Duo and Zechs woke up to the sound of humming and frying food. Duo peeked his head out the tent flap and grinned a bit as he saw their demon guide flipping a couple eggs in a pan over their campfire.
Imati cast a glance his way and grinned. "Might as well come out. I made some food for your sweetheart, too."
Duo blinked a few times. "Just him, eh?"
Imati smirked. "Well, I'd have made you something but you're a vampire. Kinda wouldn't be worth the effort. Unless you terribly like the taste of eggs."
A few moments later the three of them were sitting around the campfire. Imati stretched out and yawned hugely, idly giving the eggs a last good flip with the spatula he held in his tail. Duo was watching the sight with his head cocked to one side, amazed and amused. Imati used his tail as easily as he used his hands or his arms, apparently. Noting the direction of Duo's stare, Imati blinked, then burst out laughing.
"Eh, sorry...its a habit. And one I'm glad to partake in again too, I might add. I was stuck being fully human for a lot longer than I care to admit. On that note, it's kinda nice to be male again too."
Duo gave Imati a long, sideways glance. When the demon arched an eyebrow, he felt compelled to speak. "Er...sorry, but that sounds really strange. Heh."
Imati smiled and neatly skewered a slice of egg with his fork. "Eh, I change shape and gender like most people change their clothes. Er. I did, anyhow, before I lost most of my power."
"How'd that happen?"
Imati shrugged. "To be honest, I'm not really clear on the details. But Oriias...my mate...somehow got himself stuck with some sort of magic-leeching curse. We didn't really know anything about it. Heh. The first time he touched me...bam. Instant human. Mortal. And completely powerless. It's been horribly frustrating. We managed to reverse a tiny bit of it, but....heh. He's been busy with this whole Lycavi-conquering- the-world thing."
Duo blinked. "Oh...so your...what...husband...has your magic then?"
A faint trace of dark emotion flicked through the demon-shifter' s gaze before he answered. "My mate. We aren't married. Well. He is, but not to me." Imati noted Duo and Zechs' immediate reactions before clarifying. "Its not what you think. To make a long story short, Oriias was out on a quest to try and save the world, essentially. He got hit by a spell that made him forget everything. Who he was, where he was...all that good junk. He was taken in and cared for by a little farming community. He set up a little life there and ended up marrying one of the farmer's daughters. Sweet kid. Well, I finally found him, and we got his memories back. But that didn't change the fact he was wed to a girl that loved him and pretty much couldn't have had any sort of life without him. And he did care for her. So."
"Er. Why aren't the two of you married then? Is it illegal?"
Imati blinked. "Illegal? Nah...can marry as many people as you like. Fact is, he never asked me. But it's not a big deal. I know how much he loves me. Now enough of this questioning stuff. We have a lot of ground to cover. Mostly because I have no idea where I'm going."
"Then I don't suppose you make a very good guide," Zechs responded with a slight smirk.
Imati grinned. "Eh, you misunderstand me. I know exactly where we are. I know exactly where we're going. I'm just not sure where in this mess of mountains we need to end up is all. We're looking for a cave, but the cave is hidden. Don't toss me out as a guide just yet."
After breakfast, the trio packed up their gear and trudged off into the increasingly difficult terrain. The permafrost made traveling through the rough mountains ultimately easier - most of the uneven rocks were covered in a solid layer of ice and snow. In fact, everything seemed to be endless, gently rolling white.
After several long hours of trudging, Imati stopped and Duo scowled. "Everything looks the same and I don't see anything different at all."
Imati grinned. "No? Look over there."
Duo squinted in the direction the demon was pointing. "I see snow."
"It's cracked. Therefore, not very thick...and likely over an opening."
Duo eyed the snow dubiously. Zechs took a more straightforward approach, simply walking over and delivering a swift kick. The snow tumbled inwards, revealing a round black opening.
"Huh. Well. I'll be damned." Duo said with a blink.
"Ah, hells..." Imati muttered, running full-tilt for Zechs. He got there just in time to intercept a purple and blue blur that flew from the cave entrance. Imati growled and held on, tackling whatever it was to the ground.
A moment later blood was flying as the trapped dragon kicked and slashed, trying to break free of Imati's grip. Zechs lunged over and grabbed onto the beast's hind legs to try to help immobilize it, and Duo dove in a second later. Between the three of them, they managed to hold the small but powerful creature down.
The dragon was strikingly colored and surprisingly harmless looking. Smooth cerulean skin with deep purple highlights covered the dragon's frame. In addition to its lack of scales, the beast also had no horns, spikes, or other malicious, obvious growths. A pair of large ears were pressed back against the little dragon's skull, and his blue eyes rolled in fear. The dragon was roughly human in size, although the comparison was a bit off due to it having a long neck and a tail.
"Ixiayse, dear, you really must learn to calm down..." Imati grated. The dragon's ears pricked up and he endeavored to turn his head despite the death grip, his muscles relaxing. "Kerashi?"
Imati nodded to the two pilots that it was alright and released his grip, standing up. Once free, the small dragon shook himself and backed up a few steps, flicking his ears to remove some errant snow.
"Why are you here?" he murmured, eyeing Zechs and Duo suspiciously.
"Long story. Got a few?"
The dragon nodded and led the three of them into his cave
It was a long time before S'sira's eyes flickered open. He groaned softly, clutching at his skull as if trying to squeeze the vision Epyon had granted him out. All of it seemed so familiar, the images dancing on the edges of what he could recall. Try though he might, however, the memories were not simply forgotten but destroyed. There was nothing to recall.
// I best get this over with...maybe if I succeed, the damned bitch will answer a question or two. // With a sigh and more than a little hesitation, S'sira carefully rested his fingers back on Epyon's controls. He closed his eyes tightly and began again to feed the machine energy, searching for the tiny magical anomaly buried deep within the system.
He found it.
The runes covering his body began to flame a bright blue as he drew on their energy, quietly murmuring incantations. He felt the machine buck to life, the green eyes flaming as the hidden magical seed sprang to life.
Chion looked at his notes before peering back into the magnifying crystal before him, delicately separating one nanobot from a cluster of them. His movements were delicate and precise, despite the tiny, fragile machine being far too small to see with the naked eye. He examined a tiny imperfection and frowned before making a note, mumbling to himself. "Replication in cluster 25328-B series seems to be malfunctioning. .."
Something intruded on the shadowgod's consciousness violently. He felt the magic boring its way into his realm as surely as if someone had stabbed him. Irritably he set down the robot and yanked off his crystal focusing device, tossing it down and stalking to the window. The wind outside howled in response to a massive dark vortex that was winding out of the sky. "What in the name of all that is...!" he cursed, diving backwards.
It was too late, however - the shadowgod, in addition to half his laboratory and research and a good chunk of his castle, were yanked into the rift.