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"Sarthinas." Tetsomos crooned into his domed wings. Firelight from the torch outside them glowed through the membranes, displaying the network of veins throughout and casting Sarthinas in a soft hazy light within.

"How much did you hear?"

"Enough to know the extent of the anguish you bear."

Sarthinas rubbed at his nostrils with an arm, then exhaled a long, drawn out breath.

"I must look atrociously foolish in your eyes."

"These Insomnivores have a cruel ability. As you said, it is a weapon able to skew reality."

Sarthinas chuckled.

"Is that your way of telling me it was okay to be tricked? You are so charmingly indirect. I meant more that I was foolish enough to enter into a mateship with the King of Xilnardric."

Tetsomos tilted his head.

"I don't follow."

Sarthinas arched his head up to lock his eyes with Tetsomos's jade encircled pupils.

"Not only is Balenu male, but also the King with a caustic soul. He has no respect or reverence for our kin. He grovelled to the Pierced, pacifying them and their envoys via a pact of draconic slaughter."

"Is a male mated to another male at odds with Xilnardric society?"

"It is seen as a waste of potential for parents."

"Plenty of children exist in these lands. Is it not a waste of potential for others to use their time concerning themselves with the sex of ones mate? How strange," Tetsomos stretched his neck into his wing-envelope further. "Balenu was not always the way you described."

Now Sarthinas took his turn to tilt his head.

"How do you know that?"

"Us service Primordials talked when we could between duties. You and your kindness to us were well known, as was your stellar judgment. It is difficult to believe the Tiered dragon whom would sneak down in the night to make adjustments to the flight harnesses for better comfort, or who would open the underground stable doors and lay out a path of fresh meat to lead us to bathing pools would love the King as he is now."

Sarthinas blinked, a flush of pride swelling through his chest, displacing the lingering simmer of rage and despair. He blushed too, his scales obscuring the evidence of heat there.

"I thought myself rather cunning there. To think you all knew. I wanted desperately to explain why I could never lead you all outside proper."

"We understood, the wingshears would have clipped our wings if we attempted such a thing, and if the King were to discover it was you."

Sarthinas sighed.

"When I fell in love with him twelve years ago, he wasn't like this. In fact, he was utterly the opposite; he held a fierce devotion to our kind and an affinity that concerned me as a kind of obsession," Sarthinas scoffed. "Well, to our ancestors anyway, the scholar dragons that allied with his grandfather eighty years ago when the Pierced first started their aggressions. We'd talk about it almost compulsively. My sire and mother were interrogated on many occasions for lore and legends. When we were young, you could see their backs stiffen when Balenu would approach them with that glint in his eye."

Sarthinas shifted to a sitting position while Tetsomos rested on his haunches, keeping his wings domed while puffing out his chest. Sarthinas let out a quiet chuckle and leaned his back into the blue's offered chest, brushing his tail to the side as he nestled in.

"I went through this stage where I had convinced myself the only reason he loved me and desired me was because I was a dragon. For about a week I fashioned this harness to pin my tail against the back of my right leg and contemplated sanding my scales fine like skin," Sarthinas laughed as Tetsomos's rhythmic breathing in his belly halted. "Breathe easy my friend, my scales are not as robust as your own, but they are draconic and ridged all the same, spared from a good smoothing session. He dispelled my fear by saying 'The fact you are a dragon merely exemplifies the beauty of your soul.' As soppy as a cloth in water, yes, but it worked."

Sarthinas rolled his shoulders and took a moment. Tetsomos was breathing again in deep, melodic draws, every breath whooshing through the cavities of his chest and belly. Sarthinas closed his eyes.

"Since he was crowned five years ago, he has changed. Kingship has gnawed at his soul, the perpetual conflict with the Pierced must chip away at his being too. Though, that does not excuse him of his vile actions against our kin. I have to wonder if even a husk of who he was, the man who adored dragons, remains."

Careful with his horns, he leaned the top of his head into the blue's chest to smile up to him.

"Thank you."

Tetsomos craned his neck until nose met nose. Sarthinas responded by stroking his muzzle tip against the flat of the blue's larger muzzle tip. Resonant rumbling vibrated through the both of them in their gentle nuzzle, rippling from within the wings out into the night. Sarthinas closed his eyes once more, relaxing as their draconic affection ushered in a new determination and resolve, carried on a wave of contentment.

"No, my Balenu is gone. King Balenu's rule must be dismantled." Sarthinas gave Tetsomos a lingering caress on the neck, then pushed himself off the foliage strewn ground while Tetsomos retracted his wings. A cool night breeze had picked up, playing with the torch fire.

"So, with the knowledge we are fighting against the Pierced and King both, are you sure you want to stick by me?"

Tetsomos swung his head to the side, gazing toward the way they had come.

I don't know which reply I would like to hear. I like your company my new friend, but I want you safe. I want you to be able to relish in your freedom.

The blue returned his gaze back to him.

"Yes, I do."

Then, the least I can do for you is to ensure you get to savour your freedom one day, unhindered.

"Okay my friend, together we remain."

Sarthinas turned and took a couple of steps to stand over the corpse that had been a cruel counterfeit of Balenu. In death, its true form was betrayed, an anthropomorphic critter of some species, perhaps some kind of feline if the sharp ears, lithe body and fluffy question mark of a tail were anything to go by. Balenu considered rolling the body over to confirm the species, but a mental image flashed in his mind of Balenu's grey eyes and handsome human features still on the Isomnivore's face, frozen in an expression of betrayal and hate. Tetsomos padded to stand beside him.

"What are those studs?" Tetsomos asked, extending his neck to look closer at the crown of black protrusions encircling the Insomnivore's skull.

Sarthinas squatted to get a closer look. Each arrow head shaped stud was a couple of inches in length, grown like a thorn from within the bone. Torch fire played on the reflective quality of the black mineral that had been used. Onyx, he recalled Centreya explaining for this particular cult of The Pierced.

"I'll relay what Centreya said as accurately as I can remember. Cults of the Pierced use crystalized minerals as catalysts for their arts, and Insomnivores hammer onyx through their skulls to penetrate it into the brain."

"They all do this? Hence 'The Pierced'." Tetsomos said.

"Yeah, each cult has a variance of this technique. I can see on your muzzle you want further detail, and Centreya will provide just that."

Sarthinas snagged the torch and used it to scan the darkness around them. Fresh blood glistened from the bark of the huge tree as he passed the flame near it.

"Stay right beside me. Trust nothing you see, hear, smell, think or feel."

He gazed down at the Insomnivore, and for just a moment, wavy hair replaced the skull-studded cap.

"Our perceptions are their playthings."

***

Whether it was due to their hypervigilance or luck, the dragons made it to the Isolated Temple steps without another perception warping incident.

Something is amiss. Why was there a lone Insomnivore?

Unless his assumption of a Pierced infiltration in the Isolated Temple was faulty. Possible, as neither had any further knells ripped through their ears and souls; perhaps that Insomnivore was the sole cause of the villager's madness. Odd though, a rogue member of a Cult practising its ability unchecked with the Confounders in such close proximity?

He wondered on this while examining the ornate steps leading to the looming cathedral. Each step was a rise of white marble with inky swirls of intricate calligraphy tattooed on its surface. Sarthinas padded forward and read the text on the first step aloud:

"'With naught but the will to learn, we ascended.'"

Tetsomos came forward to read the second step:

"'The Great Teacher guided us.'"

Sarthinas took a step on the white marble to take his turn on the third:

"'Through teaching, came knowledge.'"

"'Through knowledge, came insight.'"

"'Through insight, came power.'"

"Through power, came suffering.'"

"Through suffering, enlightenment.'"

From here, the remaining climb of steps were bare white marble. Until they reached the last step before the Isolated Temple's towering double doors:

"'Through enlightenment, came purpose.'" Tetsomos read.

Sarthinas narrowed his eyes at the huge arched doors and the circular stained glass window as he idly stroked Tetsomos' flank.

"I find this fascinating," Tetsomos angled his head at Sarthinas. "What is it?"

"Oh, just the whole mythos around this place is getting to me, I think. Standing here now, I can't help but get a taste of the sense of foreboding many associate with this building. There is such a profound history and power here."

Tetsomos emanated quiet thrums as he listened.

"Their Great Teacher and eleven of his students must have stood here after they architected the temple, knowing only their twelve and their offspring to come would ever set foot inside. I feel as if we are about to invade the most sacred scholarly grounds." Sarthinas ran his eyes across the sharp spires of the gothic architecture.

"We enter with all due respect." Tetsomos said.

Sarthinas showed him a resolute nod.

"There is of course the potential an invasion has already occurred, I feel ignoring the possibility a disservice to Centreya. Are you ready, my friend?"

Tetsomos shook his great body, limbering himself.

"Ready."

There were no grips or handles on the arch doors, a detail Sarthinas noted with unease.

We enter with the greatest respect.

Sarthinas put his scaled paws on the dark oak doors and pushed. He gritted his teeth, grunting as the doors gave inward a slight bit with a series of creaks. Tetsomos's shadow fell over him, and the blue's feral paws joined above his. Sarthinas's effort slackened as he noticed Tetsomos had gone up on his hinds, arching over him, exposing his pale azure underbelly.

Focus. Sarthinas ordered himself.

Their combined strength eased the archway doors open enough to create a gap for them to edge through, but first, they absorbed the hint of the interior view it teased them with; a wall of a bookshelf stretching from floor to ceiling brimming with books. Sarthinas gawked and slipped through, abandoning the torch as his eyes adjusted to the greater, gentler illumination inside the Isolated Temple. He sniffed at the mingled scent of aged timber and mildew as he bent his neck at a painful upward angle to take in the sheer mammoth scale of the bookshelf. A few paces to his right, there was a spiral staircase of black metal grating twisting up the full height of the bookshelf with walkways spreading from it at various tiers, granting access to the books on each level.

"Astonishing." Tetsomos whispered as he padded to the closest collection of books, his talons clinking on the marble flooring.

"I'm going to see if I can get a better vantage point." Sarthinas said and headed for the black winding stairs, scanning the books as he went. He frowned. Not a single book had a title, a word even, on its spine. Instead, the spines were pinned with a feather, each individual book marked with a different kind of feather. This system continued until he noticed a slight variation on the tier above; these books had a pair of feathers of mixed types. He squinted, just able to make out trios of feathers at the spines on the third tier.

At the twisting black metal staircase, he took an initial step, his light armour clad foot sending out a wince worthy clang. He froze, breath held, as he waited for it to finish ringing through the Isolated Temple. Nothing but the occasional creak of timber and the whisper of a breeze responded. He exhaled and grimaced toward Tetsomos, who was sitting on his haunches with his attention buried in a book held in his forepaws. Sarthinas allowed himself a smile, then tiptoed up the grated metallic stairs, his senses keen.

He paused at the first tier of books. Whereas the narrow walkway to his left hugged and ran along the entirety of the two-feathered tier books til a temple wall, the right snaked around the bookshelf's corner. He planned to explore where the corner lead, but from a greater vantage point, so up he went another three tiers. He glanced down at Tetsomos, the blue feral seeming miniature from this height, then gripped the walkway railing and followed it to the right.

The true magnitude of the Isolated Temple unfolded before his eyes as he turned the bend. Identical colossal bookshelves populated the interior, standing like wooden titans with ages upon ages of Confounder knowledge within them. The black metal walkways were a maze of webbing strung between them, originating from a thick pillar in the centre.

You boasted of the Isolated Temple's library, Centreya, but you neglected to mention the Isolated Temple is a library.

Illumination was gloomy, though present enough for Sarthinas to spot figures lingering on the walkways at various places and tiers. Footsteps vibrated through the grated metal he stood on as one such figure joined his tier at the far, far opposite end. A red and white furred head stuck out a sombre robe of black detailed with gold runic calligraphy. Confounder colouration and dress.

He had to let go of the railing as a sudden static shock pricked his palms. He examined his paws, then looked toward the figure approaching, its paws on the railing. An anthropomorphic fox. It glared at him as it came, a snarl on its muzzle, flashes and sparks of blue tendrils jumping from its paws to surrounding metal walkway. Sarthinas held his paws up and backed away.

"I am a friend of Centreya. Forgive me for my presence here, but I had thought Insomnivores had infiltrated the temple."

"Centreya does not consort with Pierced." The fox said, a feminine voice.

The very air around him tingled on his scales and flesh, turning charged and hostile the nearer the vixen drew.

As I feared.

"They are here, and I am not one of them. I fought an Insomnivore in the dividing woods after it enacted its art on me. They are doing the same to you now."

"Confounders are not gullible to their tricks, or your lies."

Sarthinas continued to back up, closing in on the bend at the entrance bookshelf. The vixen took two steps for his every one. Dim moonlight speared through the stain glass window behind him, throwing fragments of coloured light on his back. Until it was blotted out. There was a wind stirring beat of wings. Sarthinas smiled.

Excellent timing my friend.

His joy was snuffed out the moment he turned. Superimposed in front of the circular stained glass window, her outline contoured in an ethereal glow from the moonlight, an anthropomorphic gryphon clad in an ornate silver chest plate bobbed. Her wide white tipped black wings pumped at her sides, fluttering the tails of the black and gold tabard she wore under the armour. She gripped a bastard sword with a thick blade of what looked like glass to Sarthinas; the blade was translucent and pale white.

"Centreya."

"I'm deciding if it is stupid or brilliant of you to trespass here."

Claws of ice grazed down his spine. Her eyes at the crest of her elongated, vulture-like beak regarded him, a gaze both impassive and intense.

"I refuse to believe they are able to deceive you! Centreya, I'm Sarthinas! We served as Regal Talons together."

"I have decided. Stupid, and arrogant."

No!

"Insomnivores are distorting your senses!"

"Enough of this foolishness."

She held the sword out in front of her, as if she were offering it to him. Then, with an air rippling palm thrust at the centre of the sword's blade, she shattered the weapon into a burst of brilliant shrapnel. Sarthinas dove and rolled to the side on the walkway as the glinting shards rained on the metal grate, filling his ears with the harsh clatter of their impacts. So fine were the shards, he was unaware of some slicing through the scales on his tail and embedding themselves in the flesh there.

Centreya scoffed and angled the now bladeless hilt at him. Again came the sound like thousands of pebbles cascading on tin as the glass shrapnel was pulled back toward the sword hilt. Sharp bolts of pain shot from his tail as he watched blood coated shining needles escape from his copper scales, joining the swirls of glittering fragments carried on a ribbon of teal light, which returned to the hilt and merged, forming the blade whole once more.

A roar boomed throughout the Isolated Temple. Centreya looked beneath her as a pair of scaled paws, a darker blue than her arcane blade, gripped her ankles. She had time to grunt before Tetsomos stilled his wings and pulled her out the sky. The titanic bookcase beside Sarthinas shuddered with the following impact of the two winged creatures. He leaned over the railing and saw Tetsomos and Centreya flailing, the blue attempting to pin the gryphon.

"Tetsomos! Her blade can rend scale!"

The lightning wielding vixen appeared from around the corner, sending a tingling charge through the railing he gripped. Sarthinas ignored her, maintained his grip, and vaulted over the railing. He hung there for an instant, legs and blood dripping tail dangling above a sickening drop, nerve weakening electricity sparking through his fingertips, then he let go.

Time crawled through his momentary weightlessness. He had always wondered if those gifted with flight experienced such a profound sensation as they folded their wings and plummeted from heights where the clouds were their ground. How awesome it was, to have even a taste.

He fell a tier and caught the next walkway railing, gasping out a loud grunt as the price of fighting momentum ripped through his arms and shoulders. Below, a glassy chime rang out as Centreya rammed her sword at the marble ground, missing Tetsomos's paw as she attempted to spear it. The tip of her blade splinted to fragments. Sarthinas doubted that mattered.

He opened his paws and dropped another tier. The vixen leaned over the highest-tier walkway railing, rage on her face and lightning in her outstretched paws. White tendrils jumped from metal to the metal studs on his light armour. It bit at his fingers, pricking under his talons, weakening his grip. He was unprepared to fall, but had no choice.

He missed the next tier railing and caught the subsequent one. Pain tearing through his abdominals. He growled and looked down. There was no other railing below, and the drop to where Tetsomos and Centreya fought was going to be unpleasant.

The dragon and gryphon circled one another. Centreya had shattered the entirety of her arcane blade; its fragments hovered in the air like thousands of suspended glass needles, tethered to the sword hilt by a thread of that mystical blue light. Tetsomos leaned his body forwards in a low stance; his forepaws bent at the knees, his hinds primed likewise, his wings and frill flattened.

"Centreya!" Sarthinas called.

The instant her eyes shifted, Tetsomos sprung. He crashed into her, and wrangled her to the ground, her sword went spinning out of her clutch, fragments clinking across the marble. She was sprawled under the blue feral, her eyes wide. She looked right into his eyes.

"Sarthinas?" She whispered.

He sucked in a deep breath, hoping it enough to bolster the landing, and let go. The landing was as unpleasant as predicted; impact shocks rocked through his legs and up his injured tail, also flaring the recent strains on his muscles from the drops. He grimaced and stumbled over to the subdued gryphon.

"Centreya?"

Her eyes searched his, keen with recognition, for a span of seconds, then they glazed with contempt.

"The audacity of you Pierced is astonishing."

He and Tetsomos exchanged a glance.

"Do you recognize me?"

"I recognize you as my enemy--"

She paused, frowned.

"You are dragons. In the ranks of the Pierced? Dragons in the cults? What foul nonsense."

"Focus in on that nonsense." Sarthinas said.

Centreya fell silent for a long while. What had once been a breath of a breeze had become a whining howl of wind.

"You seem like him - Sarthinas. Yes, Sarthinas."

"It is--"

"You have a beautifully resilient mind, Centreya the winged witch." A new voice interrupted.

It came from above, and indeed, there on the first tier walkway was another presence. An anthropomorphic gryphon leaning on the railing, watching them, her brilliant white wings a distinct contrast to the black metal, though the dark leathers she wore were a compliment to it.

"I can see the King's promise of no interruptions was worthless," The neutral expression on her sharp, falcon-like featured curved into a smile. "Though, here be dragons."

Balenu's promise?

"You. You sicken us with your presence, Caever." Centreya snarled, wiggling under Tetsomos's pin.

"What's a little sickness to the dying? Well, to you and me anyway." Caever leaned her head down as she spoke, giving Sarthinas a glimpse of what looked like a halo of ebony suspended at the back of her skull.

Centreya writhed under Tetsomos's paws.

"Let me go, dragon!"

Tetsomos looked to Sarthinas. He nodded. Tetsomos backed up tentatively, releasing the black gryphon.

"There is nothing within these halls for you." She said, getting to her feet.

"Not just for me, no. For us all, with the exception of the dragons there." Caever said, the tone of contempt was brazen.

Sarthinas switched his weight from one foot to another. Tetsomos flared his spine frill.

"I can see why the King made you such a promise, your distaste for our kin compliments his own. A unity forged in hatred." Sarthinas said.

"The King is fuelled by his desire for significance, creating a great schism in his kingdom because of it. I am spurred by the need to preserve the mind, unifying those like me. Do not trivialize my desires by comparing them to his."

"Just what is it the Pierced want?" Tetsomos asked.

"Each different land panders a different reason. What says the Kingdom of Xilnardric?" Caever tilted her head.

"To conquer and control." Sarthinas said.

Caever laughed, a surprisingly delightful sound.

"I like it. What do you think, Centreya?"

The black gryphon bore her eyes into the white gryphon.

"You do have theories locked inside that wonderful mind of yours. I suppose keeping them secured away must make it easier to reconcile killing us," Caever tapped her talons on the railing and squeezed the rings around her avian eyes, narrowing his amber irises and dark pupils to horizontal slits. "I can't claim to be on par with the Great Teacher, but I can enlighten you none the less."

The white gryphon straightened while extending her wings. From behind her head, the black halo rose, inching upward like a hollow, flat onyx moon climbing to its zenith.

"Allow me to show you the tyranny of empathy." She said.