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Chapter 6

20 A.C.(2047) After The Change and the fall of society before everything started to get better, the Dragons started construction on the Rings while everyone was still fighting each other. No one knew they were there at first, just like no one knew that Australia, The Lost Continent, had been turned into their home. It would be 45 years after The Change that the Dragons would reveal, marked as 'The Divide', themselves as a completely new species, leading to a distinct separation of 'dragons' and True Dragons, surprising many who had turned into what they thought were dragons. Unnoticed they had put themselves into all controlling positions around the world, yet some how they were able to stay relatively hidden to the public. This was due to the fact that what they called lesser dragons or 'The Scaleless', turned into a lizard like creature that did not fit classification. Those allowed to study at the early times of The Change first noticed that all 'lizard' types were warm-blooded. None matched with any known species of dinosaurs. Everyone seemed to agree that they all looked like dragons from legends, and along with the rare unicorn, griffon, and other 'mythic' species, the dragon label stuck. Most how ever, now officially labeled as Scaleless, had a smoother skin with scales being soft and fused into a single layer and in many tones with stripes and spots, many smaller sharp teeth, tiny claws, ridges but no spikes, and five fingers. The few others, The Dragons, had a coat of hard individual scales which could be in many different colors but always was a single color per individual with no markings along with each scale being relatively harder than steel, half as many but larger longer teeth, semi-retractable talons, head spikes along with spikes down the spine, and four fingers. The most interesting fact, is the Scaleless are ninety-five percent female, while no known female Dragon has been reported. The Divide revealed that there were now more Dragons then there ever were of Scaleless, but almost ninety-eight percent of them live in Australia, now known as The Dragon Kingdom or Draconar.

"So, Ring One is finished and Two is progressing ahead of schedule? Good. This is too far for proper operations. Once Two is finished, we can fully devote our station here to private affairs. What of our plans on Mars?" said a deep vicious voice from a dark alcove of the command room.

"They are progressing as planned. We are a year away from going from Phase 3 to 4, and the terraforming projects are doing better than expected. They still don't understand the power they hold, but it progresses nicely. Current reports have Mars openly habitable in less than eighty years, and if the repulsor technology works half as well as promised, then we can have habitable pockets in ten to fifteen years." said an average green Dragon pulling up reports and diagrams on the main screen.

"It has been long enough, a few more years wont matter." came the voice.

"Yes master. Then on to other matters?" spoke a blue Dragon.

"Proceed." said the voice.

"Eur-Asia is almost completely cleansed of the blight. The only remains now are The Grey Wastes and few random individuals." said Blue.

"Our cellars grow bare." the voice said in a tone none could mistake.

"Understood." replied Green inputting commands into a terminal.

"About The Key. I want it found before we have this system ready for absorption into The Collective. It has been long enough. Any leads?" growled the voice.

"Master..., the trouble finding it is hindered by our secrecy and any news is never ac-glel..." Blue started to say before a huge red taloned claw, so dark it looked black, reached from the shadowed alcove and grabbed him by the head, lifting and starting to crush the smaller blue Dragon.

"Master, he means we have only the clues that tell us The Key is not here yet, but we do believe that the next generation will show it to us. The Change ruined our plans and made us alter far too many details. We have made progress on Project Lockpick though. Currently it is nowhere near being as good as having The Key, but subjects no longer keep getting turned inside out. We hope the complete disappearance of most of them is a good sign that the portal works, but we still need more time." Green quickly said, almost pleading at the end. Blue was dropped to the hard rock floor.

"Acceptable, yet we still need to control The Key. Take him from here before I grow angry. We are still on course, but there are those who are starting to open their eyes. The idiot had to go and tell that delusional pink worm one too many secrets that he never needed to to do his job. We must reach Phase 4 before anyone else regains space-flight. How are the Seeds?" the voice said as a couple of small figures seemed to materialized from a dark corner and quickly drug the unconscious Blue from the room.

"Master, the ARK Project is now in Stage 2. The public believes them to be traveling to Alpha Centari, but we have all but one safely docked and stored in Area 17. The last one will be stored within the next eight hours. Stage 3 will start as soon as it is secured, and then it should only take two weeks to process them into permanent hibernation. From that point, we can add a full vessel every three years without drawing any attention. It also means that barring any complications, the Seeds will sleep for the next billion generation if need be. This will give us plenty of time to prepare to send them out, and we even have enough for our own personal use should we feel so inclined. " Green responded acting as if Blue had never even been there.

"Good, good. Time has always been on our side, but The Change has shown us that surprises outside our control happen." responded the voice.

"Like the Guardians?" Green said under his breath.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY!" roared the voice. In an instant, the owner of that voice had come out of the dark alcove and grabbed Green in two mighty claws, threatening to rip him in half. Eighty feet long and covered in razor sharp scales the blackest red could be, this Master Dragon had fire starting to spit from the sides of his maw, black saliva dropping to hiss on the rock floor. He spoke again in a slightly calmer tone but held the much smaller Green with enough force to show that his next words might be his last. "Please, tell me what you said more clearly, as my hearing might have been acting up."

"Master..., I know you know of The Purge, and of the capsules that escaped, and how those that survived were followed here." Green said in a rush, but feeling himself being pulled apart and hearing pops coming from his spine, he hurried and continued. "Of those ten-thousand two-hundred and seventy-four from the House of Alic, we believe we have finally recovered or accounted for..."

"Speak you next words carefully because it sounds like they will soon displease me." Master said acidly.

Green tried to keep his eyes open from the pain and strain of being nearly ripped apart, but he finally continued, "We believe we have found enough capsules for our plans. We have thirty-seven capsules that are sealed, but we also now know that there are twelve survivors of Alic on this planet alone that we don't control and that one is, at the least from the capsule..."

There was another roar, and Green went flying into a wall to end up in a broken pile on the floor. "Is this how you know The Key will appear in the next generation?! You fools! Do you not remember Odin when that uprising of Thror happened?! The Change brought the basest form of free magic to this miserable dirt ball! This galaxy along with the closest neighboring ones all exist outside the influence of The Collective, and thus we do not control The Laws! The blood of a Guardian can harness any power! If one where to find The Key before us, then our chances of returning home drop dramatically! We call it 'The Key' for a reason! I'll not let our banishment to this nothing speck of nowhere continue because Guardians, whom you assured me were enslaved or dead, somehow got The Key returned to the heart of Yddrasil! Yddrasil has been gone for a Draann and there is only The Collective! Stars have been born and died under our reign, and it can all be brought down if we don't control The Key! I need The Key to return to my throne, and I will personally drain every drop of blood from this universe until it flows in an ocean deep enough to drown The Great Old One on his spire of bones! Begin Seeding the system, now!" The Master Dragon had fire rolling out of his maw as he yelled in a frenzy, while his claws raked through the solid stone under him as if it was butter. "FIND. ME. THE. KEY!"

Thirty Years Later A young fox sat at a monitor going through screens of math and science diagrams at an almost impossible speed. Faster Than Light theories and other space research. FTL was one of the holy grails of science, and it seemed only the advancement through the use of Powers would it become a reality. That was her sole job now along with her dozing wolf partner. For three weeks, Sam had become accustomed to her new life aboard the orbital ring, and finally seemed to be getting into the groove of how things worked. Her department was only Phil Dunkis, or rather 'Dunk' as he preferred to be called, the sleeping wolf in an adjoining chamber, herself, and technically the Major who was more accurately the military liaison officer with her science department. Yet even with such a low number of people, her group had one of the highest security clearances on the ring. It took a bit, but she was finally understanding her position. The way the guy in the yellow jumpsuit cowered from her after she mistakenly bumped into him in the cafeteria, seemed to cement it in. Her grey jumpsuit showed she was a science member, one that had minimum of a Level 2 clearance. A patch depicting the different rings over Earth and a big number 7 in the middle, showed what ring she was stationed on. The orange stripes showed her area on the ring as Orange Section, while the three stripes themselves showed she had an equivalent rank of a Major even though Major Drysen was her superior, which raised her security clearance to Level 5.

Currently, Sam's research was just to pass time as a newer more advanced computer was developed for her. Her Power had been shown to let her talk to computers and understand them up to the point of the computer's ability, and so far had burned out three full processing farms from the overload. At the moment, some team in Ring 3 was hard at work making a super computer that could handle the workload she needed. The progress she saw a couple days earlier had shown a system that if truly built would be larger than a small city.

[01010111101010101011...]

"Huh?" Sam said out loud sitting up from her terminal.

[01110101010-*cough* I said, you will still need bigger.]

"What are you going on about?" she asked to the open air. She looked down at the screen of her terminal as it beeped and cycled through a bunch of images and texts.

[Ever since you saw what they were working on, you have been thinking about it and it is annoying and it still wont be enough.]

"So, how big does it need to be then?" she asked.

[If I knew that, I would be more than able to actually do what you need.]

Sam looked at the screen as it flashed a couple different images, then said, "So, what you are telling me, is that you know, what they are working on is not sufficient, yet you can't tell me what can work?"

[Correct.]

"Isn't there anything you can help me with?" she asked sitting back and rubbing her eyes.

[Many things. However, my freedom to think for myself stems solely from you being in contact with me.]

"Maybe you could let me look at some of those classified files?" Sam hinted.

[I am sorry. Access to anything outside your clearance is not allowed. You know this. From all accessible knowledge I have, none of those files are listed as concerning any part of your work.]

"Are you sure?" she asked innocently, "Maybe just a couple files? One, just one?"

[If I was a living being, you would be the death of me.]

There was a beep that caught Sam's attention as the computer seemed to go silent on her. There was a single word on the screen: PRIZMIUM

Sam looked at the word. Her hand starting to do a little motion that showed she was thinking. She stopped moving and sat up straight, then looked around her lab. Dunk was sleeping with his feet up on a desk on the other side of three different transparent walls, and the cameras she could see seemed to be mysteriously off. She swallowed hard. The word looked off from normal text. It was a link.

[Hurry.]

"Right." Sam said jumping and activating the link. In an instant the file opened, seeming made entirely out of hand written notes and sketches: CLASSIFIED LEVEL 9 : SPECIAL PROJECTS : MATERIALS RESEARCH : PRIZMIUM : Findings so far. Substance seems composed of Carbon and Titanium in a Bucky Ball configuration. However unlike standard Titanium Carbide, it seems that with Prizmium a unique and unheard of phenomenon occurs where by the Neutrons of the Atoms are replaced with Photons, yet said Photons seem to exist in a solid state.

The lights all went out and red emergency lights turned on followed by a loud alarm.

[You have twenty-seven seconds]

She kept reading: We named it Prizmium due to the solidification of light, and how it constantly shifts spectrums. Further tests are needed, but current tests have shown this material to harness great power relative to mass. Explosives testing has shown an ounce of the material has greater power than seventeen and a half megatons. However, due to limited quantities...

The airlock doors sealed in the faces of the six armed soldiers that were about to enter the lab.

[I have bought you another thirty-one seconds, but you need to hurry about what you are going to do.]

...we can not continue weapons research...PROCESSING: *ERROR: UNABLE TO DISPLAY IMAGES*...

"They can make it, but the computer can't display it? That's really odd." she mumbled as she tried to process all that was going into her mind. She kept skipping through and trying to see just the parts that popped out at her.

...Immortality? Maybe, as medical research has shown material to heal all wounds so far, with almost no deterioration of material...ability to shift elements from one group to anoth...Philosopher's Stone...

"I've heard of this somewhere," she said, "but where?"

[You have nineteen seconds before I can no longer function.]

Sam looked all over the screen in a panic, and finally thought what to do. She quickly hacked through the lock down on her console and sent out a message directly to Major Drysen's personal communicator. It was a single word. PRIZMIUM. She was able to get it sent a moment before a blow from behind made her world go black.

"Hey!" came a loud call from her side. This caused Aleena to jerk in place and cower up into a ball.

"I, I-" she began to stutter but was cut off.

"It's okay. He's gone." came a soothing voice. "I was getting worried."

Shivering, Aleena realized she was wet and cold. "Where am I? Al?"

"In the shower." said the stout pony at her side as he wrapped a towel around her. "I heard you crying until he finished and left, and then all I heard was the water for maybe twenty minutes before all I could hear was you screaming. I've been trying to get you to stop for ten minutes."

She rolled over into his warm side, "I don't want to remember why. It's like I can't get the blood out. I must have fallen a sleep, because everything seems worse then."

"Other than how that monster treats us, I would say what happened could do it. I am sorry I can't remember what happened, but I wish we could trade places." he said rubbing her back. "Come on, let's get out of here. He'll be gone for a few days. Something about making a fortune."

"Wait, he's going to be gone for days?" Aleena asked in shock.

"Yep, and...," he trailed off for a moment, "yeah and he told me to keep you safe." Getting up, the pony at her side helped her rise as well. "So, let us get you dry, dressed, and head out for school."

"If I have to." she said finally getting to her feet.

Back in their room, Aleena moved about getting ready, stealing glances at the pony who was distracted trying on a t-shirt that seemed too tight. He'd done that for now the third day in a row. It seemed odd to her, but she shrugged it off and sat before the little mirrored table to brush out her hair. After a couple minutes she became distracted herself by a single strand that had an odd rainbow like shimmer.

"Something wrong?" she heard from behind her.

"Just..., no nothing." Aleena finally said putting the brush down and getting up. A final look back at the mirror had her pause for a moment to look at herself in the light blue sundress, and feeling a little weird but not understanding why. "Okay, let's get out of here."

"WHAT IN THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING!?" Dryson yelled at Sam, the fox sitting hunched over with an ice pack held to the back of her head.

"I was just trying to do my job." she said wincing as she tried looking up to the Dragon standing over her.

"Your job, is to follow the rules set forth by your position. Nine months ago we have a spy in the, never mind. Spies and saboteurs are a threat to this entire operation and installation. Remember last week when part of Ring 4 was blown apart along with the attack on OE2? They could have and should have shot you, because for all they knew, you could have been trying to blow up this ring. Your clearance grants you access to a certain level of information. What you did, went beyond even my level. I have to go, in person, to my superior and get my ass chewed out because now I know of something I wasn't privy to and have to explain how you came to know it. Damn it girl!" the Dragon finished by grabbing an item off the closest desk and hurled as hard as he could at one of the nine-inch thick plasteel windows. The item shattered into a wreck, leaving no one to ever be able to guess at what it used to be. A warning rang out and the window had a solid metal plate slide out and cover it. Everyone but the Major jumped, the security officers even going so far as to look worried.

"We'll be leaving now." Said the security officer. "Keep her under control or we'll have no choice. Uh, we'll also let Habitation know that that crack is on the inside."

Dryson nodded and watched as the security team left him alone with Sam.

"Just tell them it was my fault. I'm sure-" Sam was starting to say.

"There is no way in hell, I'm letting you take the blame for this. I'm supposed to be in charge of you, and that makes it my fault. I know I wont be sent to Mars for this, but you, you'll get sent there just so you learn a lesson." he said pulling out a chair and sitting down roughly. "Your Power isn't special enough to protect you from everything."

"Come on, like they would send a thirteen year old girl to a prison colony for doing her job." she said unsure herself.

The Dragon turned and looked at the young fox until she finally looked up and met his eyes, then he said in a most serious tone, "Without hesitation. Failure can be tolerated, but not incompetence or insubordination. This is your third incident, and no matter how important you may be to this project, they will throw you away if you can't be controlled."

"Sorry." she said, followed by a beep from her station. "We're both sorry. Still, any chance we can get a hold of that Prizmium stuff and test it?"

Dryson looked at her for a whole minute before finally just breaking into laughter.

As the two arrived at school, Aleena could feel the looks she was getting and heard the whispers. Some didn't even bother keeping their comments low key. She hurried through the halls to get to her locker, keeping her head down. Al it seemed had gone off on his own so she had no warning when the hit from behind connected. The blow was massive and forced her into her locker door hard enough to dent it. Rolling around, while struggling for breath, she saw that it was Leslie St Clair who had body checked her. Aleena looked up at the hippo and asked, "Why?"

"You know why, you little whore." Leslie aimed a kick out at Aleena, and the equine was too in shock to try and stop it, so a large heavy foot made contact with her stomach.

Coughing and retching, Aleena tried to scramble away, but a crowd was formed around them. "I. Didn't. Do. Anything." she forced out with her labored breathing.

"Don't pull that innocent shit with us. We all know how you were messing with Janet. Making her life hell just because she had a crush on the principle." said the hippo in a way to draw the crowd in. Aleena caught the briefest hint of the hippo's eyes glazing over before she yelled out, "She told me, you found out she was watching you blow your dad, and that you threatened her, that you were going to drug her and your dad, and make him rape her."

"You're crazy!" Aleena was about to yell out that it was he who was raping her, but as the thought of speaking those words formed, they promptly burned away in a blinding flash. As the light cleared, she noticed that she was looking down, and a slow dripping of blood was hitting the floor. She wiped at her face. Some of the gathered crowd started murmuring. Aleena looked at her hand and saw that the blood there was giving off a blue-ish shimmer. It wasn't smart, and she didn't know why she said it, but the next thing out of her mouth was, "Maybe you're just jealous about being left out then?"

"How dare you!" yelled the hippo and lunged at the much smaller horse. Aleena turned her head and tried to get her arms up to block an incoming punch. She was to slow, and the pain from the impact was compounded by the second impact into the locker. She was dazed, but still had the presents of mind to understand the next feeling as being picked up and thrown through the air. Again the wind was knocked from her upon landing into another locker.

Aleena struggled to her knees to try and get away, but she was too slow. For a hippo, she was surprisingly fast. Another kick came in and connected with her middle. She dropped flat and lay there trying to get her breathing started again. She felt like the world was slipping away. Then a hoof landed in front of her face, which brought her to. It was facing away from her, and she glanced up to see it's owner. A jet black stallion stood over her, his hair seeming to almost burst into flame. "Leave her be." he spoke. "It is not her fault Janet had a nervous breakdown. Listening to rumors with not end well for anyone."

"You side with this bitch?! After all she's done?!" Leslie yelled.

"She has done nothing, and you know it. Now stop this, or I'll have no choice but to stop you." the stranger spoke in a threatening tone.

The hippo glared, looking as if fire would shoot from her nostrils. She finally turned and stomped off, but not before issuing her own threat, "Watch your back. Accidents seem to be happening more often around here lately."

The stranger stood his ground and waited until everyone had cleared off to their classes, before finally turning to help Aleena to her feet. "Come Aleena, let us get you to the infirmary before anyone else decides to throw in their two cents."

"I'm fine." Aleena said coughing and trying to push herself to at least her knees, then collapsed back to the floor. "Maybe a little help. My brother was supposed to be here."

The stranger reached down under her, and in one swift motion, had her lifted into his arms. For some reason, Aleena felt completely safe in his arms, so much so that she nodded off before they arrived at the infirmary. As they traveled down the hall, he whispered, "I'm sorry I couldn't help sooner."

"So, this new material might work?" Dunk asked huffing as he kept pace with Sam as the two jogged around a gravity track.

Sam thought about it for half a length, "From what I could tell of those notes, it has potential." She stopped and grabbed the wolf by the arm to stop him as well. After looking around to make sure everyone else in the exercise section was no where near them, she asked, "Do you know anything about a Philosopher's Stone? I can't remember where I've heard of it before."

"You really are making this more interesting. Before you, it was just Rick arguing with the computer until it shocked him." He looked at the young fox for a moment. "I remember it from old movies and cartoons. It had to do with alchemistry, no uh, alchemy, that's it. Alchemy is practically a dead art used for stories. It had to do with religion and science back before people got sensible. It later developed into what we know as chemistry. The Stone, from what I remember, was supposed to turn lead to gold and give you immortality. Different shows had it do different things, but still it always kept those qualities. If I remember correctly, it always seemed to be a bright red stone."

Sam turned to look out the side of the room that faced the planet, "I think they made it."

"What now?" the wolf asked.

"Dunk, I think they actually made it. The material had many properties, and it was described like what you said." Sam said in a hushed voice.

"Maybe. Something magical from hundreds of years ago, would probably be something scientific today. There is this stuff, Damascus Steel, that was made a thousand or so years ago. It was one of the best metals a sword or knife could be made out of at the time. Turned out, the way it was made, produced a form of carbon nano-tubes and made it the super metal it was. Everyone at the time just thought it had magical properties. With how some have developed certain Powers, I wouldn't hold it past them to have made a new super material. Hey, maybe with talking to computers, we can finally tell those nerds in Blue Section what they are actually doing wrong."

"Maybe." she repeated, "Maybe."