Shimmering Light of Darkness (Rogue X Eldarwen)

Abraxas laughed at Rilos’ almost horrified sounding cry; though he was right. It was much too soon to be thinking or speaking about dessert after having devoured this many fish. “You’re right,” she soothed, “it will not be ominous and it won’t just merely be nice, it will be epic!” One way or another at least, she added to herself as an afterthought. Hopefully, he was correct however in his assumption that it was not going to be all that bad. Maybe they were just a little on the edgy side after the way they had met and their first adventures straight after that. It could only get better, right?

Stretching for all she was worth, the horse dragon tried to convince her body to lift back up off the ground to move onwards but it took her quite a while to get through the motion. Eventually however, she was standing next to Rilos, feeling very sleepy and very full. “Yes, we really should,” she agreed, and so did Delano. “It is indeed quite a bit to walk, especially after you’ve walked backwards along the river now, but we should still be able to reach it today.”
He shot Rilos yet another thankful look as the dragon assured him they were not going to back down and Abraxas observed him the whole time. There was definitely something weird about this being but Delano seemed so very fragile and so overly happy that they were helping him, it almost made her ashamed for having had – and from time to time she still had – second thoughts about this whole thing.

Their travel picked up, the relatively large company of dragons, shadow elephant and hoard of hedgecats were enjoying their walk through the fields. The sun was being gentle and not burning down on them too much, though the weather was beautiful. Lunchtime came and passed, and neither of them even mentioned food.
The change in the landscape came smoothly and Abraxas did not notice it at first. However when the grass began reaching up her legs further than any grass she had ever come across, she shot a puzzled look around herself. “What is this?” she wondered, muttering the words more to herself than to anyone in particular as her glance perceived the height of the grass.
When the grass grew even taller, taking up the appearance of trees almost, the horse dragon stopped dead in her tracks, not even considering the oddly shaped rocks scattered in various sizes all around them. “You don’t say,” she murmured in reply to Rilos. “Have you ever seen anything like this before in your life?!”

Moving forward another few paces, Abraxas reached the top and looked down into the crater below, almost gasping in surprise. The view was breathtaking, even if it was far more random than the typical beautifully breathtaking view. It was very odd and the further she looked, the weirder it seemed to get.
“What are these pikes everywhere? Why would any place be so littered with these rocks? And what are they good for or rather, why are they here?” The horse dragon was confused, once again, and curious all the same. She had never seen anything in the likes.
She laughed a little at the spined shadow dragon’s response. “Yes, potential.. most definitely! But what for?” she added with a grin. “Do you think they do anything? Are they magical?” Abraxas’ curiosity was winning over her confusion and she was already considering how to get down into the crater without having to take a dive.

The hedgecats were aligning themselves around the two dragons, staring down into the crater with questioning miaows, whereas Delano had remained a few steps behind them. When the horse dragon realised the shadow elephant was not going to step up close to them, she turned around to face him. “So what now, Delano?”
The shadow elephant looked around for a bit, seemingly hesitant. “To be frank, I’m not quite sure. It looked different the last time I was here, and these rocks definitely have not been here. However, there had been a guardian, and I cannot see a living being apart from us,” he mused, clearly thrown by this fact. His hope had been on finding this guardian and somehow getting to the talisman by either confronting or avoiding said being, but if the guardian was not here and everything was so different… “Maybe it’s gone?” he whispered, and his voice sounded so desperate and sad that Abraxas almost felt bad for him.

“Maybe he’s still around here somewhere but just hiding from us. You never know,” she offered in an attempt to make Delano feel better, even though she was not quite sure what to think of this – which seemed to turn out to be quite the norm around the shade. If the guardian actually still was around, she was sure he was observing them from somewhere, hidden away behind one of these many, curious rocks; she was certain of it. However, she had no idea how they were to go about finding a talisman in this place? Unless they were supposed to check underneath every single rock - which would be a very tedious job – there seemed to be no obvious hiding place for anything. Raising an eyebrow, she looked at Rilos, the question of what to do next openly written on her face without her needing to speak the actual words.

“No, this is all very… odd,” said Rilos in response to Abraxas’ amazement at the scenery- he was equally as bemused by it all. He couldn’t help but think it was slightly foreboding at the same time though, all these strange things that had happened to them, followed by the weirdest place they had ever seen yet. “But I don’t know why all these rocks are here. Maybe it’s to create an atmosphere?” Certainly the place was giving off a somewhat unfriendly feel, to put it lightly. “They don’t look magical though, just rather big. And rather spiky, too, some of them.” A few were almost as big as Rilos himself! The hedgecats looked even tinier than ever in this huge landscape, but it didn’t seem to deter them any- they were plucky creatures. Delano seemed quite small too- it was now obvious why the shadow elephant hadn’t wanted to come on his own to this place. Backup was definitely required, but Rilos wasn’t sure that either himself or Abraxas was the right sort of backup, unless Delano was in need of verbal, rather than physical, backup. The hedgecats might still possibly pull something crazy out of the bag though; they had managed to blow themselves up to twice their normal size with the pixies around, so who knew what else they could also do?

They at least provided good moral support, standing close by as the two dragons looked down at the scenery in front of them. Their meowing was reassuring too, in a strange way- the noise made it all seem a little less like a dream, although if they were supposed to have been being quiet and stealthy, then their trick was blown. If they were supposed to find the guardian, then that probably wasn’t the case, however.

And the place was very, very quiet.
“Delano, I’m sure the guardian will be around here somewhere. As Abraxas says, hiding, or possibly just on an errand,” he said, sparing the shadow elephant a sympathetic glance. Rilos would have found many errands to distract himself with, if he had to live in a bleak-a-place as this was. Sure, it had a certain uniqueness to it, but when it came down to it, especially if it was raining, it would have been a grim place to spend the rest of your days. “But it seems as if he’s not up here. Perhaps we should try going down to the lake, perhaps he is there?”

Rilos didn’t like the idea of showing themselves to this guardian very much, if it hadn’t seen them already, but that was the only way they were going to get at Delano’s talisman. Hopefully they wouldn’t be too scary. Parumfeeroo at least agreed- she chirped happily and set off in front of them, pottering down the slope like she knew exactly where they were going and who they were looking for. The spined shadow shrugged his shoulders and slowly followed the hedgecat, checking around a few of the rocks to see if there was anyone around that might be able to help them find the guardian- or the guardian himself, if it was around. But everything seemed quiet, until they got a little further down the mountainside, heading towards the lake. Parumfeeroo had surged right ahead, discounting looking under all the rocks that Rilos had been checking around in order to reach the lakeside faster. The water was very shiny looking on the surface, like there was a layer of oil floating on the top, a few streaks of rainbow colours definitely giving it the quality that oil gave water when the two were mixed together. Never mind that the whole place was weird, the hedgecat thought that was fantastic, reaching out a paw to dip at the strange water.

Rilos looked up from the big rock he was investigating with a start as the hedgecat gave a sudden yelp, fluffing herself up and scampering away as the water suddenly started to bubble in front of her. It seemed the guardian hadn’t left at all- the bubbling was soon accompanied by a shape moving in the water, a mottled blue colour, slick and shiny looking. It stood on two legs, and looked a little like a human, albeit much larger, and slightly aquatic. That might have been the oily covering of water though. Whichever it was, Parumfeeroo didn’t like it one bit, turning tail and rushing past back to where they had come from. Rilos stuck up his spines in surprise, backing up after the hedgecat too and mumbling at Abraxas, “Erm, so do you think this is the guardian? Do you think he’s going to be angry with us?” He ‘hmmm’ed’ very quietly under his breath.

While they were slowly descending towards the pool of water at the bottom of this odd crater, Abraxas couldn’t help but revel at the size of these spiky stones. They were very impressive, especially for a dragon as small as Abraxas. With a grin, she wondered what this landscape would look like from the point of view of the hedgecats; it had to be even more imposing for them than it already was for her.
An uneasy shiver travelled down her spine when they reached the bottom of the path snaking downwards but she shook it away. “I don’t like this very much,” she whispered to Rilos, but there wasn’t much that could be done about the situation anymore. As little as they both liked to be stuck here, they had promised to help Delano, and this was fulfilling their promise. So they’d just have to suck it up and get it over with.

Delano had remained at the top of the crater for quite a while before he had finally gathered up the courage to follow the dragons and hedgecats but he was finally appearing next to the two dragons, breathing heavily. If he had not been a shade, Abraxas was sure that he would be white as a sheet and sweating like a pig. In fact, he did look a little more translucent than she had ever seen him before and he was shaking a lot, but seemed to force himself to not lose it. It made her wonder just what this guardian would look like and why the shadow elephant was so terrified of him.

The answer to her question did not make her wait long.
As the surface of the water suddenly started to bubble, every instinct in her body told Abraxas to flee, to leave this place and never turn back. Yet, she refused to listen to them and remained rooted to the spot while Parumferoo scooted back up the hill, out of the immediate reach of whatever it was that was now beginning to rise out of the water.

Well, he might not have been hiding behind one of the rocks after all, as the horse dragon had thought, but he had not left this place. “I’m not really sure,” she whispered back at Rilos’ question, similar thoughts rushing through her mind as well. “What do you think he’s going to do?”
The longer they stood there, staring, the shape took more and more form. After what seemed like ages but were in fact only a few seconds, the figure was towering over them, huge and threatening, with water constantly flowing about its form, sending drops flying left and right in irregular intervals.

It definitely looked human in shape, which lead Abraxas to believe that it had probably heard what they had been whispering about as well. Yet, she did not open her mouth but rather took in the shape of the guardian, which still seemed to grow in size. The upper body was unmistakably human with a very well-toned stomach and with impressive muscles on the arms, around which some sort of rubbery aqua-blue band was fitted. The lower part of the body seemed to transform into the shape of a sort of mermaid however, which in itself seemed odd to the horse dragon. She had only ever heard of female mermaids, not to mention the fact that she had never believed them to really exist in the first place. The sceptical look on her face spoke volumes but the guardian did not seem impressed by it, instead, he looked at both dragons with a scrutiny that would have made practically anyone shrink away.

This went on for quite a few minutes, and the horse dragon was feeling weirder and weirder by the second as though she could not hold a stupid question in any longer if only to break this awkward silence, no matter what the outcome would be.
However, before she was bursting from discomfort, the guardian suddenly straightened himself and extended his arms in a welcoming gesture, a huge smile spreading across his face as his booming voice echoed through the crater: “Welcome to my humble abode, strange travellers! May I offer you refreshments?”

Abraxas was so dumbstruck that her mouth literally fell open and she was lost for words, not even a croak escaping her throat as she looked from the guardian to Rilos and back again. Now, that had been unexpected!

Delano didn’t look good, which wasn’t reassuring for Rilos, who was feeling worried about the whole thing, even without the shadow elephant looking like he could wet himself. Could shadow elephants do that, or was it just a metaphorical thing? But he couldn’t help but think that he was feeling quite similar- and probably looked it too! Faced with a giant of a…merman? It was quite a thing to stand up to, and just take it in your stride. A small side glance at Abraxas told Rilos that she, out of all of them, seemed the least fearful- Parumfeeroo too didn’t seem in the least bit phased, now she could actually see who was in front of them. Maybe they were used to seeing huge dragons and such, to not be scared of this person in front of them now?

Rilos did hope that this giant wasn’t going to do anything bad to them. Unconsciously, his spines stood up on end again, making him look… well, a bit like the hedgecats had done the day before, when they had all blown themselves up into massive balls! Spiky little porcupines. Although, he was just a tad bigger. Rilos wasn’t sure if it would do anything for his favour though, amongst a merman, who probably could cause a tsunami or something, if he felt like it- and spines were no good for that sort of thing. All the same, it made him feel a little better, if a tad foolish. He still shrank back at the intense stare that the man gave them all, dropping his eyes from where they met after only a few seconds and tightening his wings a little, bracing himself for whatever might come their way. It was a good thing he could swim well!

Against all his expectations however, when the giant next moved, it wasn’t to sweep them all from the face of the earth and for them to never be seen again, but for him to welcome them! The dragon stood confused for a few seconds, then controlled himself enough to wipe the very confused look off his face, regulating it to a rather confused look instead. He could feel the tension drain right out of the air though, which was comforting, to say the least.

“I don’t really think you could call it humble,” Rilos managed to stutter out after an awkward pause, his mind going blank as to anything properly useful he could say. Wonderful, what a time to lose the ability to speak. All he seemed to be able to do was just stare at the bright blue giant (and he was very, very blue). Not to mention awesome! Rilos had never seen a mermaid, or a merman, before. He couldn’t imagine many people had. And definitely not one who offered refreshments… what was he going to dish up if they said yes? Calamari-infused tea and kipper biscuits? Anemone-flavoured coffee? Barnacle scones? With seaweed spread and starfish jam? The last sounded particularly unappetising… Rilos decided he’d probably pass if it came to that sort of thing, unless the man was suggesting something a little more normal, like smoked mackerel, or roasted trout. Or a free shrimp dinner, he wasn’t going to say no to that. He had no idea what mermaids ate. Nevertheless, apparently it was time to find out.

“Erm, we would be most grateful to receive your offer,” he said, slipping into a formal way of talking. He couldn’t help it, when he was nervous. Abraxas seemed to be a bit lost for words, at this strange turn of events, and Delano… well, the shadow elephant hadn’t been much help so far, and Rilos knew he couldn’t really trust him to buck up his game a little now. “I d-do hope it’s not something like dolphin cordial though, because I like fish, but that’s a little too bizarre.” He winced, waiting for some sort of ridiculous comment to be made. At least, he hoped there would be a ridiculous comment, and not the hasty offer of dolphin cordial. What even would go into a dolphin cordial? The merman seemed amused by his suggestion however, laughing loudly before asking in a very serious voice,
“Would you like dolphin cordial? I’m sure I could find some, if you really wanted it?”
Rilos shook his head frantically, tentatively letting himself down into a bit of a crouch, and trying to convince himself that things weren’t as scary as they seemed. “Erm, no thank you, not at all. But, could we ask, are you the guardian of this place?” He spared a small glance towards Delano, who he could just see, looking rather small amongst the rocks. “It’s just, we came to help our acquaintance Delano here, he told us that you have a certain talisman that he would like?” He smiled a little, then went on, “it’s quite important to him, he says, and erm… he would like it?” He tailed off, starting to go round in awkward circles with his words.

For a moment, Abraxas wondered why she did not simply pick up her feet and run but that question was easily answered in the end. For as scared as she was that something bad might happen to them, her curiosity had – as usual – gotten the better of her, and more than keeping every single scale on her body safe, she preferred to see what this ominous guardian was like and wanted from them, although technically it was them who wanted something from him.
Lost for words, the horse dragon merely contented herself to close her mouth for the time being and to rustle her wings back into place, as they too had fallen to the ground as the guardian had so surprised them by transforming his impending-doom-stare into a gesture of welcome from someone who did not seem to receive visitors often and was totally over the moon now.

Delano seemed just as confused as well, but unlike the dragons, the shadow elephant did not want to believe that this was for real and kept himself slightly away from the main spectacle. He could not remember how the first meeting with the guardian had gone, but he did know that it had somehow ended up with him being cursed into a shade. Thus, he was reluctant to move closer, to believe the guardian, or even to make himself noticed. At least for now.

Shaking herself awake again, Abraxas focused on the conversation so that Rilos would not be completely by himself. “Humble, indeed not quite. This place is huge!” she thought with a blatant look towards the closest rock, hoping the merman would catch their meaning. Her mind too was wondering about the many possibilities of refreshment they might receive, and amongst others her mind was stuck on algae cake and salmon popsicles. What an odd thought!

“Thank you very much for your hospitality!” Abraxas smiled at the merman, imitating the spined shadow dragon’s formal way of speaking once her brain finally kicked in again, before she looked at the dragon in question with a furtive questioning glance. The guardian seemed so very unlike everything Delano had told them and she was utterly confused, unsure of what to make of this situation. Were they in a dream or in an illusion?

However, the guardian quickly broke through her confusion and insecurity as he made her laugh out loud by offering Rilos exactly what he had hoped they would not get. This was so typical for them. No matter what they did not want, it was the one thing they would be offered. The merman gave her a wink at this but his eyes only briefly slipped away from Rilos, who was shuddering all over merely because of the thought of dolphin cordial.

Trying to cool down her laughter to a snicker, her gaze – and the merman’s – followed Rilos’ to Delano, who looked as though he was wishing to disappear into the ground. “Indeed,” she backed up her friend’s words, “we came across him not too long ago and he asked us for our help. Apparently said talisman would help him return to his original form, and he was hoping that maybe you would be inclined to grant him this favour.”

The merman looked from one to the other, a frown appearing on his forehead as he was considering their words, all the while wriggling his fingers as though he were nervous, but the horse dragon soon noticed that there was more than just air around his fingers, and all of a sudden, the blue streaks of what she had assumed to be some sort of odd mist, revealed themselves as a thread of blue-ish ribbon which the merman was rolling up into a ball to bring a basket from the bottom of the lake. “I figured you would prefer the real deal as opposed to magically created food,” he chuckled as he opened the basket to reveal an amazing selection of the most varied fish Abraxas had ever seen. It looked fantastic!

With a snap of his fingers, a bowl of fishsoup suddenly appeared out of thin air in front of every single hedgecat and with loud miaowing, they happily dug in as soon as the bowls had settled.

“Now eat,” the merman smiled, waving for Delano to come closer as well, “and we shall talk while doing so.” Positioning himself into a somewhat seated position near the border of the lake, the merman spread the fish on a longish table which had suddenly popped up and invited the dragons and the shadow-elephant to help themselves to whatever they wanted.
“As for your question,” he continued. “Yes, I am this guardian you are seeking. However, I am afraid, I will be unable to provide you with the talisman you are seeking.” Abraxas had eagerly flopped down in front of the table with a sigh as she investigated the display of fish but at the guardian’s words, she forgot about her hunger and squinted at him, but the merman merely shrugged and took a bite of trout before replying.

Rilos was definitely grateful to have Abraxas by his side, just for the fact she said the things he was thinking, but weren’t in his nature to say. Also, two were much better against one such as this guardian, who despite being rather friendly, was still massive, and more than a tad intimidating. The fact that he kept coming out with things that were very much to the contrary of expectations wasn’t really settling, and being so nervous, the jesting of his words didn’t really sink in until the moment had passed and flown away.
Although at least he didn’t have to bluster further, with Abraxas coming quickly to his aid, and explaining things a little more clearly. That was definitely a good thing, because she didn’t butcher what he was trying to get across anywhere near as badly as he had. This gave him the chance to look at the merman properly now too, which allowed him to see what he was doing with his hands. At first, he thought the strange thin stuff he was passing through his hands was some sort of exotic seaweed (it could have been, there were weirder things they had seen), but when the basket attached at the end appeared out of the water, he understood- oh my, here they went with the sardine ice cream.

Thankfully, oh so thankfully, it wasn’t sardine ice cream in the basket, but delicious looking fish that Rilos could hardly stop himself from falling on the first moment he saw them. Ahh, there were even kippers and salmon and plaice in there! He thought that it was good that they were in the basket alone, so he had to stop himself from moaning in delight and digging right in then when a table appeared in front of them, fish on top and so delicious! Starting with one (one, not a whole mouthful of every one he could reach, which was quite a challenge, and he was proud of the fact he didn’t make a mess of himself by doing that) fish, he munched cheerfully through some stripy something he didn’t know the name of, but it tasted really good. His chewing took a turn for the slower when the guardian said that he didn’t have the talisman they were looking for, and he felt the sudden and intense desire to whack his head against the floor.
“Did you err… say you didn’t have the talisman?” he said slowly, after finishing his mouthful. His tongue flickered out the corner of his mouth a couple of times, getting a runaway piece of fish. He had half expected a hedgecat to go for it, but of course, they were all very preoccupied with their own bowls of fishy goodness.

“Yes, well,” started the guardian, looking a tad sheepish, as he well ought to, “I was over the other side of my sea, it’s hard to see from all the way over here.” He squinted behind him at the horizon, then shrugged and turned back to the two dragons again. “Anyway, I was having a picnic with a couple of my friends, and I think when I left, I must have left it behind. I was showing them it, Snahroof was very excited by it, because it was turquoise.”

“Why did you not go back and get it?” asked Rilos, not entirely sure what the problem was. After all, if he had friends the other side of the lake (sea, it was a sea! Must have been very long and go round a corner, because they could see the other side opposite. Or the guardian just liked to exaggerate), would it not be easy to go over there and get the talisman again?

The guardian went a funny colour- although he already looked odd. “I… I don’t really like crossing the sea on my own,” he finally admitted, looking at the table of fish to avoid the two dragons’ eyes. “It’s rather deep in the middle, and I’m convinced there’s a monster. And it takes a whole four hours to cross it! I mean, imagine…” he tailed off, muttering.

Rilos turned slowly towards Abraxas, trying not to bash his head on the table in frustration. Well, at least he could be consoled by their…breakfast, was that what this was? “I’m not entirely sure we’re going to get to the dessert desert,” he said, a little resignedly, but without any vehemence in it.

“I know where that is!” said the guardian, though, perking up again now that the focus was off him.

The news of the talisman not being where it was supposed to be did not land well with Abraxas. The horse dragon shot the guardian an angry look, but not before glaring at Delano, who had gotten them into this situation in the first place. It was a good thing that Rilos took over the talking, otherwise she might have snapped at the poor being, who seemed to be so terribly uncomfortable with what he had to say.
When he mentioned the other side of the sea though, Abraxas couldn’t help but strain her neck a little to try and see to the other end. Indeed, she could not, as the merman had predicted, but she had not until now even notice that this so-called lake, which was not a lake at all, was that huge! It was quite surprising and quite wonderful at the same time. Rilos apparently could see the other end however as he did not seem as impressed by the vastness of this water.

The spined shadow dragon was right with his skepticism though. She could not understand either why he had not simply gone back to the other side. It would have been the perfect opportunity for yet another picnic with friends after all!

It was all she could do not to burst out laughing when the huge, scary and apparently fearless guardian admitted that he actually disliked crossing the sea by himself. Of course, when he mentioned the monster residing in the middle, she composed herself a little again. She knew that one – not wanting to encounter monsters. Only the mere memory of the shit-demon sent shivers down her spine, and she could only sympathise with the merman.

Rilos however made her grin. The exasperation on his face was obvious and she could only feel for the poor dragon. She herself was rather amused by the whole scenario, though she also slowly began dreading that they might never arrive at the place of their dreams – the dessert desert. Just as she was about to reply to soothe her friend a little, her mouth remained open in astonishment when the guardian announced that he knew where it was.

“What do you mean you know where it is?” she asked, every worry and every doubt about all this, even the amusement at his almost irrational fear completely vanished from her mind. “Could you tell us how to get there? Could you show us? How far away is it? Is it really as wonderful as they say?”

The last words apparently wounded the guardian a little as he took a slow look around and asked with a hint of desperation: “Isn’t it lovely here too?”
Before Abraxas knew it, she was consoling the guardian with a few quickly uttered words: “Of course it is! It is a striking landscape and you have a sea! I mean, a sea! How could it not be absolutely wonderful?”

That seemed to reassure the guardian again and the horse dragon sighed inwardly. Touchy being he was. “But, ahm…?”
“Oh, yes, yes. The dessert desert is actually very close yes, but at the same time very far.”
The horse dragon blinked in confusion and looked at Rilos, mouthing a “What?!” to him before looking back at the merman, who was sloshing around in the water like a nervous little child.
“It is not far to travel there but it is far as such that I won’t tell you how to get there until you help me get back my talisman.”

For some reason, Abraxas had known this would be coming but she was still depressed by the thought of hunting down yet another thing. Although it was the same thing they had been searching for today anyways, since they had promised Delano to give him a hand to get the talisman. Why did that blasted shadow elephant not speak up anyway? He was still there but he kept himself out of the conversation. Curiously, there was no bowl in front of him either and it almost seemed as though the merman did not see him. ‘Huh,’ Abraxas thought, ‘that’s odd!’

Rilos really hoped that the dessert desert was all it was cracked up to be, otherwise their exceedingly long and convoluted journey possibly might not have been worth it- although, at this point, the thought of even a bowl of icecream, or a Victoria sponge cake sounded quite delicious. Either (or of course, both) would do him very nicely. That indeed, would have been a just reward.

Although, possibly not up to scratch when they factored in being chased by a shit-demon. That was worth at least a tiramisu on top of the cake. And having to reassure every being (save the hedgecats) that they were in fact enjoying the company of these strange creatures was possibly worth a trifle on top of that. In fact, some strawberry flan wouldn’t go amiss either…

He was daydreaming again. Stop it. Stop it now! There was no use, he would just get hungry, and then there would be nothing to satisfy his sweet tooth with. At least this time Abraxas had done the reassuring part, because Rilos was not particularly practised at it- except from his recent experience. It was slightly depressing, truth be told. Although, it did put their own predicaments in a slightly less grim light. Even if the others were exaggerating what trials and tribulations they were facing.

“I do not suppose, possibly, that you could speak a little less cryptically?” said Rilos, his slight annoyance making his words sound longwinded. It was just something that happened, when he lost patience with another person- and he had definitely lost patience with Delano and this Guardian, despite the latter having laid on such a meal for them. Eat another mackerel. That will cheer you up. If not, some plaice will definitely do the trick. Treat yourself.
But to know they were so close to their goal, it was incredibly frustrating. If only someone would give them a hand, instead of adding another strand to an already complex spiderweb!

He sighed deeply, resigned to whatever fate that was in store for them. Probably another monster. After all, the Guardian had mentioned one. He wondered idly whether it was one of those giant sea-serpents; Zack had also told him about those, something he was not so keen on the idea of. Rilos was starting to wonder whether Zack had made this whole thing up, however, because this place was very, very weird. Not like anywhere else he had been, that was for sure.
“Can Delano here not simply help you retrieve your talisman, as that is also what he desires? Then we can also be on our way, and no doubt we will all reach our respective goals at a similar time.” It seemed to be the obvious plan, but the dragon doubted that things would go as smoothly as they sounded. For one, the shadow elephant had been practically mute since the Guardian had appeared, and neither had taken much notice of the other. It was obvious any collaboration between the pair of them was only going to end in catastrophe.

He was starting to wonder if the shadow elephant was even really there, or if he was just imagining the dark speck that sat at one side of the table, saying nothing, doing nothing, not even offered a bowl of fish soup. Perhaps he had been imagining it.

“No doubt that you would prefer our company, however,” he said resignedly. “I suppose if it is not that far to where you have left your talisman, then we can accompany you there. But after that, could you please tell us where the dessert desert is? We have been travelling for what seems like a rather long time to find it.”

Abraxas couldn’t agree more with Rilos. The cryptic message was not only a little confusing but also very frustrating. She could feel her friend’s impatience and actually shared it, though for the time being, she was trying to keep it as concealed as possible. Even though she may have slightly snapped, she preferred not to make an even bigger deal out of the whole thing.
It was a mess anyhow, no need to aggravate the situation.

What was odd however was that neither the Guardian nor the shadow elephant seemed willing to react to Rilos’ suggestion of them working together to get the talisman back so the two dragons could be on their way for much more fun times than this – granted, the fish feast had been wonderful!
Delano seemed slightly panicky, but somehow he seemed to have lost any sort of human abilities he had shown before they reached this spot. Maybe that was the true power the Guardian had over him due to the curse on the shadow elephant?
However, she did not quite understand the whole dynamic but it was clear that collaboration was completely out of the question.

Rilos had figured the same and had quite simply continued talking as though he had not even made the suggestion.
“Of course, of course,” the Guardian said immediately. “Of course I will tell you exactly how to get to the dessert desert. Thank you for your help! I really appreciate it.”

Abraxas was about to sigh in relief when the Guardian raised a finger, and immediately her head drooped a little again. “Now, what you need to know about this beast: It resides in the middle, as I’ve said, where the lake is at its very deepest point. It is rumoured to be very large and have a lot of pointy teeth. We are not quite certain on its exact proportions but there certainly is no doubt about this beast being very dangerous and very vicious. So you be careful when you head over there!”

Seeing that there wasn’t much else for them to do rather than actually go to the other side of the lake to retrieve this talisman, Abraxas waddled over to the edge of the lake, a bit away from the Guardian and hopefully out of earshot too. Delano was looking after them but was remaining exactly where he was, sitting in what could only be described as a pitiful position as though completely sunk into himself.

The hedgecats were swarming around the dragons once more as they began to ready themselves for their journey. Yet, just as Abraxas wanted to set the first foot into the lake to start swimming for the other side as the Guardian had thought they should do, she stopped herself and looked at Rilos. “What do you think? Wouldn’t it be much better to just fly over the lake? We could always skim the surface to avoid getting lost or something and it should also keep us out of reach of this supposed monster. Who knows if that even really exists. It sounds suspiciously like a fairy tale to me.”

Wonderful, just wonderful. Another monster lay ahead of himself and Abraxas, and it wasn’t even as though it was a small one. Why couldn’t monsters be small and fluffy and cute? Like hedgecats! Just slightly more vicious. Not vicious enough to hurt a dragon properly, just be kinda… annoying.
But monsters had to live up to their name, didn’t they? Rilos pondered the fact as he followed the horse dragon down to the side of the lake.
Did monsters come sized to scare smaller people too? Were there monsters tailored to say, human-scaring size, rather than dragon-scaring size?

Sighing, Rilos tested one paw in the lake, to see if it was warm or not. Well, at least it wasn’t freezing cold. That would have added one thing too many to this already unexpected unpleasantness. Not that swimming was a bad thing, but having to swim in the vicinity of a bloodthirsty monster… well. He glanced back at the tableful of food and the two odd creatures sitting politely behind it still, wondering when he had become the sane one. He was a little glad to be leaving them behind, deep down. Their company was a little disturbing to say the least, it was somewhat awkward to be in their presence.

He waded in a little way into the lake, pausing as he felt little claws on his tail, Parumfeeroo scrambling her way up his back to find a nice dry and safe spot between his spines. The other hedgecats seemed to have no problems with swimming once again, but Rilos doubted whether they would be able to make it all the way across the lake. After all, it was rather big, for such small creatures. Perhaps they would turn back once they lost their footing on the shallow waters near the edge. His eyes flicked to Abraxas as she hovered near the edge, paddling along a little and letting himself get accustomed to the water.
“Flying would definitely remove a little of the risk of this new monster in the lake,” he said, nodding. His eyes strayed to her wings though, remembering from the days before when they hadn’t been able to fly, because she was hurt. “If your wing is up to it, then flying would be preferable, at least for a little way.” He had never walked so far for a long time, normally he relied a lot more on flying, than he did walking. It was so much easier (and faster) to coast along a wind current all day.

With a tentative smile he shook out his wings, stretching them wide across the water before beating them a couple of times. Ahh, yes. That was nice. So good to feel the wind underneath them again, even if it was mixed with water spray. He waded out of the water again and shook off his legs, then made sure Parumfeeroo was holding on tightly to his spines as he reared up on his back legs, beating his wings more strongly this time and getting a little bit of air. If Abraxas’ wings would hold up, they’d be across the lake and back in no time, then, DESSERT!

It was a tricky situation and Abraxas didn’t feel comfortable, which wasn’t helped by the fact that visions of horrible teeth coming her way kept flashing through her mind. Shaking her head to rid herself of the images, the horse dragon looked at the hedgecats instead to have a cuter view in her mind. She did feel sad for them though, hoping that they would not attempt to swim all the way across, though it was also boring for them to merely sit around and wait for them to return – or not.
No, no, no, Abraxas scolded herself, scratching that last bit from her brain.

“My wing will just have to be up for it,” she replied gloomily, nudging Rilos briefly with one of her wings to thank him for his concern. She wasn’t certain herself, but she preferred a little pain over pointy teeth sinking into her body.
Taking advantage of the wind created by Rilos’ large beating wings, the horse dragon spread her own tentatively, testing the injured one a little before running a few steps and taking off to the air. Circling briefly along the shore, she played with the injured one, beaming at Rilos. “It should be working fine if it doesn’t take hours!”
Maybe she had just been too afraid to fly earlier but this felt surprisingly good.

Looking down towards the hedgecats, she said: “Maybe you should wait for our return, we don’t know how far we’ll have to go to get across the lake.” She wasn’t sure whether they’d listen or not, after all they did have a mind of their own but she couldn’t have just taken off without at least trying to reason with them.

“It feels good to be flying again,” Abraxas admitted, speeding up a little as she touched the tip of her wing to the lake’s surface and made the water spray out in small fountains. Just as she was about to suggest a small waterfight with Rilos to make the flight a little more interesting, a small something with very pointy teeth latched onto her wing.

“Really now… Really?!” The horse dragon was not pleased and began shaking her wing furiously. On top of it all, it was the injured one, which had now a new scar to add to the old ones. “Rilos, something is gnawing on my wing!”
As she lifted her wing completely out of the water when the thing didn’t want to let go – at first she had assumed it was a fish, but then... it had to be the monster, the monster! – she flew higher and pulled the creature completely out of the water in an attempt to rid herself of it again.

What came out was not at all what she had expected however and the sight made her stop short, mid-air. “What the…?!? This thing is tiny! Is that the monster he was so afraid of?!” It was so very tiny, and almost... cute!

Well, Abraxas had managed to get into the air, which had only to be a good thing. Perhaps her wing would hold out, at least for a while, enough for them to cover some distance. Hopefully to get across at least the middle of the lake, so they could avoid the monster that resided there… Rilos did not like the idea of coming across another beast trying to tear them limb from limb. It was almost a little boring, being threatened by everyone they came across. A friendly face like the Guardian’s had been both surprisingly unexpected, and pleasant.

They quickly left the hedgecats behind as they flew out across the water, Rilos slowing his pace from his normal zooming speed to let Abraxas keep up. If they got into trouble again, he much preferred it if they were close, rather than spread out at shouting distance, and much more difficult to help out at speed. But everything seemed quiet, the most exciting part of their flight the glittered of the sun on the water, and the slowly growing opposite edge of the lake. He managed to relax enough to stop furiously checking the water every minute or two for any sight of the monster they had been so warned against.

That was, until the horse dragon gave a little cry, drawing Rilos’ attention immediately. He flapped his wings hard a couple of times and put a little more distance between him and the water’s surface, turning to look at Abraxas.
“What is it?” he asked hurriedly, worried for her safety. He did not want to see his friend eaten by some overgrown fish! Twisting around and slowing his pace, he readied himself to burn the monster that had gotten her into a ruined meal- no more hesitating on these things!- but then paused anyway, out of surprise.
“Is that honestly the monster that the Guardian was so very afraid of?” Rilos asked incredulously, turning his head a little sideways. It was… well, it was smaller than some of the fish that he had served up for their meal! He sighed, feeling a little put out. Not disappointed, he had not wanted to be faced with some huge beast whose dearest wish was to chew on his neck, but frustrated a little, that they had had such fear put into them over the most trivial of beasts. “I do not quite understand this place, the whole of it… we two seem to be the only sane ones here.”
Parumfeeroo stuck his claws into Rilos’ neck at that.

“Here, I will help you get it off. Mind your wing.” He backed up a little closer in the air, turning so he was alongside the other dragon, then gently swept his tails across, batting at the so-called monster to try and get it off Abraxas. Stubborn thing, it should just let go! Then they could be on their way already.

Astonishingly cute as the thing may be, it simply didn’t want to let go of her wing! No matter how much Abraxas wriggled or how many times Rilos batted his wings against it, the fish refused to release her!
“Okay, I can’t do this much longer, my wing is tiring too quickly all of a sudden.” Abraxas grunted as she tried flipping it off again. She looked at her companion, glad for his help, futile as it might be – how frustrating! – and decided that the best course of action for the time being would be to just keep going.

“Let’s just keep flying. I’ll try to manage, though I’m not quite sure anymore whether I can make it to the other side. But worst case I’ll swim the rest of the way. Then we can at least keep moving. So much for sane, huh?” the horse dragon attempted to joke. Following up on what she had herself suggested, she tried to fly steadily with the fish dangling from her wing, still blinking at her in confusion and an attempt of… charm?

“It is looking at me funny, Rilos.” She couldn’t quite define what the look was but it reminded her of a baby having lost its mummy and trying to find a substitute, or quite simply infatuation. “Rilos… can fish fall in love?”
It was an odd question, she had to admit it, but it was just as odd to have a fish sticking to your wing. As the shadow spined dragon had said, everything here was so extremely messed up that the two dragons – and Parumfeeroo of course – seemed to be the only ones to be somewhat sane.
However, the thought of it having lost its mother made Abraxas wonder if the mother had not been the so-called monster. Was she really gone? Was there a father? Neither question was a really comforting one, thus Abraxas decided to simply not dwell on them and rather concentrate on reaching that shore. Thank goodness for it coming closer!

Finally, finally, they did reach the other shore, just before Abraxas quite literally crashed into the lake and scrambled up a few paces onto shore before she remembered that the fish probably wouldn’t last very much longer without water. “Why on earth has it not let go yet? It needs the water!”
Letting her wing droop back into the lake, the horse dragon stared at the fish. The latter was still looking at her with huge eyes and from time to time munched on her wing but not really hurting her. But it wouldn’t let go. “Now what? You cannot come with me, I’m going out of the water.”
With a sigh, she looked at Rilos, hoping that maybe he had a brilliant idea. Or maybe even Parumfeeroo.

Rilos didn’t feel good about letting Abraxas fly on with the little parasite hanging onto her wing, but it quickly became apparent that it would be the only way to continue. It just wasn’t going anywhere.
“If you feel tired, we can slow down or stop,” he said earnestly, flapping away from her side and rising from the water’s surface a little more. The little fish was unnerving, seeing it hanging from Abraxas’ wing like a tree decoration. “We can find another way, if needs be.”

They managed to get a fair way in any case without much difficulty- or at least, the horse dragon kept quiet about her discomfort- Rilos glancing at her every so often just to make sure that she was not lagging so badly that she was going to drop into the water suddenly. Her comment, when it came, was not what he expected at all…
“Uhm…” he said in response, not quite sure what to say. Romantic fish? Was it going to burst into a sonata if they tried to separate it from her wing a second time? “I should think an infatuated fish to be just as unusual as everything else we have come across… I cannot say that it would be a normal thing, if they can.”
What here was not bizarre, though?

Rilos was quite glad once they got to the other shore finally, landing with a bit more style than Abraxas did. He padded over to her side, peering down at the little beast floating under the water now. It looked innocent, with big eyes and little fins, all the ingredients needed for a cute animal. Apart from that it was a fish, and chewing Abraxas’ wing in the most irritating way.
“I’m not entirely sure what to do. I cannot think that it would be a good idea to take it away while we search for this talisman.” Rilos looked up from the fish to the new place they had landed. It was a little less barren than the other side, where they had left the Guardian and Delano, but still pretty empty of vegetation, sandy and hot. If they hadn’t had other things to do, it would have been quite nice for lying in the sand and heating up a little. Rilos hardly thought that a fish would like these srts of conditions though.

“Perhaps we are being too soft with it.” He turned back to Abraxas again. The fish obviously wasn’t getting the message. Although it was maybe a little cruel, they were going to have to be firm with it; they couldn’t really afford the delay, if they wanted to get back to the others before dark. He fixed the fish with a stern stare, then suddenly flared his wings and his spines, growling under his breath. Perhaps scaring it off would do the trick.

“I.. I don’t know,” Abraxas muttered, slightly concerned about what this whole situation was doing to her sanity. Here she was with a dragon who had a purple hedgecat as a pet, lying down on a shore with her wing dipped into a lake because apparently she was about to adopt a pet fish. What was the world coming to?!

“You’re probably right,” Abraxas agreed, bracing herself for working up the courage to be firm with the beast. It was just too small and cutesy to really be strict with it. Despite the fact that she was unable to move as long as it stuck to her wing. Well, she could move, but she wasn’t really keen on causing the little creature’s death either, especially since there was no way of knowing how long this newest expedition would take them.

Fixing the fish with a stern glare herself, she willed it to let go but nothing happened. However, when Rilos suddenly showed his fiercer side – Abraxas kinda liked that one -, its eyes suddenly grew even larger and all of a sudden it let go of the wing.
Quick as lightning, Abraxas removed her wing from the lake, hissing as her wing protested against the too abrupt movement and at the same time, the fish started howling and crying. “Wha…?!” The horse dragon’s wings drooped and she felt sorry for the thing, but… “Since when can fish howl? Or cry for that matter?”
This was just too weird.

“Alright, let’s use the chance to get away and find that damned talisman before I change my mind and try to comfort the little thing.” Abraxas turned away from the lake, her heart heavy. Was that some sort of spell she was under? Shaking her head, she headed away from the shore and looked around. “Now, where to find those friends of his, so we can find that thing and be out of here. I’m slowly beginning to really, really crave dessert.”

Wherever she looked however, there seemed to be nothing. “How are we going to find them? There is no indication whatsoever of there even being any living things around here!” It was of course no secret that she was a little frustrated, her tone saying as much, but she also knew that it wasn’t going to help them in their quest. “Straight forward and let’s see where it’ll take us? Or…?” As the horse dragon looked at Rilos, she cocked her head to the side. “How about you fly up a little and see if you can see something from a higher vantage point? That might safe us a bit of time. I’ll scout the ground for tracks or hints, or anything really.”

“Ah, good…” started Rilos as the fish let go of Abraxas’ wing, then winced at the sudden loud wailing that it started up. How was it that every creature they came across turned into some clingy child when they tried to get rid of it? How was it that a fish wailed anyway?
He shook his head from side to side to try and get the horrible noise out of his head, narrowing his eyes a little in dislike. “Not so good. I have no idea when fish learned to howl, but that is most definitely one fish that can.”
Rilos seemed to be discovering a lot of things that he did not know, these days. Perhaps he needed to take more from Zack than just hints at a magical dessert desert, and gain a little book-knowledge from him too. He was a paper dragon after all, he must know some things.

He stepped awkwardly back from the water’s edge too, eyeing the still-screeching fish before turning away. Parumfeeroo was a much nicer creature, quieter. He matched Abraxas’ steps, searching the ground for the talisman in front and around them, then further afield when that seemed to turn up nothing. The ground sloped slowly upwards away from them, making it easy to see anything buried there, but after the little dune’s peak, they could see nothing further than it. There could have been anything, or nothing, for all they knew.

“I cannot see anything but, as you say, I shall fly up and have a look. I should not think the Guardian would go very far from here, he did not seem the type.” When he could barely draw himself across the lake for fear of a “monster” barely bigger than one of Rilos’ claws, the dragon did not think he would be able to stomach much of this bare land. He gave the horse dragon a hopeful smile, then took to the air again, gaining quick height but not much distance.
What lay over the dune was not what Rilos expected, quite the opposite. He almost fell out of the air in shock, blinking rapidly and landing with a good thump on the sand barely moments after he had taken off, spraying the tiny yellow particles everywhere.

He ran back to where Abraxas was, tail twitching from side to side with anxiety. “Abraxas, I do not like this. The other side… there are… I cannot explain, you have to look.” He shuffled his wings in nervousness, then took off up to the top of the sand dune, barely waiting for her to follow. This was not like Rilos, normally he was much more courteous, but he had been shocked by what he had seen.

The other side of the dune stretched mile after mile of more sand, and amongst it… armour. Spread-eagled armour on the sand, an arm poking out the side of a dune here, a leg there standing up into the sky like a macabre flagpole. Most of it was full of sand, partially covered in sand, and not completely intact, but there were a few cases where there was a whole set. These were the ones where you couldn’t see bones, bleached in the sunlight.
At the head of the whole scene, stretching out into the distance and covering a massive area, sat a whole set of armour- minus the helmet. But plus a human head, nodding sadly against a plated chest, pale hair stuck down from sweating in the armour under the hot sun. A few steps away, a sword stuck up into the air, rather rusted like everything else.

Shaking the sand out of her fur and scales after Rilos’ abrupt landing, the horse dragon looked at her friend questioningly. “What is it?” Anxiety and confusion mixed in with curiosity and more fear were fighting to gain the upper hand within her and in all honesty, Rilos’ reaction did nothing to calm her nerves.
Not needing to be asked twice, Abraxas followed the spined shadow dragon up the dune to have a look herself at whatever it was that had unsettled her friend so much. Shortly before reaching the top, she wondered whether she really wanted to know or whether she should just turn around, abandon the whole thing and never turn back.

Gasping in shock, Abraxas dug her claws into the sand as she took in the sight before them. It was incredible! Like a sandy graveyard that seemed to also partially be an abandoned battlefield. “What is this place?” she whispered, only realising she had spoken the thought out loud when the sound of her own voice made her jump in fright. “This is awful! What happened here?”

That was when her eyes fell on the full set of armour with a sweating head attached to it. Sweating could only mean the thing was alive, could it not? Was this a human? A giant? Some sort of monster? Magic? She couldn’t say, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to find out.
Yet... They had made a promise, sort of.

“What should we do?” The horse dragon looked from Rilos to the scene, to the weird person and back to Rilos. Her nerves lay blank but there wasn’t anything she could do now as the head of the creature had suddenly lifted and was now staring at them. “Oh,oh...,” she whispered as she made to back away, heading back down the dune. Even the fish was better than that. Heck, even the shitdemon seemed better than this!

“My heroes! You have finally come!” spoke the giant set of armour as it got up from its sitting position. “Come, come, join me in my little kingdom. Sad as it may be, it is mine nonetheless, which is cause enough for celebration, is it not? But I am babbling. Let me introduce myself, I am Arthur! And you, my darlings, are most welcome to my humble abode!” Gesturing about himself the man, or so Abraxas assumed, invited them to join him after a brief moment of embarrassment as he seemed to realise that his abode was actually without a roof.

“I do not like this,” Abraxas said but she felt the odd compulsion to move towards the creature, and already her legs were moving down the dune again of their own accord, avoiding bits and pieces of armour and body whenever it was necessary. It was gross! But the horse dragon felt strangely detached from the view.

“I have no clue what happened here,” said Rilos, his voice subdued from the sight in front of them. “But whatever it was, I do not like it.”
He desperately hoped that the guardian had not sent them into something much larger, that they had not foreseen. But, all things seemed to be larger than they appeared; look where they had gotten, from hedgecats, to a shadow elephant, to a guardian water spirit (but not quite), to… to a knight?

The whole thing was absolutely bizarre. Frightening, too. What could cause such destruction?

He shuffled his claws anxiously as he felt Abraxas’ eyes switch from him to the scenery in front of them and back a few times, glancing across himself once or twice. “I do not think there is anything we can do. This looks like… well, it looks like whatever happened here happened a good while ago. Except from this one… person.” If it even was a person. Knowing their luck, it could (and probably was) anything but.
Although, potentially friendly; their track record with friendly and non-friendly creatures so far had been pretty good.

He dithered on the spot, not quite sure what do to- they still had to find the talisman that had gone missing somewhere too, which was another worry on Rilos’ mind. What if they couldn’t, what would happen then? Would the guardian give them directions to the dessert desert, or would they have to continue looking until they found it? This got put slightly out of his mind as the man in armour- a knight, at least once?- suddenly stood up, apparently aware of their watching presence. He gulped, rather more nervous now they had been noticed.
Even more so, this inhabitant of a grizzly scene seemed a little… out of sorts. Rilos did not much think of himself as a hero, nor did he think that there was much of an abode for this Arthur to inhabit.
But everyone was crazy, in this place.

“I think it is possibly rather nicer up here…” Rilos said quietly, a little too much for Arthur to hear hopefully, but Abraxas already seemed to be taking up his offer, moving towards him, so Rilos had no choice but to follow. Not that he did so willingly, a whine of dislike for the situation escaping him a little.
“Uh, quite the… kingdom you have here.” He hovered a little behind the horse dragon with wariness in his movements, hovering on one foot then the other in his dislike of the situation. Arthur did not seem too perturbed however, putting his hands on his hips with a rusty creak of his armour.

“It is quite the kingdom, or was. Can you believe this used to be a great grassland once?” Now it was anything but, not that Arthur could do much about that. “Now, what brings you here? What can I do for you both, darlings? If you are looking for the grasslands that used to be here, or any grasslands, I think you have come the wrong direction.”

Time to explain their quest again, it seemed… although at that point Rilos’ eyes were suddenly drawn to a sparkling chain with a pendant on looped lazily over Arthur’s chest, from his shoulder down to his waist- “What is that you wear?”

Luckily for the horse dragon, she came to her senses again before she had arrived to stand too closely to the knight, or whatever it was. He seemed like a knight though, he was wearing armour after all, and he held himself with a sort of important air, or tried to. Frightening despite his use of terms of endearments, Abraxas eyed him suspiciously, very glad that Rilos was by her side. Alone, she was not sure whether she would still be standing in front of this character.

“Grassland? Here?” The horse dragon looked skeptical as she glanced around, not quite sure what to make of the fact that there was supposed to have been grass underneath all this gore. “Doesn’t look like that will grow back any time soon.” It was a real shame though. The place had a lot of potential and the horse side of her tingled passionately at the thought of wide grasslands as far as the eye could see.

For a few moments, Abraxas’ face lit up, sparking the crazy hope that the pendant Rilos had just drawn her attention to by asking the question might indeed be the talisman they were looking for. It sounded too good to be true however and she forced herself to calm her excitement a little, just in case it wasn’t, or there was yet another problem they had not foreseen. Like they had foreseen any of this happening…

“Is that pendant by any chance a talisman?” she asked hesitantly, deciding it would be easiest and quickest to just get it over and done with, no matter what would come of it. “Because, you see, we are in search of a talisman for the guardian on the other side of this lake, and we were wondering if maybe you’d know where we could find it?”

“Ah, and you believe this to be the talisman you’re searching for?” The knight looked at both the dragons questioningly, not even moving as much as an eyebrow. Yet, he still managed to look quizzically.

“It was worth the question,” Abraxas mumbled in a barely audible tone. “We have come quite far and we’re almost at our destination. If you could point us to the talisman we’re seeking, we would be very obliged.” She felt a little weird talking like this but she didn’t know how else to put it. Looking at Rilos, she wondered whether it had been a good idea to come here after all. They had such a hard time saying no and now they were on yet another odd quest. But the dessert desert seemed within their grasp! They needed to fulfil this quest!

Rilos started to get excited at the sight of what might be the talisman around Arthur’s neck. Could they really have had such luck to find it almost instantly, without having to search across this grim desert in front of them? This hadn’t happened once in the past few days. How fantastic! He edged a little closer, as eager as Abraxas to see if they were correct.
Arthur looked concerned at their interest; he quite liked the trinket he had found and claimed as his own. Especially when it was two rather large dragons eyeing him up- the looks in their eyes could too easily be mistaken for something like the wish to eat him.
“Yes… but why? It’s mine now.” He frowned belligerently at the pair of them. “It’s the only reason anyone ever decides to come this far out. I get so lonely stuck here with nobody to talk to.”

The almost-gleeful look on Rilos’ face at Arthur’s answer faded rather quickly at his following words. So, this was the talisman… but they couldn’t just take it off Arthur, not when he made such an argument. Rilos didn’t want to leave the man lonely- he made a compelling argument. He was obviously in need of a friend. Not a friend like the “friends” he had now, if how he told his story was true; it sounded as if others only came to see him to admire his spoils, and then leave. No, he needed a proper friend… one that liked him for who he was.

The spined shadow looked to Abraxas, wondering if she had any ideas. He himself didn’t want to stay behind in this strange war-ravaged land, not with this strange man, especially not when there was a dessert desert to be soon having!
“What we really need, is someone who also needs company. Someone else who is lonely.” He turned to Arthur, letting his gaze wander between the two. “Then you can have a friend who will visit, and we can have the talisman. Please.”
Perhaps the guardian would visit? Although he seemed so terrified of that little screaming lake monster…

The lake monster! It seemed just as desperate to hang onto someone else (quite literally), and it wasn’t scary at all. Rilos’ eyes lit up with excitement and he twitched his front paws a little. “The lake monster, Abraxas! I bet it will be friends with Arthur here.”

Despair, frustration and annoyance. The emotions took it in turns as Abraxas followed the conversation, growing increasingly confused as well at the whole exchange. Of course, she could understand that Arthur didn’t want to be lonely, nobody wanted to, but couldn’t they just borrow the talisman and bring it back to him once the shadow elephant had been freed? Because in the end, that was all they needed it for, so that Delano could return to his normal form and then Arthur could have the talisman back and they could all happily visit each other to their fancy while Rilos and Abraxas could be done with the whole thing and be on their way to the awesomest place of all times.

Too bad things could never be easy for them.

That was of course until Rilos mentioned that they needed to find someone that was as lonely as Arthur so they could keep each other company now. “Oh my, you’re right!!” she exclaimed excitedly! “I bet it would love to have someone to keep it company!” Turning away from the spined shadow dragon to regard the man, she noticed a confused and slightly scared look on his face. “Oh, don’t worry. The guardian called it the lake monster but it really isn’t. It’s a small fish in desperate need of a friend. I’m sure you two would get along very well!”

“If you say so,” he replied reluctantly but curiosity soon won over because he really just wanted a friend with him. “So where is this ominous being?”
Abraxas actually bounced up and down a little, eager to show Arthur to the lake. “He is in the lake of course. Come, come, we will bring you to him. It’s just over these dunes anyway, so you don’t have to go far. You’ll be close to your soon-to-be friend in the lake and you’ll still be close to your.. home.. here.”
She wasn’t quite sure whether that really was the best way of naming this place but even though it might not be a place either she or Rilos wanted to linger in, Arthur might enjoy it. Why else would he be here?

The walk to the lake really was a short one, even more so that they were now eager to find a solution to their respective problems. If Arthur and the fishy accepted each other as companions, then Rilos and Abraxas could soon be on their way to solve every single one of their quests and enjoy themselves in the dessert desert.

Lucky for them, the fish was still swimming up and down along the shore line where the horse dragon had shaken it off earlier, still crying loudly. As soon as it heard them approach however, it began jumping up and down in the water to try and see what was happening.
“See? This could be your new friend!” Abraxas pointed out enthusiastically to Arthur.

Rilos was so glad Abraxas agreed with his idea, considering she was the one who had found the lake monster, not he. But it wasn’t as if she had had any more experience with it, for that. Just experience of its teeth, and that was something Rilos could most definitely do without. Arthur looked unenthusiastic at the idea, but he had no idea what he was letting himself in for with this, and Rilos could empathise with not being quite sure of himself. It applied to the Spined Shadow often enough.
He really, really hoped this all worked out though. He was dying for something sugary by this point, and was quite done with all this fuffing around with everybody else’s problems.

The dragon was also glad for the only short distance they had ventured into Arthur’s territory this side of the lake, both for the fact that it then wasn’t very long before they were back at the lakeside, and that they didn’t have to tread their way through a long way of grim, dusty wasteland. The pitiful, unhappy sounds that the fish was making made things a little less bright, but hopefully their solution would find the thing quietened soon. Rilos made sure to stay far away from the thing as the horse dragon led Arthur on, encouraging him all the way.

With a little time, and more than enough hesitance from Arthur, the fish’s bawling turned to gurgling of happiness, then both the man and Rilos were surprised when it suddenly bit its teeth around his arm, quite firmly marking its new friendship with Arthur. Luckily for all of them, his armour was more than a match for a little fish’s teeth, and there wasn’t an ounce of pain or damage on him. It was an odd friendship, if it could be called that so soon, but it actually seemed to work, and Rilos wasn’t going to be the one to complain.

He tactfully waited a little while for the two to more firmly get to know one another before asking for the talisman, more pleased than he had been at the sight of grilled fish, or any other good thing that had happened to them all day, when Arthur gave it over with little fuss.
“Finally, nearly at the end of all this!” he whispered to Abraxas as he dipped his paws in the lake water a little way off the newfound friends, one of his tail-ends curled very firmly around the chain of the talisman. “Then we can have our rewards, more dessert than either you or I could possibly hope to eat!”

Fish and man finally united as friends, Abraxas heaved a sigh of relief. It had taken its sweet time for them to get acquainted but as soon as the fish clamped its teeth around Arthur’s arm, she knew the deal was sealed. What a wonderful thing! They both seemed quite happy to finally have found someone. She still didn’t quite understand how it could have been that they never met, being so close to each other but maybe Arthur had never ventured to the lake’s shore when the fish had been close by. Sometimes all these things needed were a little push.

And even better in all of this, Arthur almost instantly handed the talisman over to Rilos when the dragon asked for it. They could not have wished for this to go any quicker than it just had. Arthur and the lake monster were friends and lived close to each other so they could each stay on their turf without being lonely anymore. The guardian would have his talisman back and he didn’t have to be afraid of the lake monster anymore, because frankly that monster really wasn’t a monster. And Delano would hopefully have his curse lifted so everything would be just fine in the end.

“Oh don’t mention the dessert, I’m dying here for something sweet!” she whispered, unknowingly voicing both their cravings. “Let’s say goodbye so we can be on our way. They won’t need us now anyway. Just look at them, aren’t they cute?”
Indeed, Arthur was busy spraying water at the fish in a playful manner and the little thing was happily bouncing around the lake, always in proximity to Arthur of course, teeth at the ready to latch on again in case the man wanted to disappear. But they were having fun.

“Arthur, we have to be on our way now. Thank you for your kindness in giving us the amulet. Hopefully you will be very happy with your new friend.” Giving the knight a wave and brushing her wing briefly over the fish whilst grinning largely at both of them, she looked at Rilos. Whenever he was ready. Her wing was hurting a bit from the earlier exertion but she wanted to be over the lake as quickly as possible so they could be done with all of this soon.

The journey across the lake seemed to drag but the horse dragon was sure that was just an impression because she was hoping to be rid of all their burdens soon. “Do you really think the dessert desert will be close by? Do you think we could still reach it today? That would be so amazing!” Pestering Rilos with questions was a good way to make time pass quicker, at least in her opinion. And already the distant shoreline was coming into view.

Rilos nodded to Abraxas’ suggestion of making their exit, his eyes flicking only briefly to her as he looked away from the happy sight in front of them. Oh joy, the fish and Arthur had taken to each other like… well, a fish to water, and they could ask for nothing better. Perfect, just perfect.
“Most definitely sweet. I hope they find happiness.” It did not seem as if very many did find it with friends in this strange place. Every creature or person they had come across, bar the hedgecats, had been alone, all nice enough in their own way (apart from the shit demon and those screaming pixies), but very separate from one another.
Although, with a little more thought, probably a good thing they had all been separate. There was only so much crazy one place in one moment could hold, and there had definitely been enough crazy to overload the system if it had all happened at once.

He too said his goodbyes as Arthur and his new fishy friend pottered round on the shoreline with each other, taking to the air with some thankfulness as they set out back across the lake. Perhaps it seemed like a shorter flight because they were heading back to where they had come from, and it was with much relief he spotted the other side of the lake on the horizon.
“Oh, I hope it is close. I am sure it will be, we have come so far, any distance will be close in comparison!” He gave her a shy smile, gliding across the water with little effort. It was lovely, knowing they would soon be at their end.

With more time passed, they finally reached the other shore and the huge guardian and the small Delano still sitting patiently in silence at the table (now strangely emptied), steadfastly ignoring one another. Rilos landed down neatly on the sand, shaking his wings loose from all this flying and pushing the talisman onto the ground.
“Here it is, the talisman you have been waiting for. The monster was not nearly as scary as you made it out to be, in fact, it was rather pleasant.” If noisy, oh so noisy. “Now, the dessert desert? Please?”

Rilos was probably right. They had come so far, no matter how far they still had to go to reach their destination, it wouldn’t seem at all far anymore. Of course, considering the journey they had had, there was a little nagging doubt remaining but she tried her best to simply ignore it. She would not let any bad thoughts compromise her current happiness, and definitely not her anticipation to their well deserved dessert!

When the dragons touched down both the guardian and the shadow elephant instantly looked up from their respective musings and smiles passed over their faces. The guardian quickly nodded at Rilos’ questions. “Yes, yes, that’s the one, thank you so very much! I feel instantly better now having it back in my possession.” He completely ignored the reprimand about the monster not really being a monster and lovingly looked at his talisman.

Delano on the other hand dipped his head towards the ground in sadness, seemingly believing that he wasn’t going to benefit from the presence of the talisman at all. Abraxas noticed this and frowned briefly, not quite sure what to make of this. She had figured that once they came back with the talisman everything would be settled but there was still the small matter of lifting Delano’s curse before they could move on to the dessert desert.
“Ahm, so how is this going to work to lift Delano’s curse? And why did that happen in the first place anyhow?” The horse dragon’s curiosity once again won the battle and she really wanted to know the details, especially since they had come so far in order to help the shadow elephant.

“Ah,” the guardian said. “Yes. About that.”
Delano looked up again at those words, panic across his face.
“It was a little mistake on my behalf. Yes, I did want to punish him but it was stupid of me and I should never have gone to such lengths. Can you forgive me?” The merman finally looked at Delano for what seemed like the first time since he had arrived on the scene along with the two dragons and the herd of hedgecats.

Delano’s mouth fell open at those words and for a moment joy and hatred warred on his face before he finally nodded. “As long as you promise to never ever do anything like that ever again!”
“I solemnly swear,” the merman replied with a grin before moving to the shadow elephant to put the talisman around the latter’s neck. “I shall release you from your curse.” And just like that, Delano came back to his normal form.

The horse dragon looked at the scene, dumbfounded. Glorious elephant? Really? She had considered that to be something really quite different, but alright, if Delano thought that was a glorious elephant form, by all means, who was she to burst his bubble?
In fact, Delano was rather quite small in his elephant form but after looking on for quite a while, Abraxas realised that he really was glorious indeed. For he had what no other elephant could possibly ever have: a black coat and teeny wings. They probably wouldn’t be able to lift his body but they were there nonetheless.

“Very peculiar,” Abraxas whispered to Rilos. Beaming at the two dragons, the guardian spread his arms wide. “You have reunited all of us, and we are very grateful to you for this. Now, about the dessert desert.”

» And there was Darkness throughout the land.. (Lycanscar X Eldarwen)
» Rogue ]}-Shadow & Light-{[ Aero
» The Beauty and the Chicken (Rogue X Eldarwen)
» Darkness falls. Jaej meets his end, another finds more friends.
» Eldarwen & bluemoonstonight {Title to come}