As he approached, Kendath noted Merrin's uncharacteristically rigid posture. She stood alone on the balcony, framed against the starlit skies outside. He wondered where her escort, Je'id, had went off to.

Coming up behind her, he opened his mouth, then closed it again. At last he found the willpower to voice her name. "Merrin?"

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Merrin whirled, startled out of her thoughts and for a split second quite prepared to tell Je'id she wasn't interested in being his information source anymore -

But it was Kendath instead. Unexpectedly Merrin felt a rush of relief. "Oh," she said, and then upon surveying him further - "You look very nice."

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Taken aback, Kendath hung in aphasia for an awkward moment before replying, "And you look..." The term beautiful floated to mind, but for a reason he couldn't fathom, it stuck in his throat.

"... you look nice too."

Damned idiot! He attempted but miserably failed to conceal his wince. He'd always prided himself on a glib tongue in dire straits, but somehow his customary impassive demeanor completely eluded him.

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"Thank you," replied Merrin with a mock curtsey, grinning a little. Inexplicably Kendath's presence made her far more comfortable than Je'id's ever could have. "I do try, you know - it doesn't tend to do much good, but there you have it."

With an expressive little shrug she gestured inside, at the jewel-bright crowds of every color imaginable and every dazzling young lady a man could wish, and cast him a rueful smile.

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"Eyestrain is inevitable," Kendath muttered, following her gesture towards the myriad of whirling colors on the dance floor. The allegro ended just then. A bard stepped up and began a slow ballad on his harp.

"Do you dance?" he asked suddenly, on reckless impulse.

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For a moment Merrin was sure she had misheard, and turning with a smile still upon her lips to jest of the matter - she caught sight of his face, half-illuminated as it was by the candlelight inside. It did not seem to hold any trace of teasing.

And before she could wonder at hidden motives or look askance at the profusion of beautiful ladies inside she heard herself saying, almost breathless - "I do."

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What have you gotten yourself into this time, Kendath... what HAVE you gotten yourself into this time... Indeed, Kendath did know a few dance steps from... how long ago had it been? Ten years ago, when he'd reeled around campfires with village wenches?

Merrin was far from a village wench. And this elegant banquet was far beyond his experience.

Despite the voices screaming at the back of his head, he inexorably found himself taking her hand and leading her towards the dance floor, where the bard was still drawing out his wistful notes.

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"In brief, we must spy upon the possible activities of the renegade and the meiltha, why we must do it is because our foolish servants might get caught..."

Kalma snarled after explaining himself, Kalma streched long neck before spreading his wings and rushing into the sky. He made few confident dives around the mountain before he gained more altitude and joined the other dragons on the sky. Kalma eyed his allies quietly, it was funny because she seemed to have a wrong image of it all, she never seemed to realise, which way the master and puppet relationship worked with Garthag and Kalma.

"Who do you think is in charge?"

He suddenly asked referring to their alliance.

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Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

What happened - when did I leave off being... the scattered thoughts that trailed in astonished tendrils through Merrin's head refused to finish themselves, leaving off in tantalizing hints.

Again she looked uncertainly up at him, half-expecting this to be some joke - certainly it had been played on her before. But here they were, at the edge of the throng of couples...and oddly enough Merrin wanted quite badly for it to be real.

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"Who are you?" Demon faltered, staring in incredulity at the spirit before him.

The icy wind picked up once more, tearing at the spirit's insubstantial essence. The apparition clung on with tenacious integrity. I? It matters little my name in this material world. What matters is you. Why do you want it?

Blinking, Demon lashed his sinuous tail. "How specific."

The spirit's patience was infinite. It... you know of which I speak. The Crystals. Why do you regard such artifacts of destruction with such reverence?

"I take it that you care."

You do not understand. Artifacts of such destruction, yet such hope. It is for them that we waged this war. The valley in which you stand once ran red with the blood of thousands. Humankin. Dragonkin. But you know of these sacrifices for power, do you not? Where is your rider?

In agitation, Demon's tail lashed even harder. Any mention of his former rider never failed to drop him into a sea of turmoil. Turning the subject, he growled, "You claim to know much."

I do know much. I was there. I lived it. And I can warn you now that the Crystals are anything but what they seem. The wraith turned in midair, as if beckoning. Come...

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No sooner had they made the audacious step when they were swept off by the deliberate momentum of the dance. The yearning notes dragged out an almost surreal air of tranquility.

Keenly self-conscious at first, Kendath only lightly touched Merrin's waist. They found themselves at a respectful distance apart. Every time he stumbled, he found himself apprehensively wondering how Merrin was comparing him to Je'id's unquestionable grace. But as the dance progressed, he found himself relaxing.

"That Druid... Sage... spoke of a perilous journey," he murmured by way of a conversation starter.

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"Between you and Garthag you mean?" she asked of Kalma. "Hmmmm....apperances would lead me to belive that Garthag led you...but?" She asked with a smile. "That is not true is it."

Evlyn with some reseve of energy lept onto Jemx, and both soared up to dissying hights. No one could go as high as this...no one would in thier right mind. But they wer'nt in thier right minds, only wishing to escape back to the Mieltha.

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Made by Lembas

The river of time deluged him as Demon obligingly closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he no longer stood in the valley. It was as though he looked through a window that bridged the gap between space and time.

He saw far.

The Skyseekers. Twelve of them, each bearing an orb of pulsing celestial light. They stood in a circle within their temple high in the Mountains of Oblivion - but no longer oblivion. Or, to be more accurate, not yet. The sickly green miasma was gone, replaced by shafts of brilliant sunset to the west that lanced through the open ceiling. To the east, the stars were just cresting the horizon. And in their midst upon a slender pedestal stood not one Crystal, but two. The harmony of both Star Crystal and Cloud Crystal placed in juxtapose was titanic. Coalescing power of inconceivable might radiated from both artifacts.

Thus... the forging of the Crystals... whispered a toneless voice at Demon's shoulder. The dragon spirit's glowing eyes devoured the monumental scene before them. The Skyseekers were could not foretell the cataclysm their creations brought about. But such was their power, that the greed of man was inevitable...

The scene dissolved, to be replaced by a nightmare of screams and battle cries. Once more he stood within the valley. The same valley, yet very different. The time was summer. Snow glistened upon the mountain peaks, but on the valley floor sprouted intrepid fields of grass.

Fields of grass trampled by armies and stained with the blood of thousands. The two surging legions collided with clangs of relentless steel. Blood rained from the skies, where dragons were engaged in aerial combat. Even Demon's cold heart was forced to turn away at the spectacle of so many of his dying kin.

The battle cries faded. Snow once more blanketed the valley floor. Demon shook himself vigorously and stared at the wyrm spirit before him. "It was there that you fought and died."

My rider fell first. I failed to save her. The spirit rose once more within the cyclone of icy wind. You have beheld the aftermath. The secret of the Crystals has been lost since that battle. Mortals now know not what they do, but only what they are capable of: the power to either destroy the gods... or save the furture of dragonkin.

"This power," Demon echoed slowly. "You say its secrets are lost to us now, but you obviously know. What is it?"

The spirit's eyes of void bored into the bestial black dragon's soul. Those eyes bored into him, bored right through him.

Time travel.

And suddenly, inexorably, everything became clear.

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(what?????? wow...ok...i'm going to pretend my charries didn't hear that...)

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Made by Lembas

[they didn't... Demon's off in a valley on his own]

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(i know but..wow, where the heck are you going with this?)

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Made by Lembas

[spontaneous plot idea I came up with half an hour ago don't worry... I know what I'm doing...]

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