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Micheal started to think of what would make a clicking noise. Dark had done that when he was a hatchling, but then he wasn't this destructive either. Dark had eaten whatever he had brought to the little dragon's mouth back then.

Clicking...

A shell creature, insect....

Then he watched the walls and ceiling. "I never liked spiders," he said, just as he heard the brief sound of scurrying from a side tunnel far up ahead of them.

Micheal narrowed his eyes to get a better look, but with the torchlight in the way, it was making it difficult to distinguish the T-section at the end of the hall. "Jay, it moved... whatever it is," he warned, continuing to watch the hallway ahead of her.

The ranger said nothing immediately as she was straining to hear and see what she could, though she paused for a moment. "Which direction?" she asked very quietly.

Micheal picked up a rock near his foot as he looked at the tunnel that branched to the right. "In the right, but I have a feeling it's maybe more than one. Shall I?" He tossed the rock up and caught it in his hand.

Jay looked behind her to see what Micheal was referring to. "What, are you going to hit it around the corner?" she asked in disbelief.

He nodded and waited for her permission.

"I have no better ideas," the ranger answered with a shrug. "I'd rather have them gone at range than fight them up close anyways," she said as she started to drop back and let Micheal take the front position.

The vampire held the stone like a skipping stone and chucked it hard and fast at the back wall causing it to ricochet and vanish around the corner, hearing it hit a few more times with a few flicks of light as it briefly striked the rock walls. Then there was distant screech that echoed down the tunnel before he heard more skittering followed by the clicking picking up again to new levels now.

"Did I get it?" he asked, uncertainly.

"How should I know?" the ranger asked, her eyes jumping back and forth from Micheal to the end of the hallway where the screech had been heard.

'I think I did. It has a lot of legs,' he thought back to her as he made his comment, his sensitive hearing picking up another set of skittering legs coming from the left even as the clicks start to take on a kind of growl to their sound which is now coming from both directions of the T-section ahead of them.

The ranger winces as she gets spun around while at the same time another round of darts from the spiders can be heard by Micheal. There are easily three, maybe four behind them now from the sounds.

"I hate you all!" he just roared as he narrowed his eyes and slowed down his speed. "Jay, grab on," he tells her hastily.

As she takes a second to shove her sword in her sheath to free up her other hand and grab on, there is a stab in her thigh as she reaches around his shoulders, the ranger grinding her teeth together in attempt not to yell.

Micheal's eyes widen as he looks to see how deep it hit her while one barely nicks his arm. Still running but with faster pace now, he holds on to her tightly with one arm, growling and cursing every word he knows.

"Damn it! I hate them! Hate them with a passion!" he says while reaching the base of the exit to the cave, now only needing to climb out. In the meantime, he attempts to take cover in a small corner sheltered by a few fallen rocks that are there. "Jay, are you okay?" he asks, taking a moment to check on her while he can. He glanced at her leg but with the torchlight and the two spiders not far away distracting him, it was hard to tell how deep it might have gone below the skin.

"Just get us out of here!" Jay said through her teeth as soon as she caught her breath behind the corner of rubble where there was cover, suddenly aware of a stinging in her back as well. "Don't ask about it now!" she growled, looking up toward the exit and then down the hallway toward where the spiders were. She avoided looking at the side of her leg amidst everything going on.

He growled, propping the torch up in some rocks, hoping it would stay lit, and held onto the ranger with both arms now. He crouched before springing upward, jumping against the wall, kicking off, and jumping for the opposite wall only to do the same, all the while looking at the entrance as his lips curled further up his fangs.

The two spiders hanging in the entrance skittered hurriedly away from Micheal's leaps, avoiding direct confrontation. One ran upwards and outside, the other rushed along the wall and moved downward, farther into the cave, both clacking and clicking at the intruder as they moved.

Micheal raised an eyebrow as he didn't expect their movement to be avoidant before he dashed past them and leapt out of the cave where he broke into an all out run. Slowing down after a couple miles out, he feels something protruding from the ranger's back, a quick glance confirming his dismay.

"Damn it, Jay," he growled as he checked to see if he had been followed at all, but when he heard no response from the being in his arms, he looked at her as a slow confused look on his face grew. "Hey, Jay?" he slowly asked.

"Yeah..." the ranger responded, her eyes closed.

A tingling feeling crawled through her leg as if she had been sitting on it too long, a similar feeling spreading in her lower back as well.

The ranger opened her eyes, looking momentarily apprehensive when she did not recognize where they were. "Dulcimer. I need to get to Dulcimer though."

"A green leaf stitched... in the bag's edge?" she said, trying to take in deeper breaths. Her lead bobbed to one side as she tried to look. "Yes, that's it. Dump... dump it all out." She leaned forward, putting a shaky hand to her forehead before slowly leaning back until she was lying on the ground. "Ra... red... rim jar."

He promptly dumped the bag. "Like lying down helped any," he muttered all the while sensing her system slowing down. He promptly snagged the jar before looking back to her. "Say awake, damn it. What do I do?"

"Trub... trou... ble... moving," Jay answered in a strained tone.

'Just talk to me with your mind then. You don't have to speak,' he tried to say as calmly in her mind as he could before her senses began to mingle with his own: the feeling of being trapped, an encompassing sense of cold, the throb of pain in the back and thigh, the dripping of water down the skin, clothing becoming more damp to the sky above.

There was a quick response to his suggestion.

'Will pictures work?'

'Yes.' Micheal then opened his eyes to the thoughts in her mind and watched. 'Think quickly.'

A stream of pictures flew by him of two additional jars with the red-rimmed one he had retrieved, the silent vision showing certain amounts being taken from each jar and tossed into a cup. Next it showed enough water being added to turn it into a paste which was pressed into each of the puncture wounds. More water was poured into the cup and then the cup was shown being pressed to her lips... until the scene was scratched out.

The pictures backed up to where water was added the second time, and this time it showed a picture of him adding a second dose of two of the drugs to the cup.

'Okay, I got it. Anything else?' he asked as his body tried to linger to the sensations that she was having at the moment.

'Just... do it...' she answered, her focus breaking apart as a faint memory surfaced, followed by a bubble of blurry laughter. The chilled feeling in her limbs, it was reminding her of a time during the whiteseason where she'd jumped into a lake... without clothing. The memory filled her head with that of snowflakes and snow until it all drifted away from her.

Micheal, feeling that he was not meant to see these images, left her mind, a sudden surge of energy flowing through his body. There was the urge to run, move, jump... to just do anything because it had been just a small taste of living again. With a boost to his speed, he repeated the instructions he had been given, cleaned the mess, and within seconds was able to pull her under a shelter of branches.

He knelt there looking over Jay.

"I hope you're going to be okay..."

"Jay?" Micheal asked again as he looked toward the new voice, spotting the cloaked ranger looking down upon the merry child, smiling as she watched. There was something almost unhappy in the ranger's supposed smile as well as an empty glass look to her eyes as she sat on the branch in the shadows of a tree.

The little girl didn't seem to hear either of them, and while Micheal just watched on uncertain of what next to do, she temporarily disappeared from view as she dashed around a tree. From behind the tree came a dragonfly speeding toward the vampire before it zipped right through his chest and straight through to the other side. The little girl, who was chasing the rust red insect ran straight toward him as well and phased right through, her giggles and shouts continuing even behind him.

Unphased as the bug and girl were, Micheal was taken aback and unsettled by the interaction, wondering how what just happened was even possible.

The ranger laughed again, but this time it was coming from behind instead of above him.

"Jay, I am not joking. Knock this off," Micheal demanded as he felt the winds change, his hair being jostled in the gust, the cloak flapping a little around his legs.

The ranger just seemed to laugh again as if his words flew past her on the new breeze.

Micheal scrutinized the area, certain that this was all very real to the ranger. As he slowly turned around, the scenery began to shift again until he spotted where Jay was on and stopped. Now the landscape was that of where he had first traveled with her, the ranger herself sitting on the edge of a cliff that jutted out over an expanse of thick forest far below.

The same laugh escaped the ranger as her boots dangled, her empty stare looking down into the ravine.

Cautiously walking to her side, he looked down at her. "What are you doing?"

Instead of laughing this time, the ranger got up to her feet and turned toward the vampire speaking to her. Her cold, glassy eyes holding no color gazed into his. Her smile, not cold like the eyes, held a soft feeling. It was almost as if there was at least something there, if ever so faint.

Micheal looked back at her, trying to figure out what it was she was doing, trying to understand what was going on. "Jay... please..." he beseeched.

And then she simply fell.

It started as just a slight lean to the side before the ranger just fell, letting herself drop from the precipice without a flail. She sailed straight down through the air - the smile never once leaving her face.

Forgetting he was in her thoughts, a growl ripped from his throat as jumped from the edge, hollering in pain as draconic-looking wings tore through the skin on on his back and stretched out behind him. Folding his one white wing and matching black wing back, wind roared past his ears and shirt scraps trailed behind him as he plummeted after the ranger.

The forest below was increasingly growing larger as he gained on the falling body ahead of him. Pulling his limbs in closer, he quickened his descent until he shot past Jay and was just beneath her. His arms quickly cradled around the ranger's limp body, and when he was certain he had her, he caught the first gust of wind that brought them upward into a glide.

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!?" Micheal shouted at her, enraged and eyes wide.

Her head hung back loosely against his arm, her neck stretched out in front of him as it tipped back and blankly stared at the sky with that same painted smile.

...and then he was back in own body, his real flesh and bloodless body with Jay still lying on the ground beneath the hand he had on her shoulder, Dulcimer in a panic in the background.

Dazed, he looked to his sides and saw his wings opened around him before a wave of weakness struck him.

"Aw hell..." he muttered as tried to catch himself but only landed face first into the ranger's torso.

His eyes closed for the much needed rest that was singing sweetly to him.

If only I could sleep for 300 years, he thought before hazily embracing the siren's call.

Micheal sat on the ground and couldn't help but laugh at her innocence. "They're mine actually, but he changed one of my black ones white. Why am I telling you this though?" he questioned himself, trailing off after noticing the topic had wandered. "Where am I?"

"You don't know where you are?" the hatchling asked, confused. "Why would you be where you don't know?"

He thought about it for a moment. "I think I blacked out. That's a first in a long time." He focused on the crystaline dragon again. "How come you're the only one talking?"

"I already told you; the other ones are dead," she said, rolling her eyes, like she was talking to a silly little boy that didn't listen. "They're pictures. See?" The glass-like hatchling ran up to the dragons, dashing through a few of them before trotting back toward the visitor.

Micheal simply watched the hatchling's interesting explanation with a raised eyebrow before he started to remember why he blacked out and ended up here. "Where is she?" he asked as the hatchling returned, trying to get back to business.

"She? I don't know," the hatchling answered, her eyes watching the tip of her tail for a moment.

"Well, where am I then? Where are you?" he continued press.

The little dragonet seemed a bit befuddled by the vampire's question. "Where 'She' is... I guess."

Micheal just sat there as if he was waiting for more. "Well..?"

"Well what?" she answered back giving the man an odd look.

Micheal tried to break the riddles he didn't understand at the moment with random related questions. "Where are you? Who are you?"

"I am Kamali, and I am here," she said with a smile now that she felt that she had heard a good question. "Who are you?"

"Mich," he answered, looking at the images of the other dragons while feeling as if he seen some of them before. "Does Here have a name?"

The little dragonet paused at Mich's answer and scrunched up her face until distracted by the next question.

"Um..." she starts, staring at the floor as if something might pop up and blossom with the answer. "Do you sleep?" She looks up as if she's trying to word something without words.

"No, not unless I use too much energy," he answered, looking back.

The little hatchling nods as if she understands that somewhat. "Kinda a spot between sleep and awake. That's what here is... or is like."

He smiled. "At least it's still a name."

"It's the other one. That second one," Kamali said with her head tipped again but as if she's looking somewhere or listening to something. "Say that one again."

"Micheal..?" he repeated uncertainly.

Her head perks up again. "Yup. That's it!" she exclaims, grinning now like she's solved something.

"Um... did I do something?"

"That's the name She uses and there was this buzzing and it was getting annoying or maybe not annoying maybe more like there but not there and well it was annoying..."

Micheal covered his ears in a bit of annoyance as the Kamali's babbles continued. "Stop that! Stop that..." he complained. When her voice immediately ceased, however, he sighed, "Sorry, I could only imagine what that must sound like."

Kamali opened her mouth but snapped it shut right away, fidgeting a little as she looked at Mich before hesitantly speaking up. "Can I talk now? Is it okay?" When she saw him nod, she continued.

"Did you follow She here?" Kamali asked as she put a foot forward and leaned on it as if she might take a step closer but was unsure of herself.

The vampire thought for a long moment about it. "I might of?"

The glass hatchling got up and started making a wide circle around him, scrutinizing something about him as she paced. Once she had gone around twice she sat down.

"You did it differently... if you did," she finally said, adding the latter part as almost an afterthought. "Are you sure you're not dead?" She eyed him as if there was something else he might be hiding.

"Did what differently?" Micheal asked, ignoring the dragonling's question.

"Followed She."

Micheal tried to figure this out but he looked at the hatchling hoping she would make more sense.

"You're different. Everyone I meet is dead... except She," Kamali says looking at Mich. "Everyone here anyways."

He wanted to say something about that but then thought about it more.

"Wait a minute..."

After the words crossed his lips, his head spun back toward the ground below the plummeting dragon, hoping it wasn't a replay of the nightmare the ranger had told him about.

People were scattering everywhere, mostly armed individuals.

An explosion rocked the ground below as the dragon made a headfirst landing, smashing the buildings beneath it that broke its fall. Even after landing its death throws continue to hurl large chunks of rubble through the air like a live catapult gone berserk causing nearby houses to collapse on themselves. People were scattering everywhere, mostly armed individuals running from the scene to avoid being crushed or to it attempting to end the dragon's life more quickly.

Suddenly, though he's not near the fire himself, the air around him seems to heat up dramatically without cause.

"Jay, damn it!" he cursed, wondering why the heat is bothering him and ignoring the increase of draconic screeches from behind him until they refused to be ignored no longer.

A young tainted dragon flew at Micheal before circling around him.

"Mich, what the hell is going on? I almost thought you were dead..." the dragon said, sounding like a worried child.

"We have to find Jay," Micheal replied, flying away from the youngling to search a new plot of ground below him.

The dragon shook his head. "She is fine. This is just her dream. You can't control it; you know that."

Micheal shook his head before he grabbed at his own throat, the feeling that he was choking beginning to crawl through his chest as the unexplained heat seemed to grow around him. It was as if the flames were only a few arm lengths away versus the many spans below him.

"I have to try," he said as he dove toward one pillar of smoke caused by the flames the dying dragon had spread. Nearing the first building below him, he became weary of getting close to the flames that were now almost within reach, the real heat now mingling with that of the version that had been bothering him earlier.

A few wingbeats later and he dove through a broken wall, pulling in his wings to shield himself from the fire as he landed inside.

"Jay!" he shouted as he began to search the building.

The vampire-bound ran to the dragon's side at his call as he nudged the ranger and spoke to her. "Look, Dark is here now. You need to wake up, or I can possibly get really hurt in here let alone you don't need this stress while you're trying to heal. So Jay... please!"

One of the robed figures in blue appears behind Micheal. "Sir? Sir?? Are you alright?" By the way the man acts, it's as if he doesn't notice Dark or Micheal's wings.

Micheal growled and shouted at the robed man. "No I am NOT! She's not! Who the hell are you?!"

The man stumbled back in terror, eyes wide as he looked behind him and at the others he came with. "I... I... I..." he stuttered. "I... I can... help?"

"You can?" Micheal asked, the growl in his voice lessening as he inspected who he was now speaking with.

"You must have been a mercenary with another group," the man said, keeping his head ducked low and his shoulders together. "The blue cloaks," he said as he half outstretched his arm pointing in some of the other fellows' directions. Healers. The baroness has a bunch of us out here trying to keep people up."

Micheal wanted to ask which baroness but instead began to walk over toward the men that were pointed out. "Hurry, quickly please help her."

"Here, just set her down here," the young man that he'd been speaking with said with a little more backbone in his voice, the timidness starting to drain away.

The troubled vampire stopped and gently set the ranger down on a clear spot of road.

"Why did you even bother trying to talk to me?" Micheal asked as he scrutinized the fellow in blue. Dark, sitting as still as nearby, was wondering the same thing.

No answer followed the question, however, as the young man knelt down and pulled out a bag, a teal glow escaping it when he loosened the drawstrings.

"What's that?" Micheal asked, disliking that he wasn't being answered anymore as he watched the fellow pull out from the bag what looked to be a little pearl that glowed the same color as what was inside the bag.

Micheal watched as the young man still continued to ignore him. The healer tilted the ranger's head back and opened her mouth, pushing aside her tongue. He placed one hand on her forehead as he held the bead in the other above her open mouth. He begins to chant and the bead between his fingers begins to glow even brighter. Something seems to drip from the glowing bead into the ranger's open mouth as if the pearl itself was melting.