“No, Naga, you cannot ride with us. You are too big,” I shouted as the giant snake tried to crawl onto the floating island.

The giant snake looked pitifully sad as I stopped her from climbing onto the island. While Dragon’s Nest was able to support Naga’s weight, the was no good place for her to curl up without covering the entire island. Just her head alone was bigger than most houses.

“You should go follow the army. We will catch up with them in less than a week.”

Naga shook her head as her giant snout nudged against my arm. Nox, Sylvie, and even the two stallions I revived after they stood up the Demons, were coming along and Naga did not want to be left out. I tried to convince Naga that she could not follow us but the oversized snake was not hearing any of it.

While I agued with the stubborn snake, Nox came to the rescue. The small kitten had his chest puffed out as he approached the snake. He hopped onto the snake’s head and started patting the snake with his paw while meowing. Naga hissed back and it seemed as if the two were having a legitimate conversation. This continued for several minutes before Nox suddenly burst into golden flame. The tiny kitten grew to the size of a massive lion before shrinking back down to a kitten. Nox repeated this several times and I realized he was trying to teach Naga how to grow and shrink as he did.

At first, the snake had trouble mimicking Nox but after an hour of trial and error, Naga actually succeeded. In a burst of flames, she shrunk all the way down to the size of a miniature garden snake. With the tiny little claws that she had grown after being revived by the golden flame, Naga now looked more like a lizard than a proper snake.

Naga hissed joyfully as she wiggled up to me. She flexed and hopped around on the ground, showing off her new size.

I laughed at the antics of the delighted snake and reached down to pick her up. “Yes, you can come along now.”

Naga raised her head to roar in triumph but it just came out as a tiny squeak. She then nuzzled my hand before wrapping herself around my wrist like a bracelet.

I was surprised by the actions of the little snake but since Naga was happy, I decided to let her stay. The tiny snake closed her eyes in contentment and fell completely still. With her bright, glittering blue scales, Naga now looked more like a piece of jewelry than a living thing.

Near the entryway into Dragon’s nest, Vissna had watched the entire exchange with interest. Charly had spent all morning telling her what he knew about the Thirteen Divisions in hopes of being able to ask a question of his own but the Dragon’s answers were all noncommittal and vague. She was far less talkative than she had been when I had given her gold. She had outright refused to answer any question about the extinction of the dragons or how she escaped the hunt of the Preateritum. When asked what destroyed the Preateritum, she simply replied that they destroyed themselves and did not elaborate. When asked about her own past she said it was unremarkable and not worth a question. Charly had spent several hours talking to Vissna and learned almost nothing. The only thing she was willing to talk about in detail were stories of great dragons from the past. She spoke of most of them fondly but admitted that they were often very arrogant and sometimes violent without reason. At one point, while talking about another dragon that was her friend, Vissna fell silent and refused to answer any more questions.

I understood Vissna’s feelings and pulled Charly away from the dragon so that she could have a moment to herself. I was more than a little surprised when she came outside to watch my argument with Naga wearing a smile.

“Your family is very energetic,” Vissna said after I noticed her. Despite smiling, it felt as if she were very sad as she spoke.

“They are just excited because you are here. Normally Charly is actually a very quiet person. He would spend all day reading if we let him.” I replied.

Vissna nodded. “He is very knowledgeable. I have learned much about how things have changed these many millennia since I roamed the realms but his knowledge lacks depth. The boy only knows the superficial knowledge of things. He knows none of the secrets that are of true value. However, you do, am I right?”

“You actually have a question for me?” I asked with a grin, “By your own standards, knowledge is not free.”

“I am aware of that,” Vissna replied with a huff, “I will pay an appropriate price based on the answer you give. I only have one question. What is the origin of the Demons you fight?”

I shook my head and chuckled. “Don’t you already know?”

“I know of Vitiates; violent mutations brought about by the natural energy of the void. What your brother talked about was not Vitiates. It is impossible for Vitiates to work together. It is impossible for Vitiates to spread the corruption through red mist of blood. It is impossible for vitiates to be intelligent. What your brother spoke of were not Vitiates.”

I sighed as I looked up at the clear sky overhead. “You are asking for a secret that is not mine to share. I cannot tell you what you want to know. All I can say is that the Demons are a monster created by our own hubris.”

Vissna’s eyes narrowed. The temperature plummeted and my breath turned to ice. “That is not an answer I am willing to accept. If what the boy said was true, these… Demons are a threat to the balance, unlike anything I have seen across any of my lifetimes.”

As Vissna spoke, an icy cold pressure locked down my ability to move. I looked at Vissna in surprise as my own domain rose to meet the pressure.

“So, violence is an acceptable price when someone does not want to answer a question?” I asked as I tried to take a step back.

“Only for the strong,” Vissna replied.

I barely had time to blink before the woman was suddenly within arm’s reach. I had not even seen her move. I wanted to create a golden flame to fight back but before I could, her hand was already on my forehead. I felt my mind fade away as everything went blank. It was a feeling similar to when Guardians forced me into their illusions. Realizing that Vissna was trying to read my memories to get the answer she wanted, I stopped struggling and started laughing.

Vissna looked at me strangely as her mind connected with mine. She did not force me to relive my life as the other creatures had done. She only wanted an answer to a single question and only that question. I did not try and hide the memories Vissna wanted and brought them to the forefront of my thoughts. Vissna did not question my cooperation and immediately tried to read those memories. However, before she could, eight sets of eyes appeared. An overwhelming pressure rebounded from my mind, back into Vissna’s. She had only a moment to register what had happened. Her eye went wide before the dragon collapsed, screaming in agony.

I shook my head as I looked down at Vissna writhing in torment on the ground. “I admit, you are strong,” I said slowly, “Even at my peak, I might not be able to beat you in a fair fight but you are not the strongest. Even the Guardians know better than to touch a protected memory of the Aevus family. Dragons might be mythical creatures worthy of respect but in front of us, you are just an overgrown lizard.”

Vissna struggled to get to her feet. Her legs were shaking from the pain that wracked her body. I prepared for a fight but Vissna fell and collapsed back to the ground with her arms stretched wide.

Vissna stopped trying to move and just let out a long breath. “I have been asleep for far too long. I understand too little of this era. What was that power? Who are the Aevus?”

“That is two questions you owe me, now,” I replied with a grin, “Aevus is a name belonging to my teacher and his four students, myself included. The one who just floored you is his third student, Tamiel, founder of the Eighth Division and one of the strongest psychics among all the Divisions.”

“I see,” Vissna replied as she slowly sat up, “It seems I have underestimated this time period. I will not make that mistake again.”

After taking a few breaths, Vissna slowly got to her feet once again. This time, she did not fall. She simply turned and walked back inside Dragon’s Nest in sluggish, unsteady steps.

I decided not to push my luck and bring up Vissna’s sudden violence. I let her go. She was still a dragon and still stronger than me. I would be keeping a more careful eye on her in the future, though. I could not risk letting her hurt my family if she turned violent again. I needed to come up with a countermeasure, just in case she became my enemy.

After Vissna left, disembodied laughter echoed through the area like bells. “That is what that overgrown lizard deserves! She has been far too arrogant in my domain. If my real body was here, I would have beat her into submission and made her a servant of Dragon’s Nest.”

“And you think she is the arrogant one?” I mumbled.

Mare huffed and I could hear the annoyance in her voice. “This is my home. I can act as I please. At least I did not try and rip information from your mind.”

“Yet, you are the one that knows that protected information. You have yet to explain to me how you know the opening of the Chronicle.”

“I don’t need to tell you. When the time is right, you will understand everything. Until then, all you have to do is trust me.”

I chuckled mockingly. “Because all of your ideas have turned out so well up until now.”

“Haven’t they?” Mare asked, “I asked you to announce your rebirth to the world and now you have a potential alliance with multiple nations. I helped you understand the blue flame. I even gave you and your family the honor of becoming Adepts. Every action I have taken has helped you. Isn’t it time you start believing in me, shorty?”

“You say that as if there was no risk involved in your crazy ideas. If even the smallest thing had gone wrong, we would all be dead,” I growled in annoyance, “If you want me to start believing in you, why don’t you tell me about what Vissna was talking about. You are a copy of the Shadow. Did you really try to break time and rewrite the past?”

Mare fell silent for a long moment and I thought she would not answer but after a minute she began to speak. Her voice was low, barely a whisper. “My wish is to change the future, not the past. If those Preateritum fools had not stopped me, I might have finally succeeded. They were blind and feared what they did not understand but the game will continue with or without me.”

Mare stopped talking and the echo of her voice disappeared. I thought about her words and the implications they had. There was a very good chance she had been fighting the other person directing my future, the one pretending to be Aevus, and lost. They had set up the dragon and the undead worshiping culture of the Kala. They wanted me to fight this war against the Demons and set everything up for me perfectly. If I was not careful, I would be the one caught in their web this time instead of Mare’s original self.

While I was lost in thought, Donte came and told me that everything was ready for us to begin our voyage to Bellator and from there, the war would begin.