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Chrono teleported to the main hub a few seconds later, looking about for Adraxi before finding him working underneath the pedestal that contained the control crystals to boost their efficiency. The second that he found the marble rubber dragon he practically dragged him out from underneath the pedestal and told him everything that had happened in the Forbidden Galelry including a description of the item that had exploded and how it had previous called to him. "A glowing, neon green egg?" Adraxi stated as he rubbed his chin. "I think I remember Renzyl once saying something about that, though if that's what it was then this was acquired a very, very long time ago."

"This is insane..." Chrono stated as he grabbed the horns on his head in frustration. "How does Master Renzyl have a creature in the Forbidden Gallery that he doesn't even remember himself? I've tried accessing the memories through this form but I'm either being actively blocked from seeing it or the information just isn't there."

"Well when you live for what is essentially eons the amount of information you absorb is probably more than any creature could reasonably handle," Adraxi replied with a shrug. "Most of the time that's why minions here lose their memories of their former existence, flushing out old, unneeded knowledge so that they can store up all the stuff they're about to experience. Of course, if that's the case then it's probably not a creature that Renzyl ever had any intention of letting go... which may or may not be a good thing as far as recapturing it is concerned."

"I... I don't know what to do," Chrono admitted. "Other than the fact that it was trapped in an egg there is no other information we have to go on and for all we know it could be halfway across the nexus realm by now. Renzyl is going to put me in an egg after he finds out I lost something of this magnitude while trying to be him, it was probably me going up to it as him that let it out in the first place!"

The marble rubber dragon just shook his head and put an arm around the black rubber shoulders of the other male. "It's probably the other way around actually," Adraxi explained. "One of the things that Renzyl's presence does in the realm is refresh all the things that are tied to him, which is why he usually has back-up glyphs of those that are always here in case he's gone like this. My guess is this particular creature was captured before he had implemented such a system into place and never got around to finding someone else to attach the runes too, particularly if it involved something from the Forbidden Gallery."

Though the information made Chrono feel slightly better there was still the fact that they had an unknown entity loose in the realm, or possibly escaped to somewhere else. If the latter was the case then they would have nothing they could do except wait for the real nexus creature to come home, and if it was the former they would have to wait until this creature showed itself before they could do anything about it. As he stood there and contemplated his actions he saw that Adraxi hadn't said a word after telling him about the wards. When he asked what it was the marble rubber creature didn't respond at first, then finally seemed to make up his mind and look straight into his glowing red eyes.

"There is... one place that we could go and see about finding this creature," Adraxi stated. "Normally this would only happen in the case of emergencies though... and I'm not sure this warrants one."

"How is some ancient creature running rampant in the realm after being released not an emergency?!" Chrono exclaimed, Adraxi just shrugging his shoulders as the black rubber dragon put his hand against his head. "Let's just err on the side of caution for this one and tell me where we can go to figure this out!"

There were a few more moments of pause before Adraxi groaned and nodded, telling Chrono to follow him as they went back out towards the courtyard. The entire time they were walking the black rubber dragon was on the look-out for anything suspicious that was happening in the realm or too his minions... but if this creature was doing something then it wasn't appearing on anyone's radar. Tapping into the nexus itself Chrono also found no strange anomalies, which made it even stranger since someone running around that wasn't a minion should have pinged on his radar whether or not he had done anything. It was evidence that whatever it was probably left the realm, or worse, was able to hide itself without being detected by the power of a nexus creature... or in this case someone masquerading as one.

Even though it had been pointed out to him that this wasn't his fault Chrono couldn't help but think that he had something to do with this. By pretending to be his master to try and help the situation he likely just made things much worse, even though this power was here for him for this exact purpose. Perhaps it was time to put the Renzyl disguise away and tell everyone the truth, he thought to himself, at least then he could get the Generals to take a more active role. Sure it might cause a bit of a general panic, but so would an incursion that came from the inside of the realm itself.

When he got out of his own thoughts Chrono found himself standing in the courtyard where the marble rubber dragon used to be a statue, Adraxi instructing him to clear the area out once more before they continue. With Renzyl's booming voice he quickly got every minion out of the area, then used the power of the nexus creature to provide a privacy screen around them at the other dragon's insistence. "What I'm about to show you is something that not even Renzyl really knows about," Adraxi explained, the knowledge taking Chrono slightly by surprise. "Once we're done with this Renzyl will probably erase your memory of ever seeing what I've shown you, if it doesn't happen as soon as we leave since you're technically wearing him as a disguise."

"How is that possible?" Chrono asked as Adraxi motioned for him to join him up near the edge of the reflecting pool. "How in the realm could you know about a place in Renzyl's realm that not even Renzyl, the creator of this realm and everything in it, knows about?"

"I'll explain once we're in a more secure location," Adraxi instructed. "For now you're going to have to make a proper introduction to yourself. I already unlocked the door, you're just going to have to go through it."

For a few moments Chrono was confused on what the other dragon was asking until Adraxi motioned his head downwards towards their reflections in the water. As Chrono saw Renzyl's reflection in the water he leaned forward, only to see that his mirror image didn't do the same. He had seen a lock like this before, it was made so that only those that were authorized to be in a room would have their reflections act differently. If anyone else had come up during this point and looked into the water they wouldn't see anything but their own image moving around just like they did.

Chrono reached in with his black rubber hand and broke the surface of the water and as soon as he was submerged up to his wrist he watched his reflection dart forward and grab him before pulling him in. The amount of strength was insane as he was literally pulled off of his feet, feeling his body hit the water for a second before emerging into air once more. His latex form dripped with water as he looked behind him and saw a reflecting pool above him, the water defying gravity as the scene beyond the surface was that of the actual realm. The area he was in looked like more like a cave than anything else, and though the flow of nexus energy could still be felt in there it was like a river then an ocean... essence was flowing into the area but it wasn't coming back out. That would explain why Renzyl didn't automatically sense such a thing, it was like trying to listen for an echo in a room filled with noise-cancellation form in it as he heard a splash and was suddenly joined by the other dragon.

"Welcome to the caves of knowledge," Adraxi said as he started to head down the stairs of the cave that went into the darkness, the marble rubber dragon pulling a torch off the wall and lighting it with a snap of his fingers. "Please keep your hands and legs inside of the cave at all times and try not to mess up anything. Next stop is ancient creatures Renzyl captured and stuffed into the Forbidden Gallery."

All Chrono could do was follow in wonder as he stepped foot inside an area that he didn't even know existed before. While Renzyl didn't share with him everything he thought that he at least knew every nook and cranny in the realm, from the beaches that was where his realm rubbed up against areas influenced by Famjin and Athear to the Wildlands and even the primal nexus rubber pools beneath the manor itself. But this... as he stepped out onto a platform and Adraxi illuminated huge crystals hanging a massive cavern filled with shelves of books with a clap of his hands, this was something that he hadn't even fathomed was down here before. There appeared to be no way down until Adraxi pressed his hands against the stone ledge they were standing on and a rune lit up before they started to descent.

While they waited to get to the ground floor Adraxi explained that he was more than merely a rubber dragon living statue exhibitionist, the entire reason he was there in the first place was to guard the portal to this pocket dimension of knowledge. When Renzyl had first created this place after a few millennia of knowledge was starting to get hard to keep track of he had given Adraxi, who had been a librarian at a place called the Library of Alexandria before being rescued by Renzyl as it burned down, the title of Lorekeeper and gave him exclusive access to this place before erasing his own memory. When Chrono asked why he would do such a thing the Lorekeeper explained that the amount of knowledge of this realm, as well as everything that Renzyl had ever touched, would be dangerous if in the hands of his enemies or even his brothers. Because Renzyl would occasionally meet his match and to keep the secret of the memory repository safe he made sure the only one who knew of its existence was the one sitting right on top of it.

"Amazing..." Chrono stated as he put his hands on one of the books, immediately getting a sense that this was about the incursion of a planet that had attempted to invade Renzyl's realm for the secret of everlasting life. "To think that everything that Lord Renzyl has ever done or experienced is down here, I'm sure there are quite a few interesting tales down here. That means that his capture of the creature in the neon green egg has to be around here somewhere, right?"

"Well... not exactly," Adraxi said as he went over to a desk where a obsidian slab similar to the one in the main hub was, the marble rubber dragon sitting down and manipulating the crystals. "Remember that more than a few years had passed before he had the idea to implement this system, if he had already captured and forgot about this creature before he started having all his knowledge manifesting down here then we might still be out of luck. Let's just hope that it was a little more recent then that... I just have to check the records to see where we need to go, luckily with this being a capture and lockdown in the Forbidden Gallery it means there are only a sections that it could be hidden in."

The words were not exactly reassuring to the black rubber dragon as decided to wander around a bit, receiving yet another warning from the other creature not to mess anything up before he left. As Chrono walked down the shelves, which seemed to stretch on to infinity before disappearing in the darkness, he did see that there was some semblance of order to everything. It wasn't long until he found a series of silver-trimmed tomes that all had his name on the title. Though it would have been interesting to find out what Renzyl really thought of him he resisted the urge to look, it sort of felt like he was in the brain of the nexus creature and he didn't want to read any thoughts that Renzyl wouldn't want him to see whether for good or bad.

Just as he found a section of cooking recipes the rubber dragon had stolen from Jerkah over the ages when he heard Adraxi call him over to a different section of the library. "Adraxi, please tell me you found what we were looking for," Chrono practically pleaded before being handed a small black leather-bound book. "I take it this isn't just his little black book of hook-ups."

"Not unless one of them is the creature that we're looking for," Adraxi replied proudly. "It definitely was on the cusp of the knowledge that he had started to store here but given the nature of the store I can see why it had both stuck around in his mind and why he eventually wanted to forget it. I already had a read but I think it's best if you do the same so I'm not trying to give you second-hand info when the horse's mouth is right there."

Chrono nodded and opened the book, though instead of having to read it the information just seemed to flow into his mind. He quickly found out that the creature which had been released was a shard of Renzyl's actual essence, something that had been gotten by an advanced civilization after his incursion there went poorly and he was forced to retreat. Using that shard they were able to create a creature that could instantly identify the desire of someone and then ramp the need to fulfill it up to eleven. Naturally as most creatures do when they get anything of significant power they began to try and figure out how they could use it against their enemies, or replicate the result and make money off of it.

But what the scientists had not encountered was how powerful the creature, which in its natural state looked kind of like a translucent jellyfish, was that they had created. Eventually one of the researchers became curious on what it would be like to have the creature touch him, and that curiosity quickly turned to need which eventually became obsession. The closer he got to it the more he needed to find out what it was like as the very thing that they had created to manipulate others was doing the same thing to him. Though it didn't have any real intelligences of its own the thing they had made had only two real desires that it had gotten from the nexus creature it had come from, to magnify a host's desires to their maximum level and to spread. One day the desire became so intense that the scientist broke every protocol they had and disabled the failsafes in order to allow it to bond with him.

That was when the true nature of the creature they had created was revealed; though it was a symbiote in the loosest sense of the word it acted more like a parasite as the ones that had made it were laughably unprepared for what they had unleashed upon the world. Though the original host was eventually apprehended the creature had spread to nearly a dozen different people, which all began to manifest the same symptoms of intense psychosis in order to deal with their newfound drive to get what they wanted. It started off simple enough, people having sex with others with no regard for their own safety, ridiculous spending, things of that nature. Eventually it learned to be able to manipulate people's bodies and minds to get them what they wanted, and since it spread via touch those that had become unnaturally hot had people flocking to them left and right.

For a bit it looked like things might have turned out alright, but that was when the darker side of desire began to manifest. With people able to shift themselves thanks to the symbiote infesting them they were able to carry out things that they normally wouldn't have dreamed. The worst was when someone such a serial killer became infected... eventually they would become an unstoppable killing machine until others managed to put them down. Things quickly grew darker, and as the parasite continued to spread in continued to grow in power until people were driven mad by it. Those in power could see that others in the same ranking desired their position, or their land, or anything like that they decided indulge in their own need to act immediately...

When Renzyl eventually came back to the world after sensing a signature close to his own he came back and was shocked to find a world covered completely in radioactive ash and craters. Through what he could piece together from the archives the ability to identify and amplify the desires of others had led to the war that ended the entire civilization... with the only thing remaining being the symbiotic creature itself. It had become so warped by those that were destroyed by it that Renzyl couldn't reabsorb it back into his system, so he did the only thing he could and sealed it in a container that could hold it before bringing it back to his realm. Though it was a dangerous creature he knew the safest place would be where he could keep an eye on it and wanted to make sure no one accidently came upon it and spread its influence through the Nexus, using the power of the Nexus realm itself to create an egg-shaped prison around it as dark as a black hole before putting it into the Forbidden Gallery.

When Chrono came back to his senses he found he had snapped the book shut, shaking his head as the sadness he felt deep inside began to dissipate. "I can't believe that something that came from Master Renzyl could be so destructive when in the wrong hands," he said as he handed the book back to Adraxi who filed it away. "I mean, we sort of take it for granted since he's there to make sure that everything is alright, this sort of goes full circle on what can happen if he's not around."

"Too true," Adraxi replied with a nod. "So the good news is given the nature of the minions around here and the tools available for people we don't have to worry about anyone blowing this place up. The bad news is that if this weird desire parasite manages to escape the nexus realm and gets somewhere like the Nexross or other high-density traffic area we could see ourselves dealing with an outbreak unlike anything we've ever seen before. Also since this creature is a part of Renzyl and currently very tiny it's going to be hard to track, essentially you're going to have to try and look for a pixel on a screen at this point."

Chrono could feel the pressure on himself as he realized that this was much more than just trying to keep the realm calm while their master was away, they were dealing with a potentially catastrophic incident and he was currently pretending to play leader. What was he supposed to do now? Get another of Renzyl's brothers in on this? Tell the Generals that he was a fake all along and they're going to have to deal with this crisis without him? Or...

"We're going to have to quarantine the entire realm," Chrono stated with a look of determination on his face as he turned to Adraxi. "Inform everyone that's outside of the realm what's about to happen and use the Generals to get the messages out if you have to, but no one gets to go in and out of here until we figure out where this creature is and how to contain it. I also want the head of every group in the manor meeting hall in an hour in order to discuss what is going to happen next... it's like an invasion drill, except instead of one of the brothers trying to get in it's something that's already here."

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Adraxi asked. "Don't get me wrong, I love your gusto in the situation, but if you put the realm on quarantine that means that wherever Renzyl is even he's not going to be able to get back, it's a complete disconnect. If you do this then we're going to be on our own and if they find out you're not the real Renzyl then things could get... messy."

"I appreciate the concern," Chrono quickly replied. "But if we give up the act now then by the time we get a new hierarchy established and people actually start listening to one another this thing might become too big for us to stop. If this thing really does feed on desire then it's going to be like a kid in a candy shop, and we don't even know where's going to go or who it's... going to latch onto..."

Chrono suddenly got a brain wave and told Adraxi to get it done before rushing his way up the stairs and towards the upside-down reflecting pool. While he still wasn't quite sure how to make a prison out of the void of the Nexus he thought if he could contain the potential infected before he had a chance to spread they wouldn't have to resort to such drastic measures. The only thing that ran through his mind as he ran was that the desire parasite was too weak to manifest quite yet...

Meanwhile in Sivilath's studio Ishmael frustratingly looked at the canvas that he had been working on, everything that he had done so far looking like nothing more than random colors he had splattered on with abandon. Nothing looked inspiring or resourceful... in fact in his eyes it looked like he had just wasted a bunch of paint. The lizardman General said that this was just a way to loosen up the mind before they moved on to something else but everything felt tighter than ever.

Ishmael was so focused on degrading himself that he failed to notice the translucent creature floating through the air, having come in through an open vent after escaping from the Forbidden Gallery it had been drawn there by the intense desire for creativity. Though it wasn't evolved enough to be capable enough for independent thought it was drawn to the rubber lizardman by the intense need to be more creative. It floated down towards him like a leaf and as Ishmael took down the failed painting and put up a fresh one it successfully landed lightly on his back. It caused the lizardman to look around behind him when he felt something, but when he saw nothing he decided after a few seconds it was just the wind and decided to get started.

Though it had been incredibly weakened through its imprisonment the parasite still had all the evolutionary knowledge from the last civilization it had encountered inside of it, which included the ability to alter physical and mental characteristics. It sensed this creature wanted more creativity, more inspiration to invent, and as such it took two of the tendrils that had wrapped stealthily around his neck and began to push them into the earholes of the male. Though Ishmael could sense the change of pressure the malleability of their bodies meant he just shifted his form slightly to accommodate it as he began to think of the next set of paints he was going to use. Their unique anatomy allowed for creature to easily push in, stretching out the holes slightly as the tendrils touched his mind and began to spread out in his skull.

Suddenly the lizardman began to get an idea about what to paint next, his melancholy demeanor shifting as an image began to form in his mind. It was the first time that he had actually had an original thought, and it even tied into his other desire as he began to paint what had come to mind. At first it was a little shaky but as time passed he felt his brush strokes began to grow smoother as he switched from paint to paint, watching the picture take form just like he saw it in his mind's eyes. He became so engrossed in what he was doing he failed to see that the tendrils of the parasitic creature had begin to sink into the rubber scales of his body and spread outwards just underneath the shiny skin.

As time passed Ishmael's pacing grew more and more intense, his eyes not even leaving the canvas anymore as they began to go turn translucent and clear. Clear goo began to drip down from his nostrils before two more smaller tendrils wiggled their way around and plugged them up, the parasite continuing to merge with the creature that had unknowingly become its host. As the tendrils spread all along his body it began to act another desire of the creature that was a little more buried, the tentacles visibly throbbing under his rubber as his muscles began to grow. His cock, which had already started to grow erect as the sheer act of creating became more and more arousing for him. Just as he had finished the last stroke of his brush the paints clattered to the ground and he backed away from his masterpiece as his freed hands began to stroke something else.

"Of course..." Ishmael hissed as he began to pant heavily in pleasure, looking at what he had just made as his body continued to swell and morph from the infection of the parasite that had completely integrated into his back. "This is my purpose, I must spread this wonderful gift to others, show them exactly what I can create! Soon everyone here will know my name and even Renzyl will find himself envious of my works!"

Just as he was about to orgasm Ishmael's head snapped back, letting out a loud hiss as his mutating tongue whipped around in the air. It could be his first new masterpiece, his tainted mind thought to himself, but as he sensed the power of the creature coming towards him the parasite's instincts kicked in and realized that it would be no match for the one that was coming in. No... he wasn't just going to let them take away his glory, he thought to himself, he would show them all without their help! He raced to the window that led outside before he turned towards one of the larger cabinets, his neck tilting just as one of the parasite's tentacles pushed its way up his neck...

Outside of the studio Chrono walked inside just in time to see Sivilath walking towards the entrance, motioning for him to stop and come over towards him. "Is Ishmael still here with you?" the rubber dragon asked. "There's been an incident and we think he might possibly be involved."

"He should still be in the studio," Sivilath replied as he pointed a thumb back towards the door. "Why, what's going on Master Renzyl? Is he in trouble or something?"

"Maybe..." Chrono stated, trying not to look nervous as he leaned on Renzyl's personality to help keep his cool. "Either way I want you and I to go in there together and, if he's still there, subdue him and bring him in. Most importantly though if you see he's acting strangely or looks unusual I don't want you to touch him, am I clear?"

Though Chrono could tell that the inquisitive male was curious on what was going on he merely nodded his head and followed him towards the door of the studio, motioning for the male behind him to be quiet as he carefully eased it open and looked inside. It didn't take long to find out that the entire room was empty, though he made sure to double check by looking in every corner while instructing the rubber lizardman to do the same. When they were sure they were well and truly alone Chrono sighed and scratched the back of his head. Of course it might not mean he was infected by the parasite, he thought to himself as his mind began to think of other potential scenarios, perhaps he got sick of trying to paint and just went off to do something else...

"Uh, Master Renzyl," Sivilath said, Chrono turning to see the other rubber creature motioning for him to come over. "You're going to want to see this."

Chrono quickly moved over and what he saw caused his eyes to widen slightly. On the floor in front of the easel there were paints mixed in with a strange clear goo that he warned Sivilath not to touch, but his eyes were more focused on the painting that was still on the easel. It depicted a rubber anthro allosaurus standing on the wall of the manor completely naked save for a few straps of intricately designed rubber across his body, showing himself off to the crowd of minions beneath him that were wearing all manner of gear that went from the mundane to things that Chrono would have never imagined existing before. It was hard to believe that Ishmael had created something like this, especially after they found his first attempt leaned up against another easel, but when he asked Sivilath if there was anyone else in here he just shook his head.

"Remarkable," Sivilath stated as he went up to the painting. "Brush work is a little sloppy and could do with a few lessons of perspective but I've never seen someone grow this much in imagination ever. Honestly when you first brought him to me I thought that you were pulling my leg after getting a chance to talk with him on his aspirations."

"I'm afraid this is all very much real," Chrono stated before looking around. "He must have left when he sensed my approach, do you think you might have an idea of where he could have run off too?"

"Well the only door that we have in this entire place is the one we went through," Sivilath stated. "If he wanted to make an escape he could have went through any one of these windows-" the lizardman stopped dead in his tracks and his brush tail swayed in the air in anger as he suddenly ran over to as cupboard that he just realized was open. "That bastard!"

"What?" Chrono asked. "What did you have in there?"

"This was my personal stash..." Sivilath said as he took out a lone tube of paint and tossed it on the nearby counter. "All my transformative paints, my molding rubber, everything that I used for my own personal benefit was locked away in here so no one else could take it, and now it's gone!"