinds of nasty things."

"Let's take him to the inn, I've still got more than enough to make sure he's got a room for the time needed." Luxi stated firmly, never having witnessed someone so young cast something so powerful.

"What can I do to help?" Nij asked, never having seen his son push himself so hard, and fearing that his eyes were the beginning of something grim.

"Luxi, go to the inn and check a room for around 30 nights; Nij, see if you can get me this list of ingredients." Slypnir commanded, writing a list and handing it to the tall draconian while motioning for the platypus to go with. "Midnight, assist Aurion in completing the caravan; Zerion and I will take Dragora to the inn..."

Everyone did as they were told, with Luxicitius and Nijraketo going toward the night bazaar, Midnight and Aurion getting to work on the caravan, and Slypnir and Zerion picking up the dazed draconian gently, keeping him level with the ground. However, when Slypnir put his hand over Dragora's stomach, he felt something damp. He lifted up his shirt quickly and saw a saw piece of metal barely poking out of his stomach. Zerion turned his head in tears, punching through the wall with his bare, calused fist and dropping to his knees in anguish, while Slypnir told Dragora of the situation.

"I'm gonna pull it out on three, then I'll get my supplies to mend you the best I can until Luxi can get here, okay?" Slypnir asked Dragora unsurely whether he wanted to go through with it.

"So that's what's giving me a cramp, just do it..." Dragora giggled a little, trying to lighten the mood even when he's possibly on his death bed.

"One-" Slypnir said as he pulled the shrapnel out, catching Dragora off guard and seeing he didn't feel it as much.

"What the hell happened to two and three!?" Dragora chuckled out weakly, knowing he fell for the surgeon's trick gullibly and spitting out a little blood onto the ground.

Zerion grabbed the bloody piece of metal and inspected it thoroughly. He clutched it tightly to wear it began to bend under pressure frm his anger.

"This isn't off of the the caravan or my propulsion device..." He stated grimly, throwing the inknown metal to the ground."

"What the- There's only one person who works with iron!" Aurion said, picking up the bent piece of metal and inspecting it angrily.

Zerion heard a shuffle coming from a pile of scrap near the back room and took out his spiked cesti in one hand. He thrust kicked the pile strongly enough to drive the ends of it into the wall effectively trapping the feeble merchant inside. He tore through the pile and picked up the small weasel by the throat, pinching his wind pipe but not enough to kill him. He punctured his stomach with the cesti and threw him 20 feet out into the round, almost directly toward his shop.

"If he dies, you die!" Zerion yelled, full of rage and adrenaline, tears flowing through his eyes as he rushed out and and picked the weasel up by his back hair and carried him to his shop with rough bouncing steps. The final tuft of fur in Zerion's hands tore out as he dropped him into his workshop, belly first."I want you to go through so much more suffering, but I'd rather have you ponder your mistake as you bleed out..." he finished, letting his talons up off of the bleeding back and walking back across the round, glad there were no prying eyes due to the time.

Zerion helped pick up the unconscious draconian and laid him on a clean table for Slypnir to control Dragora's bleeding. As Slypnir got to work, Zerion, Midnight, and Aurion started working on the caravan, with Zerion putting his fury into hammering out the shapes in one blow where it would have taken the panther and german shepherd at least 10. Luxi came back to see Dragora sprawled on a table, a blood trail leading out the door across the courtyard, and Zerion hammering away, working out the shapes they needed faster than the two furs could put them on. Luxi rushed over to Dragora to find he had a wound in his stomach and Slypnir explained the situation to the curious platypus.

"Um... I think that man across from here is dead..." Nij said worriedly, thinking of how that would sit with the guards.

"Luxi, please help him, I know you're much better at this... let's go clean up the mess." Slypnir said grimly, hating leaving Dragora's side in this time of dirity.

Zerion finished hammering out the last piece needed and began putting them on, lifting up the thick sheets of metal with one hand and attaching them alone while the pair on the other side worked as fast as they could to catch up to this lone draconian's pace. Meanwhile, Nij and Slypnir disposed of the body how they saw fit, tossing him into the siltsea, and were washing the blood trail until it was spotless. Luxi was casting and stitching, also healing the wound on Dragora's arm while tending to the puncture in his belly. It was dawn by the time Dragora was mended, and the caravan was almost finished, Zerion's side being done and only three pieces left to put on for the other. There was no trace of of the weasel to be found again either, leaving their hands clean.

When Dragora woke up, he had no recollection of what happened, except for the pain he had in his stomach and wondering how his arm healed. The group filled him in, and they all went to relax at the rooms Luxi had rented.