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"After the failed attempt to lay siege to the third Ivory Tower being constructed on the island of Teniele, the remaining members of the Alliance of Light launched a coordinated attack on the traitorous kingdom of Arthulle. However with the help of the Ivory Tower, Arthulle not only managed to survive the Alliance's attack, but to drive them back sufficiently enough that the Alliance itself would crumble. Having never been too bothered with magic users (most likely since magic was a rare sight on the Peninsula) Thendor was the first to follow Arthulle's example and decriminalize magic in order to employ some form of magical protection within its fleets. Serephal and Naeve soon followed suit.

Kentereal stubbornly remained bent against the use of magic and in 2177 [of the First Age], they launched an all out attack on the Ivory Tower in the hopes of destroying it. But this time, the Thendor fleet would come to the Tower's aid, hoping to gain an alliance with the magi there as Arthulle enjoyed for their own version of the Ivory Tower could not succeed without a Mana-fountain. Arthulle, Thendor and the Ivory Tower pushed the Kentereal fleet back, capturing the significant port of Lamthorre and thereby threatening the main Kentereal fleet stationed at Tharrall and for the first time in its history, Kentereal access to the Ocean of Storms.

Now faced with overwhelming odds, Kentereal did the unthinkable. Magic was decriminalized and Magi recruited with the promise of amnesty in order to defend Tharrall. The resulting Battle of Tharrall mere months later would eventually become known as the Battle of the Bloodstorm or just The Bloodstorm. This terrible battle was said to have been the worst in recorded history and brought the Third Witchwar and the Great Witchhunts as a whole to a sudden, dramatic halt."

• Surviving extract from "Turmoil of Mana: A Complete History of the Circle of Five from The First Witch War to The Amber Rebellion. " by Arthur Brightheart, renowned historian of the Golden Age.

***

It was strange to see the coastline pass by lazily, whilst baring in mind that they were traveling at speeds faster than even the fastest Clipper could sail. Then again, there were much more coastline to cover from way up here. Merec had never seen so much of the world in one go as from Gahntuar's shoulders. The dragon was seemingly gliding along lazily, yet they were covering distances at nearly twice the best speed the human could have achieved on his own, requiring a little more than two days to reach the city of Tharral for what should have taken just over five.

Then again, though the sights were misleading, the wind on the other hand attested to the speed they were traveling at. It howled past Merec, not deafeningly so but still it threatened to blow the human from his precarious perch, especially when the dragon had to flap his wings every once in a while to maintain the airspeed over the thin yet durable membranes. Whenever the muscles beneath him shifted, Merec had to cling tighter to the dragon's neck or risk falling off, something the dragon always found amusing. Luckily, it happened with surprisingly regularity, so he could anticipate it.

The human's buttocks cramped suddenly again from the long period of sitting on the scaled shoulders, and not for the first time he wished that Gahntuar would consider wearing a saddle. They had had that discussion before, and like when they talked about Gahntuar carrying Merec around, it usually didn't end good.

The feeling seemed to have been mutual, as Gahntuar unexpectedly rolled his shoulders to relieve a cramp of his own. Merec yelped and desperately grabbed at the dragon's neck least he topple over.

"Careful!" Merec shouted. "Warn me next time okay?" Though he had to shout a bit to be heard, it was surprisingly not that difficult to communicate with the dragon.

"Like you let me know when you shift around in my back?" Gahntuar countered.

"It was just a suggestion." Merec muttered, unsure if the dragon even heard. "Sitting so long on your impenetrable natural armor can become rather much!"

"Well, carrying you long distances is no great joy either!" Gahntuar snapped a little irritably. "I'm sure your butt has left a permanent imprint in my scales by now!"

"You know a saddle will help!" Merec replied when he realized that the dragon had actually heard his last complaint.

"I am not a damned horse, human!" Gahntuar snarled. "I've told you before and I don't want to do so again! I'm not going to wear a saddle, so drop it! If you don't like it, I'll drop you off and you can walk the rest of the way!"

"You know I don't think of you as a pet!" Merec replied shocked. "I just thought it would be easier!"

"Easier for whom?" Gahntuar snapped, his voice raising in volume as he spoke. "Me, you, or that thrice-damned people in town so that they can sleep better at night knowing the dragon in the hills is only a tame beast of burden?"

That was going a bit too far, and Gahntuar instantly knew it. A stubborn streak in him urged him to let it stay there, but this was Merec he was arguing with. He hadn't even been such close friends with the Lord of Ealyndore when he had lived close to the elves. So he squashed that urge in him and did a very un-dragony thing.

"Look, I'm sorry!" Gahntuar grumbled. "I didn't mean it like that. It's just ..." He never completed the sentence. What else could he have meant with a statement like that?

Merec didn't reply, only sulked.

"Ship, Merec!" Gahntuar replied with a snort.

"What?" Merec gasped, sure he had to have heard wrong.

"Ship!" Gahntuar repeated, grateful for the chance to change the topic. He pointed down with a forepaw that had been held close to his sides the entire time. "Down there."

Merec leaned over as much as he dared, which wasn't that far, to look. Indeed, eight or so large sections and several smaller ones of what appeared to have been an old Heavy Battleship lay scattered across a little rolling hill a good distance from the ocean.

"That is a ship, right?" Gahntuar queried.

"It was meant to be, at least." Merec agreed. The objects beneath them was definitely meant to look like a war ship from the time of the Five Kingdoms. It seemed to have been frozen in time, with even the sails still intact and billowing in a nonexistent wind, still affixed onto the three masts that themselves lay scattered haphazardly around the area.

"What could a ship be doing this far from sea?" Gahntuar asked, curiously eying the sections.

"It might just be a live-sized statue." Merec replied, a suspicion of what it might be forming in his mind.

"In the middle of nowhere?" Gahntuar argued unconvinced.

"Sure," Merec replied. Then a little hopeful to get his weight off his tail-bone he added "Do you want to take a look?"

"Yeah!" Gahntuar chirped, excited to satisfy his curiosity. Without any further discussion, he twisted into a sharp dive that nearly toppled the yelping human from his shoulders. They descended quickly, landing with a bit of a thud near to a cluster of three of the largest pieces that lay close to each other.

Gahntuar smirked when Merec toppled from his shoulders with a groan. It was always funny to him that, though the smaller creature insisted that he enjoyed flying, he could not handle the best moments.

"How many times do I have to ask you not to do that?" Merec groaned, crouching to try and get his stomach contents back where it belonged. Gahntuar only chuckled and stepped closer to the section of ship closest to him. The human will be okay, eventually.

Instead, the dragon turned his attention to what he realized was actually a slab of stone. But it was stone unlike anything he had seen before. He understood the concept of sculpture, having often seen it done at Eydelvise when he visited the elves. But here the detail in the stone was mind-boggling. The section of ship, the stern he thought it was called, looked functional with even more detail inside the structure when he peered into one of the portals. If he looked closely, he could even make out the wood grain in the stone!

One thing that was strange though, was that the stone wasn't uniform in color or even texture. Instead it looked like the slab was made up of sections of different stones, but were seamlessly fused together making it appear as if it was indeed carved from a single slab of rock.

"You feel that?" Merec asked, obviously feeling better once more.

"I think it is a real ship." Gahntuar said, ignoring the human's comment. "But it is stone ..."

"That is because I think it was a real ship that had been magically cast to stone." Merec replied, coming to stand next to the dragon to lay a palm against the slightly rough surface of what had been the deck. "You can see the different sections where each magus worked on it. I believe this is the Bloodstorm Memorial."

"The, Blood- ... -storm?" Gahntuar asked, scrunching his snout in disgust at the image that formed in his imagination.

"Yes." Merec smirked, knowing exactly what the dragon was thinking. That was the usual reaction to hearing about this turning point in history.

"The Battle for Tharral, or better known as the Battle of the Bloodstorm, was a famous battle from the First Age." Merec continued, pinching the bridge of his nose as he tried to recall his lacking history lessons from long ago. "During the last century or so of the First Age, the authorities of the time hunted down and killed everybody with the ability to cast magic. This all ended in the Third Witch War, when the kingdoms that existed back then broke away from their alliance against the magi and instead started to employ them to fight against each other. The resulting sea-battle for the port of Tharral was called the Bloodstorm."

"Sounds ... disgusting." Gahntuar concluded, much to Merec's amusement.

"I think that was the idea." he admitted. "It was the worst battle in history up to that time and they wanted to make a point. Anyway, after the battle there were negotiations concerning how magi and contramagi ..."

"What?"

"Contramagi ... um ... non magic users?" Merec explained.

"Like you?" Gahntuar inquired with a bump of his snout against Merec's side.

"Yeah." Merec muttered, pushing the affectionate snout away. "As I was saying, there were negotiations about how magic is to be used in society after the battle that stands to this day. So this is actually one of the most important historic events." Merec suddenly frowned as Gahntuar looked around him in sudden awe. "But I always understood that it was an intact ship from the battle itself that was cast to stone, not sections like this."

"That is because it was;" an unknown, female voice suddenly spoke up from inside the piece of hull they were admiring. "That is, until the pieces were scattered like this during the Mana Back-flash at the start of the Shattering."

Both dragon and human like tensed in surprise when a vixen climbed out from the door into the quarterdeck, now somewhat sunken into the ground. She was dressed in a simple leather jerkin that hugged her breasts in such a way to make them look bigger than they were, and trousers that looked rather uncomfortably tight.

"Who are you?" both of them asked in near unison. Gahntuar was more at ease, than Merec who was surprised to find himself fingering the short sword he had started to carry around ever since he became the town's adventurer. Not that he was very apt with it. He preferred his bow anyway. With a conscious effort, he let his hand drop to his side. Luckily, the vixen didn't seem to notice the true extent of the fright her sudden appearance had caused.

"I'm just a passerby." she replied, nonchalantly as if she regularly scared travelers on the road for fun. "The name is Felicity, and there is nothing special about me. Unlike the two of you; I don't think I have heard of a human and dragon traveling together since the start of the Second Age, nor of a dragon this far west. Are the two you from the Garbanan?"

"Is the accent that obvious?" Merec asked with a smirk, the typical answer he had come to use during his time in Thornsire the year before rolling easily off his tongue. He received a well deserved thwack from Gahntuar's tail on his shoulder in return.

"Not all humans live in Tharral, you know." Felicity replied a bit dryly as she crossed her arms, trying to hide her amusement. "And your dragon companion is unusual for the Garbanan Peninsula, to say the least."

"Fair enough, I'm sorry." Merec apologized, rubbing his shoulder. "Yes I'm Merec, from Corrumwhell. It is just north of Perston."

"Gahntuar!" the dragon introduced himself with a respectful nod of his head.

"So what are you doing this far from home, if I may ask?"

"Nothing important" Merec replied truthfully. "I'm just a courier, delivering a package of tanned hides to Tharral. Gahntuar here is accompanying me as a friend. And you? I understand the vulpinae territory is around Lamthorre."

"Yes, I'm traveling back north right now." Felicity replied, a little quickly but still smoothly. "I just came to have a look at the memorial again. I always find it fascinating."

"Again?" Merec asked surprised. "Do you come here regularly?"

Felicity bit at her lower lip at the small slip. True, she didn't expect to meet the strange couple again, but she didn't like to give away too much information either, and normally don't make such small mistakes often.

"I'm a bit of a scholar on the Golden Age." she admitted. It was true enough, though they didn't need to know exactly what part of the Golden Age she pursued in her spare time. "I find it kind of sad to think of all the knowledge and culture that had been destroyed during the Shattering."

"Is this ... I don't know how to really explain it ... watery feeling common here?" Merec asked curiously.

"Watery feeling?" Felicity repeated utterly stunned.

"What?" Merec asked Gahntuar when even the dragon blinked at him in surprise.

"You feel ... water?" the dragon rumbled.

"Yes ... it is like ... there is a faint trickle of water flowing through the air." Merec admitted, suddenly a little worried. "But only from this piece of the memorial, and it doesn't reach very far. It's gone over there."

"Are you telling me that you are sensing ... Mana?" Gahntuar replied, his frill flaring in shock.

"Is that what it is?" Merec smiled, looking down at the grass which he only now noticed was slightly greener and lusher, though not really by much. Then, a thought occurred to him. "But, I'm not a magus ..."

"Nor can you be." Felicity said quite adamantly. "Humans cannot attract Mana, not even sense it even if weakly. It just doesn't work like that. Unless ... you have an Evoceather?"

"A what?" Merec asked dumbfounded.

"A ... Mana Attractor." Felicity replied, hesitating slightly to recall the common name for a well known, but not often mentioned Mana manipulator. "It is a charm ... or a consumable ingredient that helps someone attract Mana unto themselves ... like dragon's blood. You don't drink his blood, do you?" She pointed an accusing finger at Gahntuar.

"No!" both human and dragon reacted with disgust.

"Then how is it that can you feel the Mana flowing from this Mana-well?" Felicity asked in an accusatory tone.

"I don't even know what you are talking about!" Merec snapped back, confused and irritated for being accused of playing vampire with his best friend.

Felicity sighed, trying to gather her thoughts.

"Right, let's start at the beginning." she decided. "What do you know about Mana?"

"Um ... it is the fuel used to power magical spells?" Merec hazard an educated guess. It was about the only thing he was pretty sure about.

"And?" Felicity prompted.

"And apparently it feels like water..." Merec added with a shrug, having exhausted most common human knowledge on the topic. Felicity just shook her head a little exasperated.

"Have you ever heard of Barathrum?" she queried.

"Yes." Merec replied, not exactly sure what the Dark Kingdom from the Age of Legends had to do with Mana. "It is another, chaotic dimension from where the Shadowspawn originally came from. During the Dark Age, or the Age of Legends, Barathrum invaded our world through a portal at the center of the Dark Fortress of Juinkarr."

"Correct." Felicity smiled, pleased. "But it is not just the Shadowspawn that comes from Barathrum. Mana also comes from there as well. It seeps through the Veil, that is the border between our worlds, like ... well ... water through a crack in a vase. These weak points in the Veil are called Mana-wells, or in the case of the seven big ones, Aether-Fountains. The Bloodstorm Memorial was actually placed on top of a large Mana-well, and is one of few whose location is still well known. There are hundreds more, but though they were marked on a great map in the Golden Age, their location have been mostly lost and today magi tend to guard any knowledge of such wells and the connecting laylines rather jealously.

"So this ... water I'm feeling is actually Mana filtering through from ... Barathrum?"

"Yes, and you can feel that it doesn't last long before it is absorbed by everything alive around us." Felicity agreed. "Like you said, it is gone only a few meters from the center of the well."

"Absorbed?"

"Yes, in fact even you are absorbing it right now." At Merec's worried expression she quickly added "Don't worry, it will not harm you."

"But I'm absorbing it!" he replied. "A part of Barathrum is becoming part of me."

"All organic matter attracts and absorbs Mana, usually with beneficial results, although in varying degrees." Felicity explained patiently. "And sentient creatures are able to use it by shaping it into a form or spell, also with varying degrees of effectiveness."

"Varying degrees?" Merec asked.

"It is called the Mana Spectrum." Felicity replied, obviously having had to explain all of this before. She sat down on the grass and plucking some blades from the lawn, laid out a triangle for Merec. "According to Mana Theory, the Mana Spectrum is often explained in the shape of a triangle."

Merec sat down to have a closer look, and even Gahntuar leaned over him in interest.

"Each line of this triangle represents an aspect or something that can be done with Mana: Attraction, Absorption and Molding, or basically the casting of spells. The closer a species lies to a line on the Spectrum, the better the average individual of that species is at that specific Aspect of Mana."

"But that would mean that some species will be worse at some Aspects, while being better at others" Merec queried with a frown.

"Exactly." Felicity beamed. It was often something that many commoners had difficulty to understand, especially when they thought of the elves who appeared to be magic on two legs. "You catch on pretty quickly, but that is exactly how it works. For example, elves" she marked a spot near the top of the triangle with a little pebble she had found nearby "are great at attracting and molding Mana, but what most people don't realize is that they are rubbish at absorbing it. That means that if they do not ... recharge themselves regularly, they run out of fuel within a day and cannot wield magic. It is for this reason that they often live on or near Mana-wells. They also try to travel along Laylines as much as possible to slow down this decay of their internal Mana supply."

"Is that what you are doing here?" Merec suddenly asked.

"What?" Felicity replied, caught a little off guard.

"Recharging your Mana supply." Merec expanded on his question "I'm assuming you are a magus, knowing all this stuff."

"Y-es." she replied, a little sheepishly at being caught out. She had been so absorbed with Merec's ability to sense Mana she forgot that she did not tell them she was a magus herself.

"Now Dragons on the other hand," Felicity continued, hoping to draw attention away from her own abilities. She marked a spot just inside the left bottom corner with another stone. "are extremely efficient at attracting and binding Mana to themselves, but rather pathetic at actually trying to mold it. The Mana in their system definitely help them heal quicker and live longer, but other than that there is nothing special to Mana for them. Since they are not exactly on the tip of the triangle, they are able to cast simple spells when pressed, but you won't be able to find a dragon that can actually use magic consciously."

"Rather unfair, if you ask me!" Gahntuar grumbled, making Merec smirk.

"You are already so strong and fast, and add strong armor and dangerous weapons built in to that as well!" the human said to the pouting dragon, nudging him with an arm. "Don't you think it would have been unfair if you were magically inclined as well?"

"Fairness is relative!" the dragon muttered. Though his human friend did have a point, he would not admit to it.

"Right," Felicity continued, ignoring the two. "Finally we come to humans, who sits here on the Mana Spectrum." She marked the spot with a last stone, placing it exactly on top of the right bottom corner.

"So, that means that we cannot attract it, but we are brilliant at absorbing and molding it?" Merec replied, sounding doubtful. "That doesn't make much sense."

"But it is exactly the case." Felicity smiled, a little too predatory in Merec's opinion. "Humans cannot touch it, they cannot even sense it. But once they manage to get a hold of it using a Mana Attractor, that Mana remains at their disposal pretty much for life. It is the main reason why so many humans were killed for magical ingredients during the years of the Shattering."

"But I'm sensing it now ..." Merec commented, a little worried now that he understood the impossibility of the situation.

"That is the problem." Felicity agreed, pleased that the human grasped the concept so quickly. "The only way you can be doing what you are doing now, is if you have something organic on you, or have eaten something that will attract the Mana for you. It still need to be enchanted to work at its most efficient, but ... you are not carrying something made of amber ... or ... coral."

"I do have that package meant for Tharral ..." Merec replied, a little uncomfortable with how the vixen was looking at him, as if he was a pane of clear glass she was trying to study. He indicated towards the rolled leathers strapped to the dragon's sides. Felicity just shook her head.

"I don't think so; you need to be in physical contact with the charm for it to work." she replied, obviously not satisfied with the idea. "The only other explanation that would make sense is that you had consumed something that will do the same. A famous Evoceather is dragon's blood, or the like. It it is usually an important ingredient used to make potions or enchantments. That is why I thought you might have drunk his blood ... you haven't eaten anything that was part of the dragon recently, have you?"

To Felicity's surprise, the two males in front of her suddenly appeared very awkward.

"You know, there was that time I cut my paw on a sharp rock, just last week, remember?" Gahntuar suddenly commented, lifting a healed paw up to inspect a supposed wound. "I was bleeding badly for such a small wound. Maybe you accidentally got some of it in your mouth when you helped me ... ?"

"I guess ..." Merec agreed, a little unsure but following the dragon's lead. "I remember I was covered in it."

"It wouldn't have been an accidental thing;" Felicity replied dryly, not in the slightest convinced. Yet, she was not sure what was going on, but it was obvious the two males knew exactly what had happened and wasn't planning to share it with her.

"Why didn't I feel Mana before now?" Merec inquired, obviously trying to avoid revealing the truth.

"That's not strange; You need to be on top of a Mana-well to absorb it like this." Felicity replied, crossing her arms annoyed. "And even in the Golden Age, there weren't any known Mana-wells on the Garbanan Peninsula. But you are avoid... "

"So, you're saying I am a magus now?" Merec continued, adamant to avoid the topic.

"It is not that easy." Felicity sighed, letting the change in topic slide for now. This was also an important discussion to cover. "As we discussed before, the Mana you are absorbing now will remain part of you and will always be at your disposal for the rest of your life or until it is used up. But you will need to learn how to mold it to make any use of it, other than help you heal better."

"Can you teach me?" Merec asked curiously, a little excitement seeping into his voice as he remembered his childhood dream.

"I shouldn't be doing this, but ... I can give you a small Manashape or spell to practice on, but I will not give you anything more." Felicity hesitated, a little awkward as if divulging a great secret she was meant to keep. "You will need to come to one of the towers of the Circle of Five to be properly taught. In fact, I strongly advise it. Casting most spells can be very dangerous."

"How so?" Merec asked surprised. He had always thought casting spells was as simple as using Mana ... like using a bow to fire an arrow.

"Well," Felicity started to explain, very seriously all of a sudden. She was no longer just explaining theory for interest sake, but teaching something which her impromptu student had to understand. "Adsorbing Mana seems to be beneficial to life; for instance it helps to heal wounds faster and it has been shown to cause longevity. But molding Mana on other the hand appears to put strain on the body and the mind. Molding too much Mana too quickly for your level of experience causes what is called a Manaburn; A small Manaburn will leave you weak, while a large one will kill you."

As if the repercussions weren't severe enough, Felicity leaned forward intently to stress her next words.

"It is important to remember that once you release most Mana-shapes, the spell cannot be stopped until the process is done or your spell runs out of Mana.

"Don't worry," she quickly added when she noticed the worried expression on Merec's face. "The spell I'll show you is small and one of those you can adjust the flow of Mana at will, so you won't get a Manaburn easily from it. It is often taught to initiates, to help them practice the molding process and to control the flow of Mana. It also increases their stamina, so that they can use more Mana on more difficult spells later on. But still, it will be better for you to be properly educated.

"Now, sit closer to me and try to sense the Mana around me." Putting word to mouth herself, Felicity repositioned the bag he had been carrying so that she could scoot closer to him herself. "Can you sense this?"

Merec thought he could sense the 'water' in the palm she held out to him distort, taking on a shape similar to a pyramid, though with a triangular base rather than a square one. A tetraeder, he vaguely recalled from somewhere, often the symbol of fire. He gave a simple nod.

"Good," Felicity continued. "Now this is just a simple Elemental shape. It will cause a little fire to appear at the tip of the finger you choose." At her words, the little shape seemed to flash and a little flame suddenly sat on top of her one claw. "If you do it right, you will not burn yourself and you can easily regulate the flame's size by changing the flow of Mana into the spell." The flame on her finger became larger and smaller as she talked. "To stop the spell, simply cut off the flow of Mana completely." The little flame flickered and was gone.

"How do you mold the Mana into a shape?" Merec asked, holding his own hand out, palm turned up.

"You just will it." Felicity replied. "It is not necessary, but all initiates find it easier at first to use their hands to shape it like clay. Some magi even continue to do so, long after they graduate. Even grand magi often revert to waving their hands around for really difficult shapes."

"Like this?" Merec asked. Focusing on the sensation of Mana around him, he grabbed hold of a bit of it in his upraised hand and with his other, squeezed it into a ball. He had meant it sarcastically, but to his surprise the Mana actually deformed. It was like ... like ... squeezing a lump of wet clay, only he could not actually feel it against his skin. Still, the Mana oozed around his mental grasp and tried to pool into a puddle of water as it resisted being pressed into any desired shape. Eventually, the clump of Mana in his palm resembled the shape he had seen, albeit a bit lumpy even to his untrained senses.

"Good, now let go of the shape;" Felicity replied, trying to hold back an expectant smirk. But when Merec did as she suggested, the shape disintegrated and the Mana dissolved back into his palm.

"I did say just let it go, didn't I?" Felicity groaned, stroking the whiskers on either side of her snout. "What happened was when you released control of the shape, it broke down and the Mana reabsorbed back into you." She sighed, thinking a bit on how exactly she cast spells. It was so natural to her now. "Try releasing the shape, but pinch the Mana off when you relinquish the control that is required to hold the shape. Don't worry about the flow of Mana that fuels the spell, it won't be effected."

Merec tried to shape the Mana again, grunting with effort until the tetraeder took shape again, though the sides seemed a bit pitted. Satisfied, he released his shape. And yelped when there was a sudden spark on one of his fingers that left a stinging burn.

Felicity nearly fell over as she started to laugh, much to Merec's dismay. Gahntuar, on the other hand was very impressed.

"You actually did it!" the dragon chirped in surprise and ... pride? "You molded Mana, I felt it!"

"It didn't feel like I succeeded!" Merec grumbled, putting his stinging finger into his mouth.

"That is because you didn't;" Felicity admitted through her giggles, calming down a bit. "Your shape was not perfect, which is why it didn't work properly. Don't worry, all magi make that exact mistake when they start to learn their skills, and it even after that it happens more often than you would think. A shape needs to be recreated exactly, in form and size. The really complex ones, those that seem to fade in and out, have to be exact in five dimensions!

"But you have done better than most initiates I know." she finally admitted. "Practice with that shape and you'll be able to mold Mana like the best!"

"And you say I can learn more at one of the towers?" Merec asked, trying again and receiving another zap on the tip of another finger. To his surprise he realized that he felt a little tired. Not very tired, but like he had been walking rough terrain for a few hours. He recalled Felicity's warning about Manaburns, and with a grumble decided to let it be for now.

"Sure," Felicity agreed a little overexcited. "I know they will be very eager to learn exactly how it is you came to attract Mana..."

She was interrupted by the dragon, who puffed an impatient cloud of smoke at the human.

"We really need to be going, Merec!" Gahntuar rumbled in a tone that made it clear that he was not going to allow any arguments. Putting actions to words, he bumped Merec with his muzzle in an attempt to get him up. "It is already late in the day, and we have quite a way still to go before we reach Tharral!"

"Gahntuar is right!" Merec quickly agreed, though he was a little reluctant to get up. But the dragon's insistent prodding was impossible to ignore. "Maybe we can meet again?" he asked the vixen.

"I'm looking forward to it!" Felicity replied a little upset, but remained sitting where she was. "You can ask for me at the Amber Tower."

"Then I wish to you a safe journey." Merec greeted her.

"To you to," she replied in kind. They shook hands and Felicity looked on bemused as Merec was ushered away by the dragon like a naughty hatchling. Helegnel might have been a dud, and though she had no skill with foresight whatsoever, there was a sense of destiny about those two ... it would definitely be worth the while to keep an eye on them.

The dragon said something to the human as he crouched down, and the human replied quickly as he climbed onto the reptile's shoulders. The dragon huffed an annoyed reply and with a mighty flap of his wings, jumped into the air. Then they were gone.

Felicity watched them disappear to the south, before she returned to her own pack that was still inside the quarter deck of the old war ship.

***

"You're not really planning on going to the Circle of Five, are you?" Gahntuar hissed as soon as they were out of earshot of the vixen, who were still staring after them with unnerving intensity. He crouched down to allow Merec to climb up. "We both know what it was of me you swallowed, and in vast quantities I might add. And it wasn't blood."

"No, I wasn't really interested." Merec lied as he dutifully climbed onto the offered shoulders. "Okay maybe a little in the magic, but I know full well that we cannot tell anybody about it. Still, it might be useful to know at least a little magic, don't you think?"

Gahntuar snorted in annoyance as he unfurled his wings and Merec braced himself for take off. "You know dragons won't mind what we do, but I know most civil creatures will not like the idea one bit. If you think the humans back in your village are giving us problems, wait until that detail of our friendship comes out."

"I know ..." Merec started to agree, but the rest of his reply was lost in a yelp as Gahntuar jumped into the air.

In no time at all, they were only a small speck, heading south once more. As their shape dwindled against a cloudless sky, there was a movement within the near black shadows inside another nearby section of the scattered monument. The dragon that was hiding there remained in the shadows, just stepping enough into an opening to see the southern horizon. It barely glanced at where the vixen had disappeared to, only making sure it was not detected before casting it's gaze after the disappearing dragon.

"Gahntuar!" it rumbled with a bit of a growl and a wrinkle of its snout, before in a flash of glistening scales, darted from its hiding spot to follow the black dragon south, purposefully keeping low as to not be noticed by its quarry.

***

The room was rather dark, despite the fact that sun was still relatively high above the Garron Ridge far to the western horizon, casting it's warm light over the Maerill Forest. This was because the shutters of the small window was pulled closed, the only light in the room being given off by a large enchanted quartz crystal that sat on top of a tall, cast-iron stander in one dusty corner. An band of ivory inlaid into the stander supplied the enchantment with a steady flow of Mana. There was also a simple cot, with two dull gray woolen blankets folded neatly at the foot-end of the mattress. Shelves lined two of the walls, each stacked with an assortment of books, loose papers and scrolls, a dark gray stone grinder and pestle and other various laboratory equipment, clay bowls and lots and lots of glass jars, many filled with various ingredients, reagents and completed potions while many more were empty still.

By a large desk that took up most of the space in that corner, sat a dark gray wolf amidst another mad scattering of notes and tomes that only made sense to him, on good days at least. He was sitting hunched over a small crude cage that contained a little ratlike creature, its fluffy white fur actually looking out of place on the small creature. The wolf was waving his hands about above the cage, his brow furrowed and a little speckled with sweat as he concentrated. Like all Green Magi when they had the privacy to do so, he was naked whilst casting his Natural Magic spell. It would not do to have the organic substances in his clothes interfere with his casting. Though not of concern to most magi, the druids specialized in spells meant to affect organic matter specifically without breaking down and he had lost his clothes to a backfiring spell fourteen times too often.

Once satisfied, he carefully lowered his hands towards the cage with the weird critter. There was a sudden zap as the intricate Manashape touched flesh. The wolf yelped in surprise and the rat squeaked in alarm. Then it was over, only the spell the wolf had tried out didn't have the desired effect. The wolf blinked down in surprise at the puffball in the cage: Every strand of the fluffy fur were standing up nearly straight. Otherwise the creature was completely unharmed. The wolf suddenly noticed that the spell had even affected his own fur, though luckily for the lupine only on the lower extremes of his arms.

He swore softly to himself, rubbing irritably at the frazzled fur in an useless attempt to get it to lie down again. Luckily it would not remain like that for long and no-one was around to see ...

A soft giggle suddenly drew his attention.

"Felicity!" he snapped upset at the image of the vixen that now reflected in the framed mirror that stood on top of the small dresser in another corner of the small room. "How long have you been watching?"

"Long enough to find it funny!" she confirmed his suspicions with a knowing smirk. The wolf calmly stood up, retrieving a gown from the back-rest of his chair and nonchalantly folded it around himself as he walked over to the enchanted mirror. The vixen may have seen him naked often times before, but having a conversation over an enchanted mirror whilst in the nude was still a bit awkward. Still, it was always interesting to talk to someone across one of these, like a little hole in space he could put his hand through to caress her cheek. Only it wasn't. He knew from experience that his fingers would brush up against the polished surface of his own mirror if he tried.

He looked into his mirror, curiously taking in the scene behind her. But try as he might, he couldn't quite make out where on Selebore the vixen found herself. The room she was in was quite dark, with only a little bit of light filtering in from a square window which was tilted at an odd angle. And it wasn't just the window that looked skewed: The entire room seemed to have been frozen into a dark gray stone before being tossed onto its side. For instance, he could see the table, with maps and documents scattered onto its surface and a few chairs arranged around it cling to the wall, which itself was inclined at a bit of an odd angle. It was as if that was supposed to have been the floor once, which meant that Felicity was actually sitting against the wall.

"And how is my favorite Green Magus?" Felicity asked, ignoring or not noticing the wolf's confused expression.

"Before or after the spell backfired?" the wolf asked with an upset grumble, rubbing at his fur again. The effects would ware off soon enough, but right now it only served to remind him that he bit off more than he could chew. Again.

"Oh, come-on Adulf." Felicity sighed. "You know I meant in general."

"Well enough, I guess." he tried to smile, to ignore the itching of his frazzled fur. "You?"

"Good, good!" she replied with a nod. "What were you working on anyways?"

As expected, that seemed to lift the wolf's mood. He always liked to talk about his latest research into the more bizarre Natural Magic Spells that had been weird even in the Golden Age. Spells that was now lost and most likely wouldn't be rediscovered because they seemed to have no direct usefulness.

"Oh, just trying to recover an old spell from the Golden Age." Adulf replied a little more excited then he tried to let on. "It is supposed to alter your size."

"But I think you are a good size!" she replied with a mock pout. "Any bigger, and I won't be able to take it. Smaller and you won't be fun anymore."

"Felicity!" he sighed at her attempt at a joke. "I mean your entire body. Just think, we will be able to handle some situations much better if one is either larger or smaller."

"I guess." she replied, then with a smirk added "Come to think about it, having all of you ve-ry small can also open some interesting doors to play around with!"

"And how is your quest with the Icefang Sword going? " he asked with an exasperated sigh, not even trying to change the topic unnoticed. The question earned a bout of laughter from Felicity.

"Helegnel turned out to be a dud." she replied amidst giggles at the expense of the wolf. Yet, he knew her well enough to notice that she was actually rather upset with the outcome.

"I told you!" This time, the wolf could chuckle at the vixen. "An enchanted sword with that much power will not turn up quietly, rediscovered after lying around for centuries forgotten in someone's attic. No, it will return with fanfare, and most likely cause some big war on top of it."

"You know we have to investigate all leads pertaining anything that came from Juinkarr." Felicity rumbled, her own laughter having dried up. "Especially for any of the Juinkarr Hallows. I couldn't leave it on the off chance that it was indeed Helegnel. We cannot risk another Shattering."

"I guess you're right" Adulf replied. Then his curiosity got the better of him "Where are you anyway?"

"The Bloodstorm Memorial!" Felicity admitted, looking around as if realizing just how strange her backdrop would look to the wolf for the first time. "Actually, I'm heading back to Tharral. I ran into something that perked my interest here."

"Shouldn't you report your findings to the Amber Tower?" he scolded her, but with no real conviction. He knew she had the habit of running off on her own quests. Her temperament was more that of a Red Magus, rather than a Yellow. If the Corel Tower weren't such self righteous bastards, she might have been Red.

"I'll get Jonnon to deliver my report to the counsel." she dismissed his comment with a wave of her paw. "As you said yourself, a fake Helegnel is not that important. As I said, something else has caught my attention that might just prove more interesting."

"You sound like a Red Magus!" he teased, voicing his earlier thought, and laughed when the vixen could only reply by poking her tongue out at him. "What could be so dangerous that you had to stay in the south?"

"I don't think it is dangerous, per se" she hesitated a bit. "But it is strange enough to at least keep an eye on for the time being."

"Then why contact me and not Jonnon at the Amber Tower?"

"Your a Green Magus." she replied as if the answer was obvious. "And the best one I know to boot! Jonnon wouldn't be able to answer my questions as you could."

"Your flattery is well received." he smirked. "So, what is your question then."

"Have you ever heard of a human being capable of attracting Mana."

"Felicity." he snorted in surprise. "You know how many humans study at your own Amber Tower? And in the Coral Tower and the Ivory Tower as well. Even here in the Nacre Tower there are quite a few and I'm pretty sure I've heard of one recently taking an apprenticeship at the Jet Tower as a blade-smith. Just give them an Evocaether and they will almost always become powerful magi."

"I know that," Felicity snorted a little indignant. "But I meant without any aid. I met a human male who could attract Mana without an enchantment or a charm. It was weak, but it was there nonetheless."

"Are you sure?" Adulf asked surprised. Though Felicity was always eagerly running after one quest or another, he knew she was not one to just jump to conclusions. "You know you can feel the Mana flow towards a specific point if this human of yours was carrying a charm."

"I'm sure" Felicity replied still deadpan. "The Mana flow around him was uniform."

"He will had to have consumed something then." Adulf decided. "That would be the only explanation."

"My thoughts exactly." Felicity agreed eagerly. "Do you know of anyone in northern Thendor selling Evoceather potions or cenarums?"

"No." the wolf thought for a bit. "Not that it would help much as there aren't any Mana-wells south of the Catarrum Mountains. Still, this might be troublesome. Does the Coral Tower know of this?"

"Of course not," Felicity sighed again. "Or the Red Magi would have swarmed him by now."

"Fair point." he agreed. "Should we inform them?" He hated the idea even as he suggested it.

"Not before I have a better understanding of what is going on." She was silent for a bit, as if in thought. "What about a dragon?" she suddenly asked.

"What do you mean a dragon?" the wolf countered confused. "There are no dragons ..."

"This human was actually in the company of a dragon!" Felicity declared as if it was the missing link they were looking for. "They seemed like close friends as well. I know it is strange, but it is true! Do you think being close to a dragon might have ..."

"No!" Adulf interrupted her. "The Evocaether in question must be in direct contact with the person when affecting the Mana, and it cannot be another living being. The dragon will only gather Mana towards itself and not to any other being with him." He was silent for a moment as he considered the new development. "For the dragon to have played an influence, the human must be wearing armor made of old shed dragon-scales that has the correct enchantments ..."

Felicity shook her head.

"... or he had to have drunk some of the dragon's blood."

"They were adamant that did not happen," the vixen offered "though later the dragon suggested that last week, the human might have gotten a few drops of ..."

"Not good enough." Adulf interrupted her again. "It had to have been at least a cup of blood, AND once every couple of days or so as well."

"That often?" felicity gasped surprised.

"Yeah," Adulf sighed. "Even the best Manamorphosis potions last only a day or two; three at most. Charms remain the best choice for everyday use, with potions kept aside as a kind of backup. Whatever happened, it must have been earlier today; probably this very morning since you said that it was only a weak effect."

"I'm just saying what they claimed." Felicity defended herself. "They did seem rather flustered about it, though. So I'm thinking there was some other way the human ingested the dragon's blood, but they don't want to share it. Though what, I cannot fathom. I didn't notice any wound or fresh scars on the dragon, but then again I didn't inspect him thoroughly either ..."

Adulf was silent as he thought, ignoring the chatting vixen as she suggested one crazy possibility after another.

"Are you listening to me?" Felicity suddenly asked.

"Was it a male dragon?" Adulf suddenly asked, ignoring her accusation.

"Ye-es." she replied, drawing her word out in confusion. "Why?"

"Could the human have consumed the dragon's semen?" the wolf asked, matter-of-factly. Felicity coughed at the suggestion.

"What?" she gasped.

"I said ..." Adulf started patiently, but Felicity interrupted him.

"I heard what you said!" Felicity snapped, the insides of her ears looking a little redder. "But are you serious? I mean can that even work?"

"There was a Green Magus from the Golden Age who was said to have made some of the most powerful potions ever seen, before or since." Adulf started patiently, having expected the question. "The problem is that, when it was discovered that his 'secret ingredient' was actually semen, nobody obviously wanted to use it anymore and his achievements were mostly forgotten. So yes, semen is a very powerful reagent, though it is not widely known because ... well, you can understand most people won't want to drink a stranger's semen. But consuming even a single dose of dragon semen will be a very powerful Evoceather! But again, he had to have ingested it that morning."

"That would make a lot of sense." the vixen replied thoughtfully. And if the wolf knew her, she was probably considering experimenting with this new knowledge herself as well at some time. "It answers a few more questions as well, but ... the two didn't seem like they were gay lovers to me."

"You cannot tell which males are homosexual and which aren't simply by they way they walk and talk!" Adulf laughed.

"I guess." Felicity replied, glancing away shyly.

"Think about it." Adulf continued. "Dragons are by nature bisexual. We know males often mate each other, especially when they are sexually mature but still too young to attract a female ..."

"I get the point." Felicity snapped, much to the wolf's delight. He enjoyed having her flustered for a change. It happened rarely enough. "But if you are correct, it poses another problem for us."

"How so?" Adulf asked with a smirk. "The human can drink whatever he wants; it doesn't rock my world."

"Yours, maybe not; nor most in the Nacre Tower I would assume. But others don't share your point of view, especially the Coral Tower." she admitted. Though she knew from personal experience that the wolf wasn't gay, unlike most he was quite chilled about others being so. In fact, most of the Green Magi would find the magical effects of fellatio more interesting than be upset by it. "We need to get him into to the Circle of Five ... but if his Evoceather is fresh dragon semen, he won't ever want to admit to it. Which means he'll avoid the magi authorities as much as possible. And we cannot allow an untrained magus to run around, experimenting with magic by himself."

"No-one can force him to join the ranks of the Circle of Five, you know." Adulf reminded her, suddenly curious about the sudden interest she had with this human. Sure, the vixen was a bit of a ... well ... vixen, but she wasn't desperate by any means.

"No, but you know the Red Magi don't agree with you there. They will not take lightly to him if he doesn't belong to a tower. Nomatter where his Evoceather comes from."

"Point taken." Adulf muttered dryly. Sometimes, the Red Magi took their common title of Battle Magi way too seriously, ending up causing more harm than good.

"Then, how do we get him to do the right thing and come in for proper training." she asked genuinely worried about the human trying something foolish and ending up with a fatal Manaburn. "You don't have a spare Evoceather lying around no-one knows of, do you?"

Adolf snorted at the question. True, not all Evoceather or Cupleathers held by magi these days were documented, but no sane magi would admit to owning an unregistered Manamorphosis charm willingly.

"Please Adolf, this could be important." Felicity begged. "He is quite talented, more than most novices I've seen and there is something ..."

"Wait a bit;" the wolf stopped her with a frazzled paw. "You showed him a Manashape?"

"Only the candle-flame shape." At least Felicity had the decency to look shameful. "On its own it is harmless really. But he nearly got it on only the second try;"

Adulf groaned and rested his head in his hands. Yes, it would now be best if the human came in. Especially if he was as talented as she claimed he was. There was no telling where a single Manashape could lead him and if the Red Magi were to catch wind of a wild magus with a dragon familiar ... he shuddered to even think of the repercussions.

"How is it you get into situations like this, anyway." he asked with a sigh, pinching his nose. "And why do I usually get dragged into it as well?"

"Because you love me, and you are a great guy!" she smiled, blowing him a kiss.

"What did you have in mind?"

"Do ... you still know that dwarf in the Jet Tower?" Felicity asked carefully. "The one that still owes you a favor?"

"The favor is not that big!" the wolf hissed aghast. "Felicity, you know it is illegal to create a Manamorphosis charm without authorization from any of the five Councils ..."

"Cuplaethers are made all the time without their consent!" Felicity dismissed his worries with a wave of her hand. "It is practically an elven Rite of Passage!"

"There is a difference between a Mana Receptacle and a Mana Attractor!" Adulf sighed. "How were you planning on explaining a new attractor anyway? All human magi inherited theirs."

"Many were created and lost long before Manamorphosis became illegal." Felicity sniffed. "We can claim it is one of them he somehow found. You know many magi fled to Thendor during the Great Witchhunts of the First Age. Come on, Adulf: If we can give a functioning Evocaether to this human, he'll have an acceptable explanation for his sudden abilities with Mana. It doesn't even have to be a good one."

"I ... do know a white magus who hunts for stuff like that and she doesn't always declare her findings." Adulf admitted a little hesitantly. "She owes me a favor as well and might be able to help. At least she would know of some ruins or something where we can possibly get an abandoned Evocaether at the very least. Any ruin besides Juinkarr that is! But that is the best we can hope for, I don't see much of a choice."

Felicity smirked at the comment on the abandoned Dark Fortress. "I'm a sucker for excitement. But I'm not daft enough to explore Juinkarr." Then she became serious again. "I don't see any other way either. Thanks I owe you big time for this!"

"You should wait before ..." Adulf started to warn her, but she interrupted him.

"I have to go now, before I loose track of the trace I placed on his backpack. Cheers!" And with a glittering like frost covering the surface of the mirror, the vixen faded from view. The mirror return to normal, reflecting the wolf himself once more.

" ... thanking me." Adulf sighed, shaking his head. One day, one of her crazy quests was going to get all of them into serious trouble. Though he had to admit, the relationship between the human and the dragon was intriguing to say the least, he couldn't really see the point of taking such a big risk for them.

But then again, he really did love her, and he liked to think of himself as a nice guy. With another sigh, he reached towards the mirror again as he started to prepare another spell.

He had to contact some people ...

***

Merec stepped from the elegant stone building, taking a relieved breath as he did so. He was glad to be rid of the bundles of leather. True, Gahntuar had carried it for him the entire way, but the rolls of tanned leather was heavy and uncomfortable on his shoulders the last section of the journey. Though the lions of Tharral were not as paranoid as many humans he knew back on the peninsula, dragons were not exactly welcome in any city on Selebore. So the dragon had wisely suggested to wait for him where they had camped outside the city the night, before Merec had even been able to consider how to brooch the subject.

Merec was also relieved to be away from the intimidating presence of the leather-smith he had been visiting. The Leonae were one of the larger species of Seleborians, standing on average a head above most other people. Merec suppressed a shiver as he remembered the black-maned lion he had talked to. He was lucky he had not been the one to negotiate business deals with such a creature. The soft brain tanned leather that was unique to the northern provinces of the human kingdom of Thendor might be a valuable commodity, but he doubted he had the ability to remain assertive in the face of so much raw strength. He was quite happy to only have to deliver the package to the lion and request the proof of delivery. And now his job was done; he could return home.

These days, it wasn't strange anymore to see friendly and productive interactions between species. It had after all been five and a half centuries since the Divergence of Species at the start of the Shattering; and by now it was nearly four centuries into the Second Age. The various creatures of Selebore had had enough time to settle down and discover their own unique identities, and business across the species barrier was thriving. Even humans, who had been pushed back to the Garbanan Peninsula during the Shattering itself was finally coming out of their shell and interacting more with the rest of the continent. Mostly.

Merec took another deep breath of the late morning ocean air, again amazed to actually be able to smell the salt on the breeze and, he imagined, the reported storm brewing still far off over the aptly named Ocean of Storms. It had amazed him that first time he had traveled to Lamthorre on his way to the Thirstlands, and even now he didn't think he would quite get used to the ocean air. A smell of meat, cooked with a sweet sauce wafted towards him from the port below and his mouth watered. Like most large cities west of Caraphelle, he had heard that there was a small community of humans living at the port, a few streets known locally as Little Thendor. Without thinking too much about it, he turned down the street, following the alluring scent. He could do with some real meat and he would like to treat Gahntuar as well, to apologize once more for forgetting about their anniversary.

Not that he could feed the dragon, he was low on cash as it was and he had needed this job desperately. But he knew the dragon would appreciate even a few bites. There was enough time for them to meet up again and settle down properly before the storm was said to hit. That was assuming the reports he had heard was right. Judging by the heavy rolling clouds and the unstable wind, the approaching storm seemed a lot closer.

Following the scent, it was easy to find Little Thendor and easier still to locate the street vendor selling them. The meat was cut into large flat sections and cooked slowly by skewering the slabs onto a spit and rotating it leisurely over a bed of coals. Every now and then, the cook would baste it with a watery mixture of herbs which was allowed to bake into a syrupy sauce on the meat itself. The bulky man behind the counter blinked at the amount of meat Merec ordered, but was quite happy to accept his money either way. The price was a bit steeper than Merec had expected, but he still considered it worth while.

However, he had to wait for the sheer amount he had bought to cook properly. For a moment he considered suggesting that it will be acceptable for most of the meat to still be raw, so that he could get out of the city and back to the waiting dragon. But he decided against it: Better not to make the peddler too suspicious about him.

Thanking the man again, he stepped aside and found a nearby seat at the base of a statue of some male lion who was pointing a long sword out over the harbor at where the storm was gathering, as if challenging the nature of the ocean itself. Also looking out over the ocean, the human let his mind wander, inevitably coming back to his encounter with the strange vixen the afternoon before.

He had gathered Mana at the Bloodstorm Memorial, had he? And bound it within himself? Curiously he tried to sense Mana around him. Not surprisingly, there was nothing in the vicinity around him, but to his utter amazement he found a glistening pool of it within his chest. Not as large as he would have liked but still larger than he had expected. Gingerly, he reached for it and smiled delightedly when the Mana actually responded to his mental commands.

With a quick glance around to ensure he would not be noticed, he pinched off a thumb-sized bit and started to mold it. He had no shape in mind; he was only enjoying the sensation of playing with it. It was like dough, and he found rolling it into a ball and pressing it flat again, or stretching it into a thin ribbon which could then be tied into a rather amusing knot, surprisingly relaxing. He kept the movements of his hands to a minimum to ensure he would not draw unwanted attention as he played with it like a child making clay figurines that only he knew what it needed to resemble.

Though this Mana-clay of his did not become softer as he kneaded it, he thought his mastery at shaping it did seem to improve. Therefore, recalling the shape the vixen had showed him only the day before, he recreated it as best he could, making sure of its size and that the sides were as smooth as possible. Satisfied, he released the shape ... and gasped when the little flame flickered to life on the tip of his finger. Only, it was wrong: The flame appeared a pale blue and flickered as if in a strong wind that threatened to extinguish it.

And it burnt!

With a yelp, he shook his hand violently in an attempt to extinguish the flame but it cling to his finger like a biting pikefish. It took him a pain-filled second before he remembered he had to shut off the flow of Mana to kill the flame. When the cursed thing was finally dead, Merec was relieved to notice that the spell did not cause as much damage as he had thought, his fingertip was a little red and irritated but that was it.

A soft giggle brought him back to the present and with a shocked snort he whirled about to find a lioness standing just behind him. Like the rest of her people she was massive, dwarfing the human who involuntary shrunk back against the pedestal on which he was sitting. Being female, she lacked the intimidating mane of black hair, making her appear less bulky and not quite as strong. But what she lacked in raw strength she more than made up with deadly grace.

"Nice Candle-flame shape you've got there!" she smirked, smoothing out a wrinkle in the elegant, bright red traveling dress she wore.

"I ... uh ... wasn't ..." Merec stuttered, frantically looking for an escape and making the lioness laugh even more.

"Wasn't supposed to practice on your own, I assume." she smirked, taking a seat next to him without asking. Then with a wink, she added "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me."

"Um ... thanks?" Merec hazard a reply, putting on as convincing a smile as he could.

"I am Adarah;" she introduced herself, gently offering a paw to him.

"Merec," he replied before he could catch himself. Still, he took her hand in a gentleman manner. "Pleased to meet you."

"Likewise." she agreed. "I don't think I have seen you in the Coral Tower before;"

"I'm not with the Coral Tower;" he intervened quickly.

"Don't tell me you're actually from the Ivory Tower!" Adarah gasped stunned. Merec didn't reply, only shrugged. "And those prudes allowed you to get out? Judging by your skill, I'd say you've only started to learn how to mold Mana a month ago!"

Merec gaped at her revelation, and Adarah understood him wrong.

"Yes, I have given classes to initiates myself!" she declared proudly. "Here, let me show you properly."

She held up a finger and Merec sensed the familiar tetraeder take shape. He had to fight back a stab of jealousy when she willed it into existence immediately, unlike him who had to wrestle with the Mana for almost a minute to get it into shape. But then again, she was a fully trained magus while he not even a novice.

"Your shape needs to be perfect," Adarah stated with a knowing smirk, yet oblivious to his thoughts. "The shape you tried was too sharp at the top. Any longer and you would have cast a Fire-dart, which might have burnt down something had it hit something flammable. And then you had to please explain. Instead make sure that all four sides are exact replicas of each other."

She released her shape and the little flame danced on her outstretched claw for a second before being snuffed out.

"Now try again."

Unsure if he should, but not daring to upset the lioness, he did as he was told. It took him yet another minute before he was ready, but when he released his shape, he watched in amazement as the little bright flame danced on his fingertip. It was steady, and he barely felt the heat of it. Yet he could feel the thin trickle of cold Mana flow from his chest up his finger and into the flame.

"There you go!" Adarah purred.

For a moment he stared in awe at the little spell he had cast, before remembering Felicity's warning about Manaburns. Quickly he extinguished the flame and was shocked how tired he felt from the little effort.

"I guess I need to work on my stamina;" Merec sighed a little too audibly.

"Looks like it;" Adarah agreed with a frown. "Strange, I would have guessed to could hold the flame for longer than that!"

"I guess I am just a slow learner." Merec replied a little disappointed.

"No matter," Adarah tried to cheer him up. "It was probably your exercises that drained you like that. Now that you have it right, just practice with it regularly and you'll be ready for more difficult shapes in no time."

"Thanks." Merec smiled.

"Especially with that molding exercises." she added. "That is actually a good idea ... Do you think your master would mind if I gave my novices similar exercises?"

"N-no, I don't think there would be a problem." Merec admitted, much to the lioness's delight.

"What are you and your master doing this far away from the Tower anyway?" Adarah asked, giving his traveling pack and weapons a poinient stare. A cold shiver ran down Merec's back. He did not want to repeat the questioning he had received from the vixen with the lioness as well. Especially not without Gahntuar to usher him away when the answers became too awkward.

"I ... I'm not really sure;" he started, grasping unto the first explanation that popped into his head. "But we had to meet a vixen here and ... um ..."

Adarah's eyes narrowed dangerously at the mention of the vixen.

"Felicity;" she growled, much to Merec's surprise. "You can tell your master that the rumors about Helegnel is just that, rumors."

For a moment the name rang a bell in the human's memory, but he couldn't say exactly where he had heard that name before. But before he could comment on it, Adarah sighed.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you." she sighed. "That vixen and I have a bit of a history."

'Just great!' Merec thought.

"It was no problem;" he said, mind racing for a way to extradite himself from her without appearing rude or overeager to escape her company. The meat vendor came to his aid.

"Your order, sir!" the burley man called to him. Though he gave the lioness a suspicious sideways glance, he didn't seem to have noticed the little lesson in magic.

"I'm afraid I have to go, my master will be waiting for me." he quickly excused himself, though he smirked inward at the statement. Gahntuar would have loved to hear that!

"Let me accompany you." Adarah started to say, but Merec quickly stopped her.

"No ... er ... there is no need." he stammered a little. Then quickly added "I wasn't supposed to attract attention of other magi; my master will not be pleased if he finds out we were talking." Again, true enough: Gahntuar would be furious.

"Right;" the lioness agreed, not convinced and very much intrigued. Could her old friend turned rival actually be here for something else other than Helegnel? Or was this novice actually allowed outside the Tower in the first place? This definably required some further investigation, which would not happen if the human actively tried to avoid her. She smiled. "I understand; but you should not believe everything regarding Red Magi"

"Of course;" he sighed relieved. "It was a pleasure meeting you, and thank you for your help with the ... Manashape."

"Likewise;" she agreed, also standing up "and you're welcome."

She watched him retrieve ... was that five wrapped paper bags of meat? ... before he turned and headed as expected toward the upper-town sections. That much provisions that wasn't preserved actually supported his claim that he was not here alone, yet it made her even more curious about what he was doing here at all.

She stalked after him through the crowds, but to her surprise, he proved much more difficult to follow. Even before they reached the really busy section of town with the inns and the more elegant shops, she had lost him. She stood there, looking this way and that aghast, before with a snarl she had to admit defeat. There was something about that human, she could feel it. But what, she was not sure.

Still, at least she had a name. Merec. She should inquire about him. Though magi humans were rare, they were by no means unheard of. Her contacts would most certainly have heard of him by now.

With her decision made, she turned around and headed back towards the docks.

***

He was a proud, powerful drake who answered to no-one. He was not some pet who waited on a master to return from one errant or another, eagerly hoping to receive a supposedly well deserved token of affection. Yet here he was, lying prone on his back with all four legs kicked out wide, amusing himself by playing with his own tail of all things. Gahntuar snorted at the unbidden thought, spitting the tip of his tail from his mouth and quickly rolling over onto his stomach again. For a moment he wanted to look around, just to make sure no-one had seen his whelp-like behavior, but he knew there was no-one around. The clump of Juniper trees in whose shade he had made himself comfortable was obviously planted by some farmer long ago, but the copse hadn't been tended to in years.

He was terribly bored ever since Merec had to disappear into the city to complete his latest ... quest? Yeah it could probably be called a quest even though it was not as noble as the one he was on when Gahntuar had first met him in the Thirstlands. But it gave him a position within the society he lived in, so the dragon guessed it wasn't all bad. Still, it could have been better.

Merec had warned him that he might be gone the entire morning, if not most of the day. Therefore he had tried to amuse himself by flying around the area a bit, to explore this part of the continent. But there was nothing that interesting around. Sure, the coast was always interesting but further inland around the Leonae city, it was farmland upon farmland, with surprisingly vast flocks of sheep and herds of cattle and ... what do you call a group of farm goats anyway?

He had been tempted to chase the livestock around a bit for fun, not catching any mind you. It was fun scaring the humans where he now lived, and since he didn't plan on staying long around here, he could probably get away with it much more easy around these parts. But he didn't want to cause a scene that would force Merec to remain trapped inside the city, safe from the supposedly attacking dragon. That would defeat the purpose as it would keep him bored for longer.

He sighed and turned his attention towards the ocean. There was some rough weather blowing in from the ocean, but nothing serious. He had noticed a couple of caves close to the shore and he figured Merec and himself could cuddle up with ease in one of them when the storm blew in and still be comfortable. But the wind was unstable and even with the great rolling clouds blowing in from over the ocean, flying wasn't all that fun today anyway.

With a sigh he returned his gaze towards the city, wondering when his human would return. Merec had told him that the city was old, and he had expected something like the Lupinae city of Yorrol they had passed over on their way here. He had flown over it earlier today to have a look when he had tried some silly aerobatics in the unpredictable wind, of course making sure to remain too high for the sharp-eyed inhabitants to notice him.

Truth be told, he was a little disappointed. Make no mistake, it was still impressive and some two-legger would likely need an entire day to travel from one end to the other. But except for the grand harbour, it didn't quite have the grandeur what he had glimpsed of Yorrol, or the splendor of the now lost Eydelvise palace.

Gahntuar sighed, laying his head down upon his paws. Even considering the size of the city Merec was taking a surprisingly long time. He hoped the human was okay amidst all that lions living in the city.

Bored out of his mind, he turned his gaze to the ocean again. Maybe he should amuse himself trying to catch something to eat? That probably was also not the best of ideas. He knew that the livestock around him was definitely out of the question and he was not very good at catching fish in particular. And he didn't want to be gone when Merec returned, which for the past hour could be any minute now. Then as if to mock him, the infuriating wind shifted around him, reminding him that he would most likely only end up in the water anyway.

With an irritated snort, he closed his eyes and tried to snooze a bit when he noticed a particular scent on the wind. It was a scent he knew all too well; he had last encountered it four decades ago, and had hoped never to do so again. It belonged to a certain drake that had chased him from his first ever territory, and forced him to flee deep into the elven lands in the first place.

Gahntuar whirled about to face the threat with a snarl even as he was getting to his feet. In only a second, he had taken up the strong defensive stance that had been drilled into him from a young age. But it had been years since he had encountered any other drake and his fighting skills suddenly felt too rusty for comfort.

Yet, it had to do, for crouched barely twelve yards away was the red drake, caught in the act of stalking him. It the wind had not shifted, he would have been on top of Gahntuar before he could even have flinched. And then it would have been over.

Seghrien bit back a curse when his quarry caught his scent on this ever-shifting wind. Still he had gotten comfortably within range of his prey, making it rather foolish for the runt of the Shamebloods to still try and make an escape.

Indeed, Gahntuar himself considered jumping into the air and making a run for it. But he dismissed the thought immediately. Seghrien had proven to be stronger and faster than him, both on the ground and in the air. Had it not been for a random, lucky strike at the face, Gahntuar would be dead now. Gahntuar's only hope was to rely on his superior maneuverability.

Also, he did not want Merec alone anywhere near this monster. Despite himself, he felt his frill flare in defiance, much to the other dragon's amusement.

"Creature of derision;" Seghrien started as he slowly rose from his crouch, and gave a threatening step towards Gahntuar. But Gahntuar cut him off with a snarl.

"Really Seghrien, after all this time you haven't come up with anything better?" Gahntuar snapped in the confusing warble of hisses and growls of dragon speech that most Seleborians had trouble to decipher. "I was having such a good day!" Though it had been ages since he had last spoken his native tongue, it still came easily to him. Maybe his fighting would also still be intact?

Seghrien's own frill flared in anger at being interrupted so, but other than that he showed no sign of emotion. It was obvious Seghrien had been about since they last had met. He was much more scarred than what Gahntuar remembered from their last encounter, and the dark green dragon even noticed several new cuts barely a week old.

"You have no idea how long I've been looking for you!" Seghrien replied with another step, ignoring Gahntuar's insult in his usual, disinterested way as if confronting the other dragon was barely worth his time. "Luckily, I was visiting the Stone-Ship just north of here this morning, and guess who I happened to smell there! It's been too long, you know."

"Not long enough!" Gahntuar snapped. "I was hoping the Melgolas was the last I would see of you." A childish streak suddenly flared up in Gahntuar and without hesitating to think about it he added he "I would have thought the feeling would be mutual ... how's the eye by the way?"

Seghrien's composure, the one he often was so proud of in the face of lesser drakes, completely disintegrated at that. He rose to his full hight, instinctively puffing out his chest and flaring his frill in anger, even going so far as to extend his wings a bit to appear more intimidating. During his display he snarled a furious curse best left untranslated at Gahntuar as he stared him down with wide eyes.

Or rather eye, Gahntuar suddenly realized with a shock like cold water.

"You lost it?" he gasped in astonishment. When he had scratched at the red drake's face in desperation, he had hoped to break free and escape; never had he thought he had caused that much damage.

"Of course I lost it, you undignified newt!" Seghrien roared, all composure lost. For a moment, the thought of trying to catch the red drake off guard during his rambling flashed through Gahntuar's mind, but Seghrien composed himself before he could react.

"But I got something better in return." he purred delightedly, suddenly calm once more as he took another step closer. "Something that helped me hunt down your clan much more efficiently. So I should actually be grateful to you. It is after all thanks to you, that you are now the last."

A stab of cold fear ran through Gahntuar's chest. Jenour? Laethia? It ... it can't be! He had not heard from his clutch-mates in decades, but he had always assumed they were still okay. He had always wanted to go seek them out again, just to catch up on old times. Had he waited too long?

Gahntuar's stance wavered slightly, and unconsciously he took a step back. The movement was small, but it was exactly what Seghrien had been waiting for. He pounced even as Gahntuar's mind flashed to memories of his brother and sister. The red drake struck hard and true, an attack he had often used successfully. However, instead of the usual crippling hit to the throat, Seghrien purposefully struck higher, scoring a painful gash along Gahntuar's cheek. But somehow, the vengeful dragon missed his true target: Gahntuar's right eye.

Gahntuar roared in pain, a sound that was no doubt heard even in the city, and he managed to backtrack before the second blow fell. For a moment he wondered about taking to the wing again, but again dismissed it even as the thought occurred to him ... if he turned his back on his enemy, he was as good as dead. Instead he planted his paws firmly, ready for the red's next move.

Seghrien struck again, but this time Gahntuar was expecting him. He jumped aside, avoiding the blow and lashing out himself. Though he connected, Gahntuar's hit was not serious. Still, it was enough for Seghrien to lose his balance a bit. As the other dragon stumbled, Gahntuar struck at him again, aiming for the soft scales below his jaw on the red dragon's blind side.

Muscle memory kicked in and Seghrien deflected Gahntuar's attack with a well practiced flick of his wing, just as he had done against Jenour a week prior. As Gahntuar stumbled, Seghrien followed through again with another well practiced strike of his tail to the side of the dark green dragon's head, sending him crumbling to the floor.

Gahntuar shook his head to clear the sudden ringing in his ears and tried to desperately get to his feet, but he had barely gotten weight onto his forepaws when Seghrien rammed into his side with a shoulder. The dark green dragon fell hard onto his side and the red was on top of him before he could even react.

Gahntuar scrabbled with all four of his paws and struck wildly with his tail, but Seghrien's pin held true. He was trapped, unable to escape the murderous drake on top of him. Making this time sure that the smaller drake could not hit anything vital, Seghrien sneered down triumphantly at Gahntuar as he lazily extended a foreleg and started to push down on the trapped dragon's neck.

"Your sire killed my sire; and then you took my eye." he smirked as Gahntuar choked. "I am going to enjoy watching you ..."

Seghrien never completed his taunt. Instead he suddenly screamed in pain and the pin he had on Gahntuar faltered. Gahntuar managed to get a wing free enough to push the red drake off balance before he rolled over to kick Seghrien off him. Coughing badly, he managed to get to his feet again and was surprised to see Seghrien biting at the shaft of an arrow that had punctured the soft scales of his armpit; the weak spot that had been exposed when Seghrien was choking him.

Arrow ...

Gahntuar risked looking around and to his shock saw Merec running closer, fumbling a bit with nocking a fresh arrow as he ran. The human's backpack lay discarded down the road and he must somehow have managed to string his bow in time to save Gahntuar's life.

"Gahntuar, are you okay?" he called worriedly as soon as he was in earshot.

"Run, Merec!" Gahntuar roared, fearful for his human as he turned his attention back to Seghrien. The red drake had realized that he wasn't going to get the arrow out quickly enough and left it be, turning his attention back to Gahntuar. The arrow might hinder his one leg's movement a bit, but it didn't penetrate deep enough through his scales to be a threatening wound.

"Just who is that?" Merec asked, ignoring Gahntuar's order.

"Don't worry about me!" Gahntuar snapped without taking his eyes off his rival. "Just ... Go!"

"Like hell I'm leaving you to him!" Merec retorted, finally getting his arrow in place as he reached Gahntuar's side.

Throughout this, Seghrien blinked in surprise, casting a confused gaze between dragon and human. Had he not scented this human at the Stone-ship as well? Surely they weren't ... but his momentary confusion melted quickly into hot anger when he realized that the two of them intended to gang up against him.

"You dare to interfere, Unblessed!" he snarled. Merec did not reply, only focusing his attention determinedly on the absolutely massive dragon who wanted to kill his friend. Silently though, he wished he had spend more time practicing with his bow, especially improving his speed rather than his aim. Well, what is done, is done.

Or as master Xeronne would say: 'Hindsight's a bitch!'

"Then share his fate." Seghrien spat. Merec flinched and his legs tensed to jump out of the way when the red drake's maw opened and the ducts to his fire-glands quivered in preparation. It should have taken barely a second to fry the human to a crisp, only he had barely spread his jaws when a fireball exploded against his ear.

Stunned, all three turned to gape at the vixen who was running up the slight incline towards them.

"What are you waiting for?" Felicity yelled at them, already molding another fireball which she hurled at the red dragon without hesitation.

Seeing it coming this time, Seghrien managed to dodge it easily but then had to backtrack quickly as Gahntuar lashed out at him. Then another arrow hit him, but unlike the first, his movements caused it to slightly miss the mark and the projectile bounced off the heavy keratin of his chest scutes. Still, enough was enough and he threw all caution to the wind.

"BRING IT ON!" he roared in fanatic defyment. "I'LL KILL THE LOT OF YOU!"

Though he had barely spent any time at the Mana-well by the Bloodstorm Memorial, he was still confident in his abilities and reserves to take all three on. Without even having to think about it, he had molded a bit of Mana into a little used shape and flung it with a wing at the still approaching vixen. It took on a form like translucent ribbons of light that glistened as it whipped end over end. Barely a second later it collided with the Yellow Magus, binding her limbs to her body before her surprised mind could even fully process that it was indeed the dragon who had cast the spell.

Even as Felicity toppled like a felled tree, Seghrien rammed both forepaws hard into the ground. The vibration he sent into the ground shook the vicinity and Merec 's knees buckled beneath him before he could get his next arrow properly seated. He toppled as well and Seghrien did not waste time to spit a blast of fire at the nuisance of a creature. Only, much to the red drake's astonishment, Gahntuar had managed to jump in to crouch protectively over his human.

Gahntuar yowled in pain as the fire hit his scales. Though dragon scales were resistant to most forms of fire, dragon-fire was liquid in nature. The burning fire-oil had the habit of splashing around the scales and dribbling through onto the vulnerable skin beneath where it would cause the real damage as it continued to burn.

Gahntuar had barely saved Merec from certain death when Seghrien cast another binding spell, ensnaring both human and dragon in one tight ball of entangled limbs. He quickly followed up, rushing to them and raising himself onto his hind legs, fully intending to smash his full weight down onto Gahntuar's head.

"THIS ENDS NOW!" he roared furious, all of his usual fanfare and theater he so much enjoyed gone. This wasn't going to be the slow painful death he had always envisioned, delivered to the most hated of the Shamebloods, but it was death nonetheless!

But for a third time, Gahntuar's life was saved miraculously when something silvery crashed into the murderous drake's side. He was sent rolling away from the trapped pair in a snarling ball of red and silver scales before the two dragons separated from each other, only a few meters away.

"Who in Guillivarth's ..." Seghrien roared still in the human language, furious at having been denied his prey yet again. But he never finished.

The unknown silvery draine screamed enraged as soon as she was on her feet again and with a suicidal determination, she jumped on him, biting and clawing at his face and wings. She had no real skill in fighting other dragons to the death and her blows were more of a nuisance to her opponent than a real threat. But what she lacked in technique, she made up for in ferocity, striking at the red drake in quick succession and not giving him time to recover enough to counter.

While the two dragons were preoccupied, Felicity managed to undo the snare spell on herself. Once free, she cast a glance at the fighting dragons to make sure the red drake hadn't noticed as she ran up to where Gahntuar and Merec were fruitlessly struggling to untie themselves from the glistening strands of light.

"Hold still!" she snapped, quickly forming the counter Manashape and letting it sink into the curse. The snare snapped like a strand of silk in a fire and the dragon's freed wing nearly knocked the magus off her feet as it snapped open.

"Thank you," Gahntuar growled, unaware of her close encounter with his limb as he instead checked on his human who had been trapped beneath him. Merec had sprained his one ankle and somehow ended up with a bleeding head wound, but other than being a little stunned, he seemed fine.

The silver draine screamed in pain as Seghrien finally managed to get a strike of his own in. Even as Gahntuar looked up, she staggered back with a nasty cut on the side of her neck and Seghrien pressed his advantage. A strike to the head sent her toppling to the ground and the red drake raised his forepaw to rip into her throat.

Gahntuar did not hesitate and spat a well aimed stream of fire at Seghrien. With his back turned and all his focus on the interfering draine, the liquid fire hit him squarely on his side, beneath one half opened wing. Seghrien screamed himself, instinctively backing away from the fire before he extinguished the flames with a flash of Mana. With a furious snarl, he whirled about just in time to see Felicity cast her own attempt at a snare at him. However, the shape was strange to her and her spell did not form properly. Still something came flying at Seghrien and he easily blocked it with a simple shield shape.

The silver draine had recovered and with a renewed battle cry, she lunged at Seghrien, just as Gahntuar came at him from the other side.

"ENOUGH!" Seghrien snapped. With barely a thought, he molded the shape he had used most often when in a pinch and a concussive shock-wave radiated from him, sending all four of his opponents flying. He reached for his dwindling Mana to mold his second favorite shape, the plasma blade, when with a shock he realized that his talisman was starting to fail due to a Manaburn of its own. He had used too much Mana and the little charm couldn't take much more.

"I'll be back for you, Shameblood!" he yelled as he jumped into the air, just as the others were already getting to their feet. "You won't always have friends around to protect you!"

With great flaps of his wings, he rose quickly turning west, heading for the ocean and the great storm clouds that were gathering. The draine screamed a challenge after him and without giving her new companions even a glance, jumped into the air to chase him down. In no time, the two dragons disappeared from even Gahntuar's keen sight.

"Gahntuar," he suddenly heard Merec groan next to him. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he muttered, suddenly tired. With a groan of his own, he collapsed to the ground. "Just a few scratches and a little burnt ..."

"Here, let me!" Felicity interjected, calling forth a complex Mana pattern that seemed to pulse. It was one of the few Natural Magic spells she knew, and no Yellow Magus worth their salt dared leave the Amber Tower without at least one such spells up the sleeve.

"I'm okay!" Gahntuar snarled, nipping irritated at the vixen though he remained careful not to actually bite her. She, on the other hand, saw through his bravado.

"I'm not asking!" she insisted, reaching the healing shape towards the dragon's back where Seghrien's fire had burnt him. "You could lose your scales if this is not treated."

It was true. Gahntuar shuddered at the thought, and grudgingly allowed the vixen to touch him. The burn wasn't serious enough for the scales to fall out permanently as he had heard could happen, but he didn't fancy losing scales even temporary if it could be helped. The spell sunk into the burn and Gahntuar sighed as the pain was soothed a little.

"I'm not sure what you are doing here, but thank you." Merec said, as he lowered himself to the ground as well, wiping the little trickle of blood away with a sleeve. "We would have been in serious trouble if you didn't show up when you had."

"You're welcome." she smiled, patting Gahntuar's shoulder softly. The dragon only gave her a nod in thanks, before turning his attention back to Merec. He nuzzled the human, confirming that he was indeed only a little shaken by the unexpected attack. That, and a small cut to the head. Gahntuar started to lick at it, despite the human's protests. To the dragon's own amazement, he found himself instinctively molding a little healing shape which he gratefully allowed to sink into the human's cut.

"I was actually trying to catch up to you." Felicity admitted, reaching up to tend to the cut on Gahntuar's cheek. "I want you to consider returning to the Amber Tower with me. It would be a shame to loose such great talent."

Gahntuar snorted upset and shot the vixen a whithering glare. She only ignored him, turning her attention to the cut on Merec's head and snorting in surprise to see it had already been tended to.

"But I barely had time to even consider your proposal!" Merec complained, also upset.

"I shouldn't have let you out of my sight ..." Felicity started to say, but Gahntuar interrupted her with a growl.

"He's not going anywhere without me!" he stated, going as far as to scoop the human closer with a gentle forepaw.

"I'm sure the Amber Tower will not mind a Lumor Dragon taking up residence nearby." she replied, smirking as she watched the dragon hugging the human possessively like he was a cuddle toy. Maybe Adulf had a point and the two males were involved with each other.

"A what?" Merec asked a bit confused.

"A Lumor Dragon." Felicity repeated, turning her gaze questioningly from one to the other and back. When she caught an awkward look on the dragon's snout, she asked surprised: "He doesn't know?"

"It ... never came up;" Gahntuar replied, licking awkwardly at his snout.

"Know what?" Merec insisted, so Felicity turned her attention back to Merec.

"What do you know about the Dragon Rebellion?" she asked.

"The what?" Merec replied unsure.

"Did you even receive an education?" Felicity snapped a little irritated.

"The start of one." Merec replied in kind, suddenly not really interested anymore. "My father passed away in a hunting accident when I was twelve. We fell on difficult times after that and the rest of my education, well, fell by the wayside."

"They had to sell his sire's territory to cover their family's promises!" Gahntuar quickly interjected on behalf of his human.

"He means we had to sell our farm to settle our debts;" Merec added when Felicity frowned up at the dragon.

"That's what I said." Gahntuar grumbled indignant, but Felicity at least now understood what the dragon had tried to say.

"I'm sorry to hear about your father. I meant no disrespect." she apologized a little awkwardly. She usually had the habit of saying exactly what she thought and not to think of the outcome. "What did you cover in history, then?"

"Most of the First Age, at least the parts that is still remembered: the Barthon Empire, the Five Kingdoms and The Witchhunts." Merec admitted, a little ashamed that he never actively tried to complete his education. "I also know some of the Golden Age and a little of the Shattering. But not much thereafter. I know that, after civilization was brought to its knees in the Shattering, came the Dark Age (or sometimes also called the Age of Legends). And after the fall of Juinkarr, came the Second Age; the age we are in now."

"You know, you can easily complete your education at the Amber ..." Gahntuar interrupted her with a snort, and like a cub caught stealing cookies she continued to explain with ears pulled flat."Right. You are aware what Shadowspawn is?"

Gahntuar gave another, indignant snort at the term, but he didn't offer his opinion on the matter.

"The Shadowspawn are a group of species that originally came from Barathrum." Merec replied, something that he had been told long ago, but never really considered. "They are things like bloodbats, orcs and trolls."

"And dragons." Felicity added. When Merec frowned she continued. "Yes, that is correct. It is actually important to understand that dragons are Shadowspawn as well.

"Just like the weakening Veil allowed Mana to enter our world, lifeforms from Barathrum also passed through into our world, long before the Shattering in fact. During the Golden Age and the Dark Age they all served Barathrum loyally. But at the end of Dark Age, for whatever reason, a dragon called Lunintur led a group of dragons to join the Alliance of Light and betray the Barathrum capital of Juinkarr."

"Lunintur, or Umbrunor before he abdicated, was the eldest offspring of the great dragon-general Guillivarth, who nearly conquered all of northern Selebore in the name of Barathrum." Gahntuar explained. "When Guillivarth was banished back to Barathrum, Lunintur decided to betray Juinkarr least he suffer the same fate."

"Don't you worship Guillivarth?" Merec asked, remembering Gahntuar himself talk of that particular Theos or demigod.

"We call him the 'Father of all Dragons' " Gahntuar agreed "but he is now considered more of a divine protector than a real god, if you know what I mean."

"Anyway, the dragons that joined the Alliance of Light became known as the Lumor Clan or Light Dragons, and those that remained loyal to Barathrum were called the Umbrin Clan or Shadow dragons." Felicity completed her explanation. "The first battle between the two clans became known as the Cinderskies, and the two sides had been fighting ever since."

"Was that what this was about?" Merec asked, looking up at his dragon.

"The Lumor and Umbrin Dragons cannot stand one another." Gahntuar agreed. "The one group calls the other terrorists, while they in turn are called traitors."

"Who were they anyway, the red and silver just now I mean?" Merec asked, squinting in the direction the other two dragons had disappeared into.

"I've never seen the silver draine before," Gahntuar admitted after a slight hesitation "but the red male is called Seghrien, son of a dragon who renamed himself Umbrunor."

Felicity gave a rude snort at the name of Seghrien's father, but made no other comment. Gahntuar ignored her.

"The fighting seemed rather personal to be a normal clan war." Merec commented.

"There ... is something of a blood feud between his family and mine." Gahntuar admitted.

"Like what?" Merec asked innocently.

"Can we talk about it later?" Gahntuar stressed. Merec quickly realized the dragon wasn't in the mood to explain it now, and was happy to let it go for the time being. But Felicity was adamant.

"If we knew what the problem is," she argued "it might help us resolve this, stop it from happening again."

"You cannot stop them." Gahntuar growled, getting to his feet to turn away. "They will always come after me!"

"And why is that" Felicity insisted.

"Because I ..." Gahntuar snapped, but then hesitated again, realizing he was about to spill the story. But then again, the Yellow Magus seemed determined to discover the truth, so was his resistance worth the effort?

"I ..." he hesitated again before relenting. "Lunintur was my sire, two generations past ... my ... grandfather you would say."

He licked awkwardly at his snout.

"So you are saying that the rumors of the Umbrin Dragons hunting Lunintur's offspring are true?" Felicity gasped shocked, surprising the dragon that she was even vaguely aware of something like that happening. Then the dragon nodded sadly. "Do, you know what the dark prophesy says about Lunintur's offspring?" Felicity asked in a hushed voice, but only received a blank stare from the dragon.

"The what?" he asked.

Merec however, didn't quite get the underlying implications, other than: "Does that mean you're some kind of dragon royalty?"

The strange question lifted the dragon's mood and he chuckled. "Dragons don't have as complex social structures as you Seleborians ..."

"But if they had ... " Merec insisted.

"Can we stop talking about my ancestorage?" Gahntuar asked a little distraught. "I'm still me."

"Of course you are!" Merec smirked, deciding to let it slide for the dragon's sake. Instead he quickly got up to pat the dragon on the shoulder, careful to avoid the still tender burn mark. "You're my best friend and nothing will change that."

Gahntuar stared wide-eyed at Merec, as if really seeing him for the first time. Then as if in a daze, the dragon reached forward with his snout, tongue slightly extended to give his human a full on tongued-kiss. Luckily, he remembered himself just in time and for the sake of the nearby vixen, only nuzzled the human affectionately instead. Merec returned the affection with a gentle rub at the fine scales on his jaw.

"I'm sorry to break you two up, but this could be important." Felicity suddenly interrupted their moment. She had the decency to look awkward, but there was something lying beneath her emotions that seemed to be scaring her as well. "Could that dragon always mold Mana like that?"

Merec immediately realized what she was getting to. "Do you think he has some ... Mana ... molding charm?"

"Yes!" she agreed immediately. "But unlike Evocaethers ... um, Mana Attractors, such charms are illegal to make and use. No exceptions! And no dragon can create such a charm on their own; which means someone or something lies behind this attack on you!"

"No, the last I saw him before today, there was no hint of magic about him." Gahntuar answered Felicity. "Though, today he said something about receiving something that helped him hunt down ..." A worried expression crossed Gahntuar's features as he thought once more about his clutch-mates again. "... my family."

"And do you think that the thing he received is the ability to mold Mana?" Felicity insisted. "Think, this may be very important."

Carefully, Gahntuar nodded though a little subdued.

"This may change everything." Felicity muttered, lost in her own thoughts. "Will you please excuse me for a few minutes? I need to let a few people know about this." She turned to head back down the path to where her own backpack lay discarded, when she regarded the pair again. "And don't you dare try to leave me behind again!" she added vehemently. "After this, I'm sticking to you like scales to a dragon!"

"Do you think we can make our escape?" Gahntuar muttered as soon as the vixen was out of earshot. Though he sounded eager to go, there was something in his voice that troubled Merec.

"Maybe," he agreed as he watched her rummage through her backpack for something "but I get the feeling that she'll manage to track us down either way." With a sigh, he turned back to Gahntuar. "But with that spell-casting drake out there, it might be best to have her around; for a while at least."

"I guess;" Gahntuar replied a little distracted as he lick awkwardly at his snout again.

"What's wrong?" Merec asked as he laid a gentle hand on Gahntuar's shoulder again. The unrest of the usually jovial dragon was unnerving him as well.

"May I ask you a favor?" Gahntuar blurted out.

"Anything!" Merec replied adamantly, almost eager to help his friend for a change.

"I ... I need to travel east to the Curndor Mountains." Gahntuar admitted, letting the hold on his emotions slip and allowing his worry to color his voice. "I haven't heard from my clutch-mates in decades and I need to make sure they are okay. I know dragons don't usually keep in touch with family after settling down in a territory, but he ... he said I'm ... I'm the last ..."

"Of course!" Merec interrupted him before the dragon could work himself up too much. "Your family is more important right now than returning to Corrumwhell."

Gahntuar did not hesitate this time, nor did he care what the vixen down the road would think if she saw them. He darted his snout forwards and planted a heavy lick across Merec's face. He repeated this twice more before nibbling affectionately down the human's neck. Merec couldn't help but let slip a giggle, as he tried halfheartedly to push the insistent snout away.

"What about our company?" Merec hissed under his breath. Gahntuar's reply was to usher the human in behind the poorly kept Junipers with his snout like a hatchling. Once hidden from direct view, he started to nip at Merec's clothes, giving the fabric little yanks to indicate to the human he wanted them gone.

"And your wounds?" Merec insisted, but still aided Gahntuar in removing his shirt. The dragon only mumbled something along the lines of 'small cuts and bruises' between licks at Merec's chest with long eager strokes. Soon enough his snout explored even lower and he started to nip at Merec's trousers.

The sound of someone clearing a throat caught them by surprise just as Merec was about to undo the belt, and they broke away from one another like naughty children. Thinking that it was Felicity who had caught them being a little more than affectionate with each other, they were stunned to see that it was in fact the strange silvery draine who sat there. She was still a little beaten up from her fight with the red drake, but it didn't appear as if she was significantly injured. She was looking at them curiously, with an eyebrow raised in such a very human manner that Merec could actually see the waterwheels in her head turning.

Gahntuar sat up onto his haunches and pulled Merec against his chest in a tight possessive hug as the draine started to hiss and snarl angrily at them. The dark-green drake, however, listened to her completely calm for a moment before he replied in kind. The draine hissed again and Gahntuar replied with some whoops and another angry bark of his own, though this time the human caught his name amidst the feral sounds. Merec looked up at Gahntuar and caught sight of a well known gleam in the drake's eye which actually suggested that he was amused.

"Is everything alright?" Merec asked a little worriedly, wondering if his assumptions of aggression between the two dragons was completely wrong.

"Sure, why shouldn't it be?" Gahntuar started to say when realization dawned on him. "Oh, of course; you don't speak the dragon tongue. Nothing is wrong ... she just ... found our affection amusing. Remind me to teach some of it to you later;"

The draine hissed again and Merec caught Gahntuar's name this time.

"Yes, I'm Gahntuar." he hissed in common, his frill raised slightly in alarm. "How did you know?"

The draine stared hard at Gahntuar for a moment.

"Ich spiecking ooman, not goot;" she finally admitted, shifting her gaze a little towards Merec.

"It is better than my dragon, I can assure you." Merec hazarded with what he hoped would have carried over as an encouraging smile. "May we ask, what is your name?"

"Lainah." she introduced herself curtly after a small pause.

"How is it that you know my name?" Gahntuar asked interested, still speaking common for the human's benefit.

"Ich ..." Lainah started, but then hesitated as she tried to recall the proper words. "... mate ... Jenour."

"My ... brother?" Gahntuar gasped before switching back to dragonic as he quickly addressed the draine once again. She replied in the usual string of angry sounding hisses and snarls, but now that he was looking past the exterior, Merec could clearly see that she seemed awkward. As she spoke, the strong paw around Merec tightened slightly, the claws almost piercing the human's shoulder.

For a moment, the world itself seemed to have come to a stop. Then ...

The scream that suddenly ripped from Gahntuar's maw was one Merec NEVER wanted to hear again. It was a raw, unintelligent, high-pitched wail that he held until the breath in his great lungs was exhausted. If the people in the city hadn't heard the fighting dragons, they surely will be aware of them after that. As it echoed over the nearby city, Gahntuar collapsed onto all fours again, head held low as he was heaving for air. He had barely gasped for breath three times before he repeated that horrible, pain-wrecked howl.

Merec heart shriveled as his friend screamed in despair. He did not need to understand what the dragons had said to piece together something of what had happened. Awkwardly, and a little ashamed of what they were about to do, he extradited himself from Gahntuar's grip and retrieved his discarded shirt. As he dressed again, he couldn't help but feel like he was intruding.

"I ... should go." he muttered, laying a comforting hand on the dragon's shoulder. Gahntuar, on the other hand, had a completely different idea. Quicker than the human could react, the dragon snapped his wing open, curling his flight-fingers around the human's back before he pulled the startled human into a fierce, possessive hug. As if to make sure that Merec won't be able to disappear, he even curled his head around him, using the strong neck to hug him as well.

Then the dam broke and Gahntuar cried unashamedly. Still awkwardly, Merec returned the hug as best he could. He wasn't sure how to comfort his friend, so he did the only thing he could. He remained silent, letting the dragon know that he wasn't alone.

Lainah said nothing. Did nothing. She only looked on awkwardly as Gahntuar wept for his sibling he had always wanted to go see again and yet never took the chance to do so. She herself felt that pang of sorrow at having lost her mate and her eggs, but she could not cry for them. Would not cry for them. Finally unable to stand the weeping drake any longer, she turned to look away, staring out over the city, then the farmlands around them. Eventually her gaze drifted over the ocean, to where Seghrien had escaped.

She growled. She should cry for her lost family. But she wouldn't. Not as long as that red drake still lived. She had his scent properly now, and knew who it was that he hunted next. She will wait for him. She will not rest until he had drawn his final breath.

***

"Adulf?" Felicity called as soon as the image on the mirror took on that of the green magus's quarters. It was silent and with a slight curse she realized that he was probably out. She was about to dispel the connection when the wolf came into view once more.

"Seriously, Fel?" he asked exasperated as he closed his gown and tied it shut again. "We chatted only yesterday afternoon. Surely you can't expect me to find an unregistered Evocaether ..."

"I'm not contacting you about the Evocaether." she quickly interrupted him "Have you ever heard of a spell casting dragon?"

The wolf sighed, but couldn't hide the sudden smirk at the question.

"Well," he started, his voice dripping with mirth "considering that your human is sucking the dragon's ..."

"Umbrin Dragon!" she quickly cut him off. "An Umbrin Dragon. An experienced drake as well! I think he's been at it for years at least. I did not even know binding spell could be thrown like a bolas!"

Adulf's mirth evaporated like morning mist.

"No never." he replied seriously. For a moment he was silent, contemplating the news. "A spell casting Umbrin can be a very serious problem; Do you know what he wants?"

"He is out to kill all the offspring of Lunintur." Felicity replied.

"That rumor was never confirm..."

"You can consider it confirmed now." the vixen interrupted him. "The dragon with the human is one of them, and this drake was out for blood. And this wasn't some kind of territorial dispute either." She was silent to let the thought sink in. Then, in a worried whisper she started to add: "Do you think Juinkarr might be ..."

"Don't jump to conclusions;" Adulf interrupted her this time. That was a thought best left unspoken until it could be proven. "There could be other explanations for the dragon's ability. He ... he probably ate lots of humans to achieve this skill..."

"That many? For years?" Felicity asked dubiously. "You yourself said charms are better than consumables ... And surely the humans would have known about it by now if something like that was happening."

"Might have ... or he might have included other species ..." Adulf argued, though he didn't sound convinced himself. With a sigh, he concluded "Look, I don't think that this is a Manamorphosis charm. Where would he even have gotten it? No-one even remembers what the necessary shape should even look like. It was designated to the Sealed Library in the Golden Age already, even though it was said to have been extremely difficult to make. And despite the fact that it is completely illegal to craft or even own today, who in their right minds would trust an Umbrin Dragon with something that dangerous?"

"One of the demon-lords of Juinkarr." Felicity finally spoke the thought Adulf had tried to avoid.

"All four of the demons who resided in Juinkarr were destroyed at the end of the Age of Legends." he stated bluntly. "And we know they are all dead because the Veil re-knitted itself when the fourth died, sealing off the portal to Barathrum. Anyway, it's been near 400 years since the fall of Juinkarr. Do you really think one of them could have survived the sacking of Juinkarr and still be alive."

"What exactly do we know of the demons of Juinkarr?" Felicity stated vehemently. "Not much!"

Adulf was silent, unable to argue her point. She had been known to rush off on mad adventures that would turn out to be complete fool's quests. But there had also been cases where her quick reactions had saved lives. Could he possibly risk ignoring her on something of this magnitude, simply because everyone else agreed it was impossible?

"I'll ask around about this Umbrin Dragon of yours;" he finally decided. "But I would imagine the Amber or Coral Towers would know better. Have you tried contacting your own tower about this; and what about that lioness friend of yours ... Adarah?"

At Adarah's name, Felicity scrunched her snout. But she had to agree, there might be no other choice.

"I just wanted another opinion before I kicked the hornet's nest, you know." she admitted. "Especially from a green magus, considering what we are dealing with here. You know, the United Counsels will hear about this quickly enough, even if we try to keep it quiet."

"Either way, for the Ivory Tower to take any interest, you will need to provide some tangible proof of this being a Manamorphosis charm at the very least." Adulf warned her. "What are you going to do now?"

Felicity was about to answer when there was a sudden, horrible yowl of pain as if some great beast had just had one of its limbs ripped from its body. Felicity jumped with fright and turned to stare behind her at something.

"I don't really know." she admitted quickly, worry coloring her voice. "For now, I'm just going to stick to this pair, since this Umbrin seems so interested in them. I ... need to go; chat later?"

"Good luck!" Adulf replied, also haunted by that scream even though he was several hundred kilometers from them. "I'll see what I can do about that Evoceather."

"Thanks!" Felicity managed to smile as she dismissed the image, and dropping her magic mirror into her pack she rushed back to where she had left the other two, hoping against hope that the red drake had not returned.

By Nixoruma, she hoped she was wrong!

***

It was a small, dank cave not that far from Tharral in which Seghrien found himself, huddled at the very back avoiding the lazily lapping ocean water in the dark gloom. He was licking at a cut on his one foreleg, where the strange draine had managed to score a hit past his scales. Overall, the wounds he was nursing now wasn't anything to be worried about. The one exception was the burnt spot below his one wing where the cowardly runt had hit him with fire-oil when his back was turned. Luckily for him, he had not hit the membrane itself, or the four would have been able to overwhelm him as they ganged up.

Again, he reached almost instinctively for his Mana pool. He could do with a healing shape to deal with the worst of the pain, but he restrained himself just in time. Though his reserves were still sufficient to mold the required shape, the stupid talisman had had enough. Never before had he felt it being this fragile to his mind before; in fact it almost felt as if it was already crumbling by just sensing it and he just knew that even the simplest of shapes might cause it to fail. Then, it would crumble to dust like dry leaves underfoot in autumn.

He shivered at the thought. He had often cursed the thing for draining his Mana reserves quicker than it should have. But he enjoyed being able to use magic, came to rely on it in a pinch. What would happen should his talisman fail like that. True, it was only the runt that was left, but with his friends around, he might now prove to be the most difficult of the lot to kill.

Seghrien's worry over his talisman turned to rage. Yet again the runt had escaped him! If he had not overreacted when he had caught his scent at the Stoneship, he would most likely have noticed the friends he had. Then he would have taken his time to prepare the attack properly. Instead he had wasted a valuable opportunity and spent too much Mana in one fight to boot.

Now, they knew they were being hunted, and that he was close. Now they will be careful. Now ... Now they will be difficult to surprise and overwhelm again.

He just hope that his Master ...

* Seghrien *

The command seemed to echo over the ocean and into the little cave, even though there was no actual sound. Seghrien stopped licking at the slightly bleeding wound and crawled terrified into a small dark corner of his sanctuary. He should keep quiet ... if he doesn't answer, his Master will not know where he is. But then again, he certainly doesn't want his master to come looking for him personally, and then to find him ...

"M-Master?" Seghrien whimpered.

As soon as he spoke, an image of his master snapped into place, hovering over the water. Seghrien yelped and scrambled to bow before the creature.

"Seghrien!" the illusion spoke, casting a whithering gaze upon the dragon.

"M-My lord calls?" Seghrien replied, worriedly.

"I've felt a great amount of Mana being channeled through my charm!" the demon stated. "So, the whelp yet lives!"

"I-it appears so." Seghrien whimpered, a little terrified at what he knew was going to be coming. "It ... it appears I was wrong..."

"And what are you doing hiding here like a frightened rabbit?" the demon snarled, his voice raising with his anger. For a fleeting second, Seghrien was glad not to be in the physical presence of his master, or the percussive nature of the voice would have been unbearable. But then again, he knew that he could not remain away from his master indefinitely. One day, he would have to return.

"I ... I will kill him as you've ordered, Master! I swear this before Divus Procellerus, with the Great Creator as witness!" Seghrien whimpered, hoping to appease the angry demon. "I have just underestimated him this time..."

"Have you not underestimated him before?" the demon snarled. As if on queue, his missing eye throbbed in pain.

"It will not happen again, I swear." Seghrien begged "P-please give me a chance to..."

"Have I not given you your chance already?" the demon demanded, his voice raised even more. Seghrien could tell his Master was furious, and had he been in his master's presence, he would be bleeding from his ears by now.

"I ... I did not expect him to be in the company of a magus and ..." Seghrien scrambled for excuses as to why he had failed yet again.

"A WHAT!" the demon roared. For a moment, the dragon thought that the stones upon which he sat quivered before the demon's fury, even though the percussive nature of his voice could not carry over the illusion. "I WILL NOT HAVE THE OFFSPRING OF LUNINTUR CLOSE THE CIRCLE AGAINST ME!"

"I will kill them all, I swear this to you on my life, Master!" Seghrien whimpered. He had often thought he was terrified when groveling before his Master before; he was wrong. Desperately he grabbed for each and any argument he could think of to appease even just the image of the creature before him. "I ... I will hunt them down in your glorified name, them and everyone they knew! I will not rest until I have wiped even their memory from this world. None will escape your wrath: Not that interfering draine, nor the magus, or even that human he fucks..."

"What did you say?" the demon suddenly interrupted him. Though he spoke quietly again, there was something in the demon's voice that Seghrien had never heard before. Somehow, it made the creature seem even more scary than when he was shouting, more ... dangerous.

"I will kill them ..." Seghrien started, hoping to the Creator Himself that he had not overstepped his quickly dwindling boundaries. But the demon interrupted him.

"The part of the human." the demon insisted impatiently. "Are you sure they fuck each other?"

"N-no my lord." Seghrien quickly tried to scramble back. "It is just a hunch. I beg you forg..."

"Why did you think that?" the demon cut him off, a little interested actually.

"He ..." Seghrien started, but then had to swallow to wet his suddenly dry mouth. "... the runt took a blast of dragon-fire to protect the human. N-no dragon will do something like that unless ... unless they are very emotionally attached to each other. And-and the human was willing to remain by the runt's side even though that meant he had to face me. So-so I was thinking ..."

The demon silenced him with a snort in order to contemplate the new development.

"So, history might actually repeat itself." he muttered to himself. Then as if remembering the dragon, he turned his whithering gaze upon him. "Your lousy excuse for dealing with the runt might just work in my favor." he declared. "I now give you new orders: Do Not kill them, for now anyway. Watch them: If they are fuck-buddies, return to me with the news at once." He was silent to let the new order sink in.

"Y-yes, my lord." Seghrien hazarded a reply.

"If they are not," the demon continued as if he had not heard the dragon "you may complete your job."

"As ..." Seghrien eagerly agreed, glad to have once again appeased his master. Only, the demon seemed to have lost interest and without another word the image faded. "... you command."

With a heavy sigh of relief, Seghrien collapsed even though he was still crouching. Somehow he felt like he had escaped the worst of the storm and that he should be glad to have escaped his Master's fury like he had. For a while, he only lay there like a crumpled rag doll, trying to catch his breath and calm his nerves.

As he calmed down, he couldn't help but wonder at his Master's sudden change in interest in the runt. What significance could it have if he chose to spill his seed into a monkey rather than another dragon. It was a waste of a good rut if he could have a say about it: Always having to be careful with claws, no tails to intertwine, nothing to bite ... and he doubted the creature could take a knot!

Seghrien growled as he imagined Gahntuar mounting the human. He was not happy that he had to let the damned Shameblood go, even if it was only for the time being. His empty eye socket throbbed in protest, but he forced himself to quell his anger. Instead he curled up into a little ball to brood.

For now, he had to recover from his wounds and let his talisman rest. He can plan his attacks properly in such a way as to best savor his vengeance. It was not his position to wonder about the reasoning nor the intentions of the Master.

The Master has ordered ... and he must obey!

... to be continued