Starshadow, Myrkir, Emphyralis

  Starshadow hadn't had much to do with the initial stages of connecting to Thale. They just sent relief supplies and donated Draconite to build the Bridge from Thale to Myrkir. Sonja Starshadow's biggest headache had been Parliament being unruly and now the sprouting up of various hate groups.

  Mykir wasn't quite as bad as other places with these groups. It was a place that didn't attract many settlers, and those it did attract weren't the types to rabblerouse. It was mostly people who had no choice or came later than these groups. They were a headache, but she was already investigating them.

  When Zane decided to go to Thale ahead of time, she didn't argue with him. Instead she summoned her oldest son, Roark, and Zane's son, Troi back from Terranthea. The two seemed to enjoy their activities there.

  Darius had turned over practically the entire operation to Roark, who was a mature Dragon in his thirties. The still underage Troi was enjoying playing an "angel" and battling against demons.

  But with Zane gone, and strange things happening in Thale, she felt the need to summon them back. Luckily, they had a few subordinates that could step in to run things when they had to leave.

  The two came back. Troi returned to Starshadow Military Academy, much to his chagrin. Roark came to his mother's office. He understood why she called him back. Zane's former second in command took time off after his wife died to concentrate on raising his young daughter among his Quartz Dragon colony, leaving a vacuum that Roark sometimes filled.

  Sonja sighed softly. "If only Gray were here," she said lightly.

  Roark shook his head. "If we really needed him, he'd come," he said. "There's something else, isn't there?" he asked.

  Sonja didn't prevaricate. She gave him a dossier. "I want to hire her as a caregiver for your baby brother," she said simply.

  Roark was a tall, broad shouldered, thick chested man with close-cut black hair and some features that hinted at a previous Ruby Dragon ancestor. He didn't look like his parents at first glance, except for his eyes, which were completely his mother's cold, dark blue. He took the folder and opened it. Inside there was a portrait of a girl with long dark hair, dark red eyes and an unhappy expression. The folder also gave a run-down of everything Dahlia learned about the girl.

  He read over the documents and then closed the folder. "Melaina Darkbane. She'll need training to work in the Castle and educate the baby until he's ready to go to school. You need to bring her over immediately," he said, eying his mother who looked like she could give birth any day now even though there were still more than two months left in her pregnancy.

  Sonja patted her belly. "That's what I was thinking," she said.

  "But hiring a nanny didn't need my input. Why are you showing this to me? Do you want me to marry this girl?" he asked.

  She pursed her lips. "I won't ask that of you," she assured him.

  Roark tapped the papers against his hand. "Why? This girl. Why?" he asked, not giving anything away on her face.

  Sonja slouched back in her seat behind her desk. "I don't know. My grandmother was good friends with the former Darkbane matriarch? She happened to cross my path just after your father died and it affected me. I honestly cannot say. I just want to help her. Even if none of this and I came across her in her situation, I'd still want to help," she admitted. She couldn't say why this girl touched her so deeply. She just did.

  Roark set the dossier back on her desk. "I'll do it," he said.

  Sonja straightened slightly in surprise. "Why?" she asked.

  Roark shook his head. "After everything with Dad, a large-scale happy event could overshadow what happened. The girl doesn't seem bad. She has a good family background despite her father. I don't see a problem with this match," he said. "Marrying me will also give her more protection than merely being hired as a nanny. If we decide to go separate ways later, she'll still have had time to grow," he added. He understood some of mother's thoughts.

  Sonja pursed her lips. "Zane will accuse me of using his absence as an excuse to arrange your marriage against your will," she grumbled.

  Roark chuckled lightly. "Didn't you?" he teased.

  She pointed a finger at her son. "You volunteered. Make sure you make that clear. Also, you also have to convince her. I don't want to force her either," she declared firmly.

  He nodded. "I'll handle this matter. Don't worry. I'll send people to pick her up today. It's not too early to begin her training," he said. A slightly sinister grin flashed across his face. "Maybe give those boys a little scare while we're at it," he said as he stood.

  Sonja held up her hands. "I'll leave this matter to you. Handle it as you see fit," she said, happily passing along responsibility.

  Roark nodded. He bid his mother farewell and left her office. When he left, she sighed and turned her chair to look out a window. She really hoped her intuition worked out for everyone's sake.

  When Roark left his mother's office, he went to his own to arrange matters. He wouldn't go to Elmdale personally. It would be a surprise to some people that he agreed to marry a woman he'd never met. He, personally, didn't see it as odd. He never considered himself a particularly romantic type. Unless he was with his family, he gave off a distinctly aloof and indifferent feeling that made other people wary of approaching him, even social climbers eying his position as first born son of the Duchess of Starshadow.

  As a son, he wouldn't hold a position of political power unless he pursued a political career and served in Parliament. Still, he held a significant position in Myrkir. In a society, there were always people looking to stand above others. Marrying someone like Roark would be quite a feat. Yet, very few were brave enough to try. When they did, they regretted it.

  He'd never even considered that he would bother looking. He was young and it might seem strange that he made this decision so early, but he genuinely felt he wouldn't bother on his own. If his mother had a special feeling about this girl, it was good enough for him.

  Besides, it was more of a protective measure than a true marriage. If they got along, then who knew what the future would hold. His mood was actually a bit good as he made preparations to fetch his future wife.

  --

  Bienskurr Mountains, Cruinog

  Lance Corven listened to Raven explain that the Earthborne that were desperately sent away ended up on Emphyralis and everything that happened afterward. He didn't interject much, not even when he heard about his own son being injured.

  Darius let them discuss without butting in. He left the meeting room with Amadeus, leaving Lazarus to watch over ZsaZsa, who would add her perspective when necessary.

  He let his guards spread out and explore the area, except for Aman and Imre who were more comfortable in the cavern. He didn't restrict them from moving around too much. He and Amadeus decided to fly around the vicinity while the other guards stayed in case Britiana needed them.

  The hunters were all extremely curious about the Dragons and even the Noxies. One hunter was looking at the non blinking creatures with an odd expression. His companion tried to get him to stop staring. "You are being quite rude," he hissed in a low voice.

  "I've never seen a fae quite like them," the hunter said.

  "They're from another world," his companion was slightly exasperated. Despite their whispered conversation that wasn't exactly quiet, neither Aman nor Imre acknowledged the hunters. They were quite used to people being off-put by them.

  Another hunter was staring at Delia, who stayed inside the cavern as well. She'd recovered quite well over the past few days, and she felt more secure staying near Lady Britiana than wandering around being curious. She stood still as a statue, only occasionally blinking, observing the inside of the cavern while remaining aloof from it. However, the stares soon became quite palpable.

  She turned her polished bronze eyes to the hunter who was staring at her. "Can I help this gentleman with anything?" she asked.

  The hunter looked down a straight nose at her with some arrogance. "You're a soldier?" he asked, tracing her uniform.

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  "I am an eighth rank Knight in the Silvermoon Knight Corps," she answered without much emotion in her voice, even if she felt a touch of pride at being at the eighth rank at her age under fifty years. Given the ten tiers of Knighthood in the Knight Corps, with the first rank being the Knight General, which was also why the position was also referred to as the First Knight, promotions were usually hard won. She'd performed well as a young soldier near the end of the Hunter Wars and earned the eighth rank promotion. Only Lazarus outranked her, being a seventh ranked Knight.

  The hunter didn't know all that, his face continuing to show a bit of disdain and disapproval. "You are a woman," he said. Mages, he could understand, taking the lead. Even in Earthborne society, women mages had an unshakable position. But a soldier? He'd only seen one such person, Eve Fiain, so audacious. Here was another and everyone around her acted as if it were nothing at all.

  Delia cocked her head slightly. "How very observant of you," she only said and turned away and resumed her stillness.

  Aman and Imre shared a slightly amused look. Alistair Moonwhisper, the partner who usually acted with her, had stayed behind as well. He was sitting nearby, seemingly in a distracted state, glanced over. A faint shimmer converged on his body and there was an almost double image of him for a split second.

  "I wouldn't antagonize Delia too much. We're here for peaceful purposes and it would be a shame if an incident occurred and one of our hosts was found half dead," he said. Delia didn't react, but the hunters did.

  The one who was staring at Delia stiffened. His eyes became slightly animalistic, and his upper and lower fangs grew slightly in his agitation. "Is that a threat?" he asked, his voice low, almost growling.

  Alistair shrugged. "It was a warning," he answered nonchalantly. He stood up and stretched. "You're weak during the day. You can play with her at night," he said cheerfully. He ducked a rock that was aiming at his head. Instead it hit a cavern wall. The impact shattered the rock and left a small depression in the rockface.

  Alistair chortled. "Don't let her calm exterior fool you. She has a temper," he added. He dodged another rock aiming at his body.

  The hunter and other hunters looked at the new pits in the rock wall that were the size of two fists each. The thrown rocks were done in a playful manner, but even still, they'd made such an impact. This raised two questions in their minds.

  How strong was this Dragon girl that she could do such damage with a casual throw?

  How strong was the Dragon man that he could take the impact even if she hadn't dodged?

  The arrogant hunter pursed his lips. "Every race has their own uniqueness, who am I to judge," he said tactfully and moved away. He was a lone male and had stayed on Cruinog because he had given up hope. He didn't want to be sent to an unknown place just for the hope of a better future. He'd rather stay and meet the dawn of his homeland when he couldn't hold out any longer.

  Alistair nodded. "That is a very healthy mindset," he said. "Oh, right, I saw an almost dried up waterfall area nearby. There are some berries growing nearby. I know Earthborne don't eat, but this is your own territory. Are they safe?" he asked conversationally to no hunter in particular.

  The area he spoke of, they indeed knew it, but given the direction they came from, the young man shouldn't have spotted it from the sky.

  "They're safe. Children from the nearby village pick them all the time. How did you know about that area?" one youthful hunter asked curiously.

  Alistair smiled mysteriously. "Thank you for answering," he said. He sat down and shimmered again, and seemed to blur once more, but nothing else happened that they could see. Suddenly he cried out and shimmered again and almost fell backwards.

  Delia frowned at him and came over. "What happened?" she asked.

  Alistair rubbed the back of his neck. "I was going to ask Wallace to pick them for me. I saw something I shouldn't have," he said, making a slightly embarrassed face.

  Delia rolled her eyes and cuffed his head lightly. "Go pick them yourself and quit being lazy," she said and went back to her position.

  The entire exchange totally baffled the hunters and neither Dragon was inclined to explain.

  "Why so keen on the berries?" the same young hunter asked.

  Alistair was glad for the topic and explained that his father was a pastry chef in Silvermoon and especially liked trying new fruits and berries for his masterpieces. The hunters didn't know how to react to this.

  Time passed in such a way inside the cavern as Britiana worked. Eventually other Earthborne began appearing with their women, heeding the summons of the King

  --

  Meanwhile, Darius and Amadeus flew in a spiral pattern, taking in the areas surrounding the ancestral hall of the Earthborne. There were a lot of mountains, yellow meadows, and half dead forests. It would have once been a land of untamed beauty. Now it was almost a husk of its former glory.

  Every now and then they could see signs of human life, such as villages, and small towns. It was actually not far beyond the Bienskurr Mountains where they saw their first large-scale city. At the first sign of human habitation they had activated spells that could hide them from sights and perceptions of others. Now they approached the larger city.

  Cruinog was a pre-industrial civilization. The cities were mostly paved with stone, yet there were already traces of a new era coming. There were tracks for trains, and street lamps dotted city streets. They had some form of power and the beginning abilities to engage in widespread trade and travel.

  Yet, there was something odd. Darius couldn't pinpoint what it was. But there was a pall hanging over this city. He and Amadeus landed in the nearby forests and transformed back into their humanoid forms.

  They took out their cloaks and draped them over their shoulders, activating a camouflage function that changed their otherworldly appearances. Their ears became human ears, and their clothes changed to match the era. Neat pants, high boots, well tailored waistcoats and walking jackets would make the locals think they were slightly better than average young men. They even wore hats as it was the fashion.

  They snuck into the city to look around. Amadeus didn't question why, he just followed along obediently. He figured Darius had a reason. However, he did notice that some of the people they passed were giving them strange looks. "My lord, is the cloak defective?" he asked, looking at his body and touching his now rounded ears. He also made sure everything looked alright on Darius's end.

  Darius paused and looked at him, then looked at the people around them. "Ah, I think they believe us to be foreigners," he said. He and Amadeus had a lot of common Amethyst Dragon traits. They had deeper skin tones than the pale people here and the shapes of their eyes were a little different.

  Amadeus gave a light chuckle. "They aren't wrong," he said. Darius agreed with that. However, he didn't let the gazes of the natives deter him from looking around the city. He studied the street lights and saw that they didn't use oil, candles, or electricity run through wires. Instead there was a complicated piece of machinery inside the glass enclosures.

  He went to the train yard and looked at how their trains ran. He wasn't proficient in technology. Afterall, he grew up on Thelessia, which was a low magic and technology world. They barely had boats that could travel the oceans much less something like a train. But he'd spent time on Terranthea and knew how their technology had developed.

  There were only so many purely scientific methods early technology used on low magic worlds. Despite the existence of the Earthborne and other supernatural creatures, humans ruled this world and their world was low magic. He couldn't sense any magic in this city.

  He frowned when he discovered that these trains didn't run on steam, or any other fuel sources. Instead, there was another complicated piece of machinery that seemed to power it.

  "My lord, do you think these machines have something to do with what's happening to the Earthborne?" Amadeus asked. He'd initially been chosen by Darius to join his team because of his cleverness and never let him down.

  "I can't say for sure, but have you noticed the difference between this city and the other places we saw as we flew over?" Darius asked.

  Amadeus nodded. "Within a few miles of the city, the land isn't half dead," he answered.

  "I just found it worth looking into. Besides, there's something that feels strange. After Briti rests, I'll have her come with me and see," he said.

  Amadeus glanced around the city and thought about it. He closed his eyes and concentrated. Amadeus was a Gemcaller. He could sense gems and other precious materials. Eventually they could summon these things to them. When he was on Terranthea, he learned he could also sense sources of fossil fuels like coal and crude oil. Although the ability was to sense the sources in the ground, he could also sense them if they were nearby.

  When he asked his father about this, he'd been told that each world had their own rules regarding what was considered valuable and precious. Amethyst Gemcallers who used to go offworld could gather something like a catalogue of precious items. One world could consider something precious, while another one didn't, but as long as they'd visited a world that did, that material would be catalogued, enabling the Gemcaller to always sense it.

  His Gemcalling sense swept around the city. He wouldn't be able to call anything to him from too far but sensing them was a different story. There were plenty of precious metals and gemstones floating around the city. He suddenly frowned slightly. "There's something here that they consider precious. I've never felt it before," he said.

  "Lead the way," Darius said.

  They quickly traversed the city and began to move into the outskirts on the other end. Soon they happened upon a building labeled "Power Plant." Using cloaking magic, they entered the building. There were people milling around, but they weren't doing much except repairing some devices or monitoring some valves. Some workers shuffled through in uniforms with paperwork. Mostly people worked in offices.

  Amadeus led Darius to the heart of the building. There was a large glass vat of some odd liquid. It was still, slightly dense, and a color somewhere between green and purple, like an old bruise. Darius stopped several feet away from it. He even took a few steps back. "What is it?" he asked, not expecting an answer.

  The liquid suddenly began to churn, and slosh, suddenly crawling up the glass wall closest to them. Amadeus cursed and they both quickly retreated. The liquid continued to agitate and alarms began to go off. People came to check on the vat.

  The two Dragons left the plant. "We'll have to ask the Earthborne about this," Darius said. He frowned again.

  "It's not alive, is it?" Amadeus asked. He clearly felt it was a precious material. He didn't know if living things could be classified as precious materials.

  "I don't think so. But whatever it is, it reacted to us." He was certain about that. Why? How? Those were the unknowns. Did that liquid have anything to do with what was happening to the Earthborne? Another unknown.

  By the time they left the city and flew back to the ancestral hall, Britiana and Delaney had finally finished drawing the array.

  --