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"I never said anything about weakness." Elistral mumbled under her breath, giving Demios a brief odd look at his back. But she supposed that giving advice was what he did as coping, or, that was her half-hearted guess. "At least the bell tower wasn't harmed."

"No. But it's by sorcery, I assume," Gorash spat the word out. He'd never been too fond of magic, particularly black, or potions to begin with; and that only proved his point. "I phased in and out of consciousness so it's all fuzzy, except for the pain. And now this whole ordeal might have dragon's blood included in it."

"Dragon's blood?"

Gorash shrugged. "I'm as confused as you are, Rore."

"Hey, can I get some food?" Crow suddenly piped up, directing his question to one of his guards. He'd been drawing in the dust on the cobblestones. The man looked at him and said plainly, "No."

"I...would rather not." Elistral suddenly began to pay closer attention to the damages they passed, giving a nod that she heard the Protectors giving her brief reports. "Neither of us are in any condition to spar or anything excluding that."

"I think." Gorash's brow furrowed as he thought. "Strange properties or something is what the thing said."

"Kingdom?" Rore bent at the waist and stretched his arms, lifting the frightened Jake up and over his head. He set the boy (adult?) down next to him and looked him straight in the eyes. "It's Taraxacum, I thought I told you earlier. Why, what's gotten into you?"

"I've never had the inconvenience of wearing armor," Elistral said with a straight face. Her own attire looked of cloth but was actually had thin and strong metal, some called it mithril, woven into the clothing. It seemed easier to maneuver in that than bulky plates of metal. "Why not take it off?"

"My king. I knew it." Gorash muttered hatefully under his breath as Rore stood up, helping his best friend up. Amazingly, the chains on him had also warped with them when Jake had used the magic. Maybe it was for the best, he thought angrily.

"What are these rites? What do you mean by being killed on sight." Rore asked, all joking aside and more than a bit worried. He started when Gorash began to wobble in place, supporting him from the side so that he didn't fall to the ground as his eyes glazed over and shut. "Gorash! Now's not the time to go to sleep!"

Gorash fell back into his strange sleep, however this time he was already below the castle. The large blob still remained as well, but the enormous sliver of an eye seemed to stare blankly past him. Confused, he glanced over his shoulder, seeing nothing.

"Hey, wake u--" Rore froze in place, his words dying in his throat. Gorash had "disappeared" again. It was not his gray-blue eyes staring at him now, but the same fierce orange, reptilian he thought. Releasing his friend's body as if burned he shuffled backwards, hand scrabbling for his sword hilt.

Watching the man scramble away from him brought a bit of satisfaction to Gorash. But he quickly turned his gaze from Rore to the other man standing before him, injured, the chains clinking as his body turned. "Have you forgotten me so easily, Azeois?"

"Uh..." Elistral tried to look away but found that she wasn't able to. She was a little afraid that Strider would explode again if he assumed anything. Soon she sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose with two fingers. "Fine, we can go."

"All watched me die," Gorash's eyes narrowed for the briefest of moments in anger, his deeper voice a little bit more menacing before lightening up. "For whatever reason and for however long of a time, I was between...phases, I suppose. When I became strong enough, I learned that I had seemingly been forgotten. Although that was not a total loss."

"...What in the world are you talking about?" Rore found his voice, albeit a bit shaky. "Where's Gorash?"

"He is still here," Gorash's mouth turned up at the edges in a smile that was anything but gentle. "What a wonderful choice of words there." He turned away from Rore, who he'd looked at when spoken to, and looked around everyone around him. "Maybe this will jog your memory. What is this world's name? Do any of you know?"

Elistral almost mentioned that at the beginning of the battle, if she remembered correctly or not, Demios had summoned his armor. But then again, maybe he had not. She would need time to think about it, seeing as the pain didn't help at all.

"No, you are wrong." Gorash's eyes narrowed once again, but he laughed heartily despite that. "I've noticed that when you become more sure of facts, you become more confident." He laughed again, louder a harsher. "The name of this planet cannot be spoken because I wiped it from the world. You have either forgotten or hidden away my name from yourself. I am Eon'byurainskarda; Eon cinder-scales burning-eyes to my own kind, and only Eon to the weaker races that you surround yourself with."

((I forgot I used italics with him.))

"I don't think I like the outcome we'll find..." Elistral said aloud, moving with Demios to the site in question.

"Such insolence! This will not hold me!" Gorash yelled, his body shaking with fury as he began to shrug off the chains, yanking a few of the stubborn ones off violently. In a way he'd expected something of this sort would happen, but he'd also wished to see the fear in Strider's eyes. Maybe soon, he told himself. But getting caught with a human body that still held a part of him in it was not what he was going to let happen. In the back of his mind, far back in his real body, he'd sensed others of his kind, if not a bit watered down through the generations. Now he called out to them, to anyone who would listen and come to his temporary aid. "You smell of a mortal, Azeois. If I am correct, you have aged just as I have; you can be killed just as like that elf you call a mate!"

Rore had quickly stepped back from the line Jake was marking, grateful that he hadn't included him in the circle. But he still wanted to help Gorash, or at least get whatever it was talking through him out and have his friend back with him.

"Come here."

Crow glanced around. "What?"

"Sshhh! Now."

Gorash blinked in surprise. He hadn't known that his call had been so strong. But it would prove as a distraction, he thought as he backed away from Demios. Though he'd come to terms that dragons had lost some of their prowess this one reminded him of when they ruled openly and without hiding their true forms. "Done? I have not done anything yet." Gorash said, allowing a bit of pride to creep into his voice, and releasing a bit of the control over Demios. He had to concentrate somewhat to find a better candidate, but soon heard crashing and confused yells from a distance.

"What do you mean?" Elistral asked. But he was already gone and by the time she realized it, had already transformed farther away where they'd seen the light. Then she was almost bowled over by someone, also headed in the same direction as she was. Cursing, she went into a quick, limping jog after the other dragon, her sword being used as a cane.

"Hey, I'm sorry for taking your place."
"What?" Crow ignored the cawing in his ear by Ezekiel, and having escaped his Protector guards, was amazed by the turn of events.
"You know, you had an active role before I showed up. Then you were sort of pushed to the sidelines." Fenrir was traveling at a quick pace, coming up to a portal much like the one that had appeared during the battle. The golden haired demons were there as well, and the leader opened his mouth to speak. "I'll explain later, but thanks for coming." He was hasty with his words, but the demon nodded and led his troupe through the glowing archway one by one.
Crow heard someone cackling as the light dimmed slightly. The one responsible popped their head through, glancing around curiously at everything. He shivered as the light blue eyes paused on him for a moment before settling on Fenrir. "Fen--GAK!" An ebony hand had emerged from the portal as well with a cry of "Oh no you don't!", grabbing onto the man's jacket collar and yanking backwards so that they both disappeared. "NOOooo! Lemme-go, lemme-go, lemme-go!" The archway gave a shudder and faded like the first had. Crow stood frozen. "Uh..."
"They're not important right now," Fenrir didn't give any more of an explanation as to what had just happened and moved off at the same brisk pace as before. "Keep following me."