Twisting Paths

[Baughn]

Yuuup, that's a gnome. Even if it's actually a dragon.

 

[megrisvernin]

I love Alexis's reaction to the magical artifact Dragon! Hiver makes, taping it to the wall with duct tape. Great juxtaposition of mundane and magical.

 

[Itsune]

Some thing that I would have liked to do in a Fantasy Role play world would be to take a roll of 100mph Tape to an Alchemist for analisys, and replication. Then you Hire an Ogre that likes to be tied up (trust me it can happen), and use Him/her for demonstration/Marketing.

Then Ka_ching ]Waylan-Bros[ Mo' Money!, Mo' Money! ]/Waylan-Bros[

 

[Vox De Harlequin]

Yeah, Duct Tape is definitely a prime thing to invent if thrust into a fantasy setting.
Its uses are practically infinite.

 

[Hiver]

I rested my head on my crossed front legs, idly watching Alexis practice with her swords as Chromie watched from the sidelines.

In all honestly, I should be there with her, brushing up on my spear and footwork, but I couldn't be arsed right now.

I was making plans.

Not moping about missing my weapon. A steel and wood spear just couldn't compare in any way. What was more, I missed Zrazta, Sheila and Rengosa.

It hit me last night while trying to fall asleep.

At least five months until I would see any of them again. If I died here, I might never see them again. I… I should never have left without seeing them. Everything just went so fast.

Even if it had made it harder for Chromie to open the portal, I should have gone to see them.

Closing my eyes, I thought of blonde hair, red scales and sharp teeth. Happier times, playing in the Sholazar Basin. Traveling and exploring and waking up beneath the crystal trees.
Those times would never return, would they?

Even if we made it out of here with all our goals unhurt and unharmed, everything had changed. No more Sholazar Basin.

No more carefree exploring with Sheila.

The crystal trees at the nexus didn't exist anywhere else. We were different people now.

Even just traveling the roads with Venir, knowing nothing about Burning Legions, traveling between worlds or-

Clack!

I opened my eyes to glare at Alexis, raising my head and snapping "What?" at her as she bounced another pebble in her hand.

"Are you listening now?" she asked with a frown.

"…Yes." I sighed and settled down again, pushing my annoyance at her away to avoid growling. "What did you say?"

"I said, that we should scout around the area before the demons arrive. You may know some of how it looks, but I want to see it myself if I'm to help."

I really didn't feel like anything of the sort, but I forced myself to nod. "Very well."

She was right after all, no matter how much I felt like just curling up and not doing anything right now.

"You should go human," she continued and sheathed her sword as she watched me. "I'll summon us a mount. We need something smaller than dragons anyway."

I grimaced as I returned to mortal from. While I didn't like the idea of mounts when I could fly myself, she may be right that we needed something a bit more discreet even with my illusions. I should have borrowed Sheila's flying carpet. I didn't have the materials to make one here anyway.

Then again, if we had the time I could carve a portal key stone and then portal to Stormwind and back to get the supplies.

But… low money. So, that was out unless I had something to sell for it. But the only things I had to really sell was from Earth and if that made its way to Venir and then old me…

I fucking hate timetravel.

"I did little more than look around and fixing this cave while waiting." Chromie said with a shrug. "I'll stay and read a book if you don't mind. Just don't get spotted."

Nodding, I picked up my spear and followed Alexis out of the cave, shivering as we walked through the anti-magic bubble about halfway through the passage.

It was damn unpleasant, but it would keep anything in the cave hidden from anyone outside.

The forest outside was warm and rather nice, the wind was blowing in the leaves and I sniffed at the air. It was rather nice to be honest, and these were good hunting grounds. While I would have preferred it a bit colder, it wasn't too warm either.

Soon it would be gone, burned away by Felfire and covered in demons.

"Atreus…" Alexis said and frowned at me. "Can we talk?"

"About?"

"You. And they way you are acting. You have been in a real mood since you came to Earth. What's wrong?"

What's wrong? Make a bloody guess.

I shook my head. "It's… just been a tough year."

"So I heard." She said and watched me for a long moment before she sighed. "Atreus… if you want to talk, I'm here. I can't promise I'll be able to help, but I'm your friend. I'll listen."

Damn it.

"I just… miss stuff. I miss…"

"You miss Sheila, Ren and Zrazta." Alexis finished for me. "You regret not bringing them."

"No, oh fuck no. I would never put them through this again!" I quickly said before I sighed. "No, I... I miss them. I miss waking up with them. What I regret? What I regret is not going to them, seeing them one more time before leaving."

She frowned and brushed a hair from her face before reaching out to touch my cheek. "You'll see them again. Trust me, Atreus."

"Yeah." I agreed and forced a small smile at her. "If nothing else, I know they are safe."

Just about the only thing worse than being apart from them like this would be to have them here with me. Sheila would be so pissed at me for thinking it, but I wanted them safe. Protected. The thought of putting them in the path of the Legion was…

It would have been worse.




AN// Big thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.

 

[Enthusiast#117]

Protag is a dragon ruled by his emotions.
News at eleven.

 

[Serpentine]

Ugh, emotions. They're so pesky.

 

[Teiwaz]

Are Senegos and Stellagosa going to make a appearance in this?

 

[Hiver]

The forest flashed past below as the gryphons soared. It was not the kind I was used to, they were a bit bigger and the proportions were different.

I was not sure where Alexis had picked it up, but it seemed nicer than the Azerothian versions. Those had a mutual restraining order with me.

They disliked me as much as I disliked them.

This one seemed more sedate. Or maybe that was because it was a summon. Still, couldn't compare to flying on my own.

Though I had to admit that it was a lot less flashy, especially with me able to shape my blur spell around us. They were a much smaller target and as such easier to hide.

I tightened my hold around Alexis' waist as she put the gryphon into a glide close to the top of a ridge. As we leveled off, I dropped the spell and the catbird came in for a landing, settling down with powerful beats of its wings.

Alexis let a breath out and climbed out of the saddle. "How are we with supplies?"

"Enough." I answered and followed her. "Won't be tasty and we are stretching it with hunting and preserving meat, but it will last."

She nodded and motioned for the gryphon to stay before she started up the hill. "It's up here the first portal will open?"

"…As far as I know." I agreed, walking along, my spear in my hand as we reached the top. Ahead of me Alexis immediately hit the ground, dropping down.

I quickly followed her example and crawled up next to her, peeking across the top.

There was a circle with people chanting between a pair of bigger raised rocks. The place was glowing with green glyphs.

On each of the glyphs was a dead body, its entrails pulled out and joined together with its neighbors.

"Shit." I cursed quietly as I watched. "It's happening now."

There went the plan to set up a portal key stone and quickly do a few trips to Stormwind for more materials.

"We are just going to let them?" Alexis asked with a frown. "We could stop it now."

The Infinite Dragonflight.

If they formed, it would shatter the timelines and everything everywhere would die. At least on this Plane.

That was not an alternative. The alternative would be… to kill Nozdormu. But then, who would monitor the timestream? There were other Bronze dragons, but none as skilled and powerful.

Then there was the practical matter of trying to assassinate a timetraveler who was also one of the five strongest beings on this Plane. Well, four.

Yeah, not happening.

"We don't have a choice." I answered quietly as I watched them. "Any other alternative is even worse."

"I don't like this."

"You think I do?" I sighed and watched the cultists. "I have faced these monsters in the past. If we could stop them now without fucking everything up, I would be the first one down there."

Alexis frowned down at the scene a few hundred meters away.

A sickly green energy started to form between the large stone pillars. The cultists were not doing anything, they were just chanting.

They were not casting it, they were the target, not the casters. Someone on the other side was opening the portal.

The green light intensified and the sky started to darken above when there was a sudden green flash. A vortex of Fel energy ripped through the cultists and shot into the sky far above. I raised my arm against the light and when it faded to a more tolerable level, a shimmering green portal was in place.

Not big, just maybe three meters across and five tall. Being not strongly anchored on this side, it fluctuated and shimmered in the air.

But it was a working portal.

There were several long moments, the sun seemed darker in the sky and the world was silent before the first being emerged through the portal.

A doomguard, carrying a large axe. Followed by another and another.

Alexis stared at the demons and then shook her head, scooting backwards. "We should leave, let Chromie know what happened."

Behind the elite guards were groups of workers. Enslaved beings and their overseers, pulling wagons and carts.

The next one who walked through, barely fitting through the portal by ducking down low, was a pit lord. A big hulking demon, one of the lower-ranking leaders.

I didn't know the name of this one, but if he lead the first expeditionary force, he was fairly up there.

"Atreus!" Alexis hissed to me, grabbing my shoulder. "We need to go!"

Glancing at her, I nodded, "Yeah." I agreed, glancing back down at the demons. We needed to get out of here before we were spo-
A blood elf stepped through the portal just after the pit lord and I froze for a split second. A blood elf I would never, ever forget.

Suppressing a growl, I slowly started to crawl backwards again.

I'll see you soon enough, 'master'. I did make you a promise and if at all possible, I intend to keep it.




AN// Big thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.

 

[Hiver]

"Any ideas?"

"Nothing yet." Chromie said, a golden matrix of lines weaving between her fingers as the dragon gnome gazed into it. "I'm trying to find the right moment. Kalecgos dying is a massive point in time, but it's still tricky. After Nozdormu lost the Aspect, the timelines became… fuzzy."

I nodded and returned to my dagger, running the wetstone along the edge of the blade. "Well, keep trying."

How the hell were we going to do this? I didn't have any materials to recreate the weapon so we needed to not only recover it, but also find a way to save Kalecgos.

No matter what happened, a lot of people would die. It might be selfish, but Kalecgos was the most important. I guess the humans would have prioritized saving their king too.

So… save Kalecgos and recover the weapon he was carrying.

The problem was that he was going to be surrounded by fucking demons strong enough to kill a Flightleader.

Which made the whole thing a lot harder.

Then we also needed to get the weapon to the target and somehow get the power to trigger it.

I slowly worked on sharpening the dagger, letting my mind wander slowly across the problem. How the fuck did we do all this?

It seemed impossible.

Breaking the problem down into three parts might make it easier.

Problem one: Save Kalecgos.

I held the dagger up against the light of the glowing crystal to check the edge before going back to work. The answer to that should be a soulstone. He would still die, it just wouldn't be permanent. That would trigger the crystal at Wyrmrest temple, it tracked life energy, not the soul.

Getting the soul stone to him and linking it as well as staying close enough to make it activate when he died would be harder.

Alexis walked back into the cave from outside, removing her soaking wet cloak. "It's raining cats and dogs outside," she said and shook her head. "What's even worse, it's swarming with demons now."

"Swarming?" Chromie asked, looking up from her… whatever it was.

"Maybe swarming is exaggerating, but there are a lot of them just a few kilometers away. They have started to build fortifications." she said and hung her cloak up. "There are hundreds of them already and… Atreus, they are powerful. Some of the spells they use to make the walls…"

She looked over at us. "I'm not sure we can do this."

I looked at her and then returned to my dagger. "Our only chance is not to fight, to find a way to do this without attracting attention."

Alexis sunk down on the sand before her tent, holding her hands over the heating sphere sitting there. "I'm saying that we need help. Trying to do this without getting noticed is one thing, but there are so many. Atreus, I'm not sure it's possible."

"We have no choice but to try." Chromie said, closing her hands and canceling her glowing spell web. "The fate of Azeroth rests on our shoulders."

"And I'm saying that we need help. We can't do this alone."

I sighed and looked up from my blade. "What do you suggest?"

Alexis rubbed her hands to get some feeling back into them. "Tamriel. We should go to Tamriel. When split up, me and Master Goldmane are meant to leave messages to each other there if we need to find the other. He will be able to help, know what to do."

"And if there is nothing there?" I asked her with a frown.

"Then we wasted two weeks at most." Alexis said as she looked at me. "There will still be months to find another solution. The risk is tiny and the reward possibly massive."

I hesitated and looked down at the dagger, turning it over in my hands. Ajani Goldmane was one of the most skilled and powerful people I knew, including Flightleaders.

If he could help in any way...

"Chromie?" I asked, looking over at the Bronze dragon. She was technically in charge of this clusterfuck.

She looked thoughtful before she nodded. "I think Alexis may be right. If bringing her in didn't break things, bringing more help from outside the Plane in won't pollute the timeline either as long as we are not discovered."

"Well?" Alexis asked, raising her eyebrow at me.

"Yeah, you are right." I agreed with a nod, sheeting my dagger. "We need help."

She was right. We needed to come here first to know where Chromie was before the Legion arrived, but we had months to find out what to do.

What was even better, Skyrim had resources. Resources I could access. When I went there to leave my message to Ajani and Alexis in Whiterun so I should still have full access to the branches in Riven and the other towns.

Maybe… maybe I could get enough materials to recreate the weapon. That would solve that, at the very least. Maybe improve it, make it need less magic to activate now that I had months to work in it instead of a week.

Yes. She was most definitely right. This was the right thing to do.

Alexis gave me a nod and started to pack her stuff up, taking her tent down. "No use sitting around. Let's go."




AN// Big thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.

 

[TSNLollipops]

I wonder.. will you go by diabloland to pick stuff, only to spill bean about azeroth being demon invade to the Cruel to be ki d guard there. And well, friendly neighborhood but very bored Emperor will help.

 

[Anonnermus]

When I went there to leave my message to Ajani and Alexis [I/it] was in Whiterun so I should still have full access to the branches in Riven and the other towns.

Click to shrink...

Did you mean Riften here?

Also, seemed like a couple words were missing in the middle of the sentence there.

 

[Hiver]

Reality returned in a flash as I almost stumbled, putting my hand against a tree for support. Alexis was not as lucky next to me and cursed as she picked herself out of a thick shrubbery.

"Where the fuck are we?" I asked as I stood up, looking around.

It was damp and steaming hot, the jungle all around almost pressing in on us, light barely filtering in from high above through the thick vegetation. The air was filled by the sounds of animals and insects. It smelled like jungle, faintly of decomposition and rot mixed in with a thousand other scents.

"Beats me." Alexis said and frowned, working to get a dead branch out of her hair. "I hate Walking on a new spot, you never know where you'll end up."

"Yeah. But we better mark this spot so we can return to the cave. Give me an hour or so and I'll get a portal key stone up and running."

With that, I stuck a branch into the dirt to mark the exact spot before starting to look around for a good enough rock. It would be a quick and dirty one, nothing nice and efficient, but it should work.

Finding a flat rock, I got to work.

"We should portal to outside Whiterun, there is a portal key stone set up about a day's walk outside the city." I said as I started to finish up. "Don't want to portal into the branch. I'm going to be visiting Whiterun to look for you in a couple of months."

"Oh, we are not going to Whiterun." Alexis said with a smile, standing with her back against a tree as she waited.

"…We are not?" I asked, raising my eyebrow at her before putting the portal key stone down, giving it a burst of magic to prime it.

She grinned. "What, you think we had our dead drop on the Bannered Mare where others knew about it?"

"…Point. Humans, so paranoid." I snorted. "So where are we going?"

"Says the dragon trading in secrets. We are going to Winterhold."

I frowned at that. "That's a problem, we don't have a portal to Winterhold. Too risky with so many mages around."

Alexis sighed. "Damn. Okay, what's the closest one?"

"About a day's flight out. The same spot where Sheila and I first arrived on Skyrim. It corresponds to about Stormwind on Azeroth."

My human friend groaned. "Great, more flying."

"At least it will be nice and cold."

"…Brilliant."

XXXXXXX


A day and a half later we walked down the road, entering what remained of the town of Winterhold. Not that much remained, from what I heard a lot of it had fallen into the ocean during an earthquake years ago.

But there were still about fifty houses, a couple of stores and an inn.

The wind howled, tugging at my hair and whipping it against my face as the frigid air and snow whirled around us.

It was still very early spring and we were at the northernmost point in Skyrim. The climate was quite comfortable, to be honest.

Alexis didn't agree.

She held one of the heat spheres in her hands beneath her thick cloak, wearing what seemed to be all her cold weather gear and I put a warming spell on her as well.

At first, she tried to take on the 'Aspect of Blue Dragon', one of the spells she had to copy the properties of another being. Me, in this case. That did allow her to handle the cold easily enough, but…

She couldn't hold it for more than twenty minutes or so.

"You okay?" I asked the walking bundle next to me.

"…I'm fine."

"You sure? No frostbite or anything like that?"

Alexis shook her head. "Not yet. But if we stay outside much longer, I fucking will, so move!"

"I thought your gear could handle the cold of Skyrim?" I asked and picked up the pace a bit.

"It can! Just not the middle of a fucking snowstorm with like negative sixty degrees!"

Frowning slightly to myself, I nodded. Before we left, I'd have a look at her armor to see if I could improve its enchanting work. Maybe her cloak too.

Couldn't have her almost freeze to death as soon as it got a bit chilly outside. Though, I must admit that if she was right about the temperature it might be a bit cold.

"Finally." Alexis sighed as the inn came into sight, the drifting snow almost up to our knees. The wind and snow battered against us as I reached for the handle and pulled the heavy wooden door open against the direction of the wind, allowing Alexis to squeeze inside before I followed her.

What I expected to see was a packed inn, filled with people, food and drink, a big fire roaring in the center fireplace.

Instead what we got was a freezing, dead, dark room. Nobody was there. No fire, no food.

Raising her hand into the air, Alexis cast a quick spell to light the inn up. Fallen bottles and cups, one of the benches by the two long tables had fallen over.

Frozen food still on the tables, some laying on the floor. There were patches of dark liquid on the frozen floor that might be spilled wine or blood.

Listening hard, we moved slowly into the dark and cold inn, Alexis pulling her glove off and drawing her sword, the silver blade lighting up with a bright white light as she held it into the air.

I stuck my hand into the ashes of the central fireplace and glanced over at Alexis. "Cold. Nobody has been here for a while."

"What happened here?" she asked as she looked around.

"I don't know." I said with a frown as I slowly scanned the empty inn. "But you should huddle up in one of the rooms with the heat spheres, I'll check the other houses."

Alexis hesitated before she finally nodded. "Be careful."

"Of course."



AN// Many thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.

 

[TSNLollipops]

Euh... spooky..

 

[Vox De Harlequin]

Oh boy.
How would this even happen?
Did the vampires decide they need more cattle and kidnapped the village?
I can't really think of anyone else who's attack would leave the place undisturbed enough for food to have frozen on the tables...

 

[astus]

Uh oh, they split up the party. They left dragon lady alone deep in demon territory and now dragon guy is leaving castle girl alone in a dark and foreboding charnel house. Never split up the party! Dooooooooooom.

 

[Serpentine]

This is where Atreus becomes a vampiric dragon! Praise Molag Bal!

 

[pheonix89]

I think this is more likely to have something to do with the Mages Guild Quests, because even the crazy bold vampires from Dawnguard aren't dumb enough to start shit with the Winterhold Mage's College. Weakness to fire is kind of a problem when up against a bunch of fire users. Seriously, basically everyone in Winterhold can just go burn baby burn on them. Except Colette. Why bother casting low-end fire attacks when you can use high-end Sun attacks instead?

 

[Hiver]

Two hours or so later, I returned to the inn.

Nothing. Every house I checked was empty, the hearths ice cold. Some had food still on the tables, everything seemed to still be there. Jewelry, weapons, cloaks… everything was still here.

It was like everyone just up and left. Or rather, was taken. Nothing was stolen, but everywhere I looked, it seemed like there had been a struggle.

I had a bad fucking feeling about this place.

I thought about returning to the Inn, but instead I continued past, heading along what passed for the main street here, heading for the bridge leading to the Mage's College.

Something really fucked up had happened here and I knew exactly who I suspected for it. My guess was that someone at the College had poked something they should not have poked and the townsfolk paid for it.

Stopping by the bridge, I peered through the snow storm towards the barely visible fortress. No visible lights, but then again, I could barely see anything as it was. But if there was anyone in there, they didn't seem to have the lights on.

Frowning to myself, I checked my satchel and dug through it. I knew I had a… there.

Pulling out a silver and mithril wrapped crystal out I held it up, running it through the air before me towards the school.

Magic here was different than Azeroth, but magic was magic, no matter how… there. A faint glow. Yeah, there was active magic over there.

I slowly lowered the crystal and it suddenly lit up like a small star in my hand. I frowned at it and moved it to the side. The light faded away into nothing.

Moving it back, it lit up brightly again. I raised the crystal.

It faded away to faint light again.

While there were active magic in the school, there were something insanely powerful beneath the school. With powerful, I meant on the level of a layline.

Damn, it was lucky I didn't use the spell to see magic, I would have been seeing spots for hours. Gold to donuts, whatever happened here, it had something to do with that thing beneath the school.

I did another reading.

Yep, still there. Damn. Putting the crystal away, I frowned at the dark shape in the distance before I shook my head and turned back to the inn.

Something over there killed a lot of people. We were here for a couple of days, we needed to put up some kind of defenses.

I turned back to the inn, the drifting snow having already erased my footprints. We didn't have time for this. We just needed to get the message left for Alexis and then walk as soon as possible. This had nothing to do with us.

I gave the Inn door a good knock before I forced it open and made my way inside, "Alexis?"

Silence.

Okay, now I was getting worried. I pulled my dagger and slowly stalked towards the room she was in, "Alexis?"

Her door was closed. I gave it a small knock. Silence. Giving it a small shove revealed that it was locked tight.

I knocked harder, "Alexis!"

There was movement on the other side and then there was the sound of a lock being pulled to the side and the door opened to reveal a head wearing a steel helmet. The large guy had a shield in one hand and a sword in the other, his armor that of a Stormwind guard.

"Sir?"

"Get out of my way." I sighed and pushed the summon back.

"Lady Castle is asleep, sir. You should come back later." He said but stepped back as I pushed him back.

I found Alexis on the bed, covered with what seemed to be every blanket in the place, faint glow from beneath the blankets revealed that she had at least one heat sphere there with her.

Only part visible was parts of her face and I could see the cloud of her breath every time she breathed out into the cold air.

Letting out a breath of relief, I sheathed my dagger and closed the door, looking at the summon, "You are okay in this cold?"

"I can't feel my hands, sir."

Nodding, I cast an unsummon on him, dispelling the summon back into its spell seed deep in Alexis mind.

If it couldn't hold its weapons, it wasn't of much use anyway.

Looking around, I opened the door again and focused my magic, casting a quick summoning spell, summoning a Frost troll in the main room.

It appeared in a flash and grunted as it looked around before turning to me, it's massive knuckles dragging against the floor.

"Stay." I ordered it, "If anything come here, roar and attack."

It wasn't a very bright being and the vocal command was secondary in any case, the meaning I willed at it was primary. While not very bright, it would still understand what I meant.

The troll grunted and made its way over to the frozen food on the table as I closed and locked the door. That should make sure nobody snuck up on us without being noticed.

Walking over to sit down on the dark rooms only chair, I settled down and closed my eyes.


AN// Unbetaed because I forgot last night.

 

[jjeeff185]

Well I suspect a new Mana battery for the weapon is in reach in the from of the Eye of Magnus. Or, I suppose it could be that some one activated the gauntlet under the college.

 

[vendoban]

He really should copy the golem enchantments the Blood Elves use.

 

[Itsune]

Looking around, I opened the door again and focused my magic, casting a quick summoning spell, summoning a Frost troll in the main room.

It appeared in a flash and grunted as it looked around before turning to me, it's massive knuckles dragging against the floor.

"Stay." I ordered it, "If anything come here, roar and attack."

It wasn't a very bright being and the vocal command was secondary in any case, the meaning I willed at it was primary. While not very bright, it would still understand what I meant.

The troll grunted and made its way over to the frozen food on the table as I closed and locked the door. That should make sure nobody snuck up on us without being noticed.

Walking over to sit down on the dark rooms only chair, I settled down and closed my eyes.


AN// Unbetaed because I forgot last night.

Click to shrink...

That could come back to bite you in the morning if you forget about it. It will definitely wake you up.
--
Frozen Food, Home cooking for Ice Trolls.

 

[Hiver]

"We need to figure out what happened to these people."

"No, we need to get the dead drop and see if it tells us where Ajani is. Then we need to either get there or go back and prepare." I countered. "We don't have the time for this."

"It will still be days until we can Walk again and the College is right there. These people deserve better than this." Alexis said with a frown from where she was sitting on the bed, one of the heavy furs still pulled tight around her even though the room was much warmer now.

I couldn't help but feel that she was right. Whatever happened here, it was bad. But…

"I'm sorry, we can't risk it."

"...we kind of have to…"

I looked over at Alexis for a long moment before I sighed and rubbed the bride of my nose. "Alexis, is the dead drop, by some chance, in the Mage's College?"

"Sorry."

I'm not sure why I even asked. Of bloody course it was there. Where else would it be?

Sometimes I think the universe just likes fucking with me.

"So… we kind of have to go there, no matter what," Alexis said and shrugged the fur off her shoulders, scooting off the bed to put her boots back on. "We might as well find out what happened to these people while we are there."

Letting my hand drop from my face, I picked up my spear and stalked outside. Fucking damn it, what is it with me and bossy females!

Is it me? Is there some kind of aura or something!?

Seriously, even the ones that had no romantic interest in me always bossed me around. What was even worse was that most of the time they turned out to be right!

Fuck my life.

Kicking the snowdrift away from the door as I forced it open, I walked outside and closed it behind me, crossing my arms as I leaned my back against the wall.

I need more male friends.

The storm had passed, so the air was nice and clear, everything was really bright with the snow reflecting the bright sun.

A stark contrast to how things had looked last night.

Nice weather today, to be honest, perfect weather to enjoy with Rengosa. Sheila wouldn't like it and Zrazta may be a dragon, but she was a Red. While she could handle cold better than Sheila, she didn't enjoy it like us Blue dragons.

"Damn, that's bright." Alexis said and raised her hand against the light, her other hand resting on the hilt of her narrow sword.

"Not too cold?" I asked her with a smirk.

"Dragons." She grumbled and kicked some of the snow drift away. "No, it's just freezing cold, not cold enough to turn my lungs to ice like last night!"

I just chuckled at her. If I was going to be unhappy about going into the College, then she should be as well.

Alexis sighed and shook her head. "Lead the way."

Taking my spear, I snorted and started to focus on my magic as I walked out into the middle of the street before disappearing in a cloud of spell smoke as I returned to my real form. "If you think I'm crossing that narrow bridge, struggling against the snowdrifts the whole way there while making up the biggest spell target this side of the continent all the way, I want some of what you have been smoking. Get in the saddle."

"You know, sometime having a dragon around is just practical." Alexis commented and climbed onto my back as I ducked close to the ground to make it easier for her.

"Don't get used to it." I snorted and took two running steps as soon as she strapped in, my wings beating at the nice and crisp air.

The College looked pretty amazing. A fortress clinging to the edge of a cliff above an ice-covered sea, its roofs covered with ice and icicles.

"Where is the deaddrop?"

"Courtyard. There!" Alexis answered and leaned forward in the saddle to point in my field of view.

The courtyard she pointed at was just after the narrow bridge leading to the school. Just inside the entryway.

Nodding once, I circled the structure, scanning the school with my eyes before I wove the spell that would let me see magic.

The structure lit up nicely, dark and purple against the blueish white of the background. Streaks of energy moved across it and I was very careful not to look down at the bottom of the cliffs beneath the school.

I could almost feel the energy there, it was like a spotlight just out of view. Whatever it was, connected to all this or not, they had something very powerful in the basement.

Finishing the second lap, I banked and flew straight across before flapping twice and moving down to land, beating my wings hard as I hovered, reading to dive away at any moment.

Hovering in spot is for hummingbirds, not dragons. Doing it took hell of a lot of energy when you weigh a ton, magic or not.

Nothing attacked so I went back into a tight circle and set down on the courtyard, slowly looking around as Alexis climbed of my back before I turned back to mortal form.

Not a sound.

"Over here." Alexis said and glanced around, walking over next to the big doors leading inside and moved one of the big pots next to it to the side, pulling out a folded paper. "Got it."

"Good. Where are we going?"

Before she could answer, the doors behind her flew open and dark energy reached out, like tentacles of shadow.

I yelled out a warning, but she was faster, her hand starting to pull her sword. But she wasn't fast enough.

The shadows closed around her and she was pulled off her feet and inside, the doors slamming closed behind her before she even had time to scream.



AN// Many thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.

 

[Enthusiast#117]

Soooooo...

Smells like a trap from a hostile planeswalker.

Wonder what they pissed off.

 

[Vox De Harlequin]

Oh gods not the tentacles!
Damn it, Alexis! You're not even asian!