((Caeriadne)) Ripples in the Night Sky

She struggled with the agony of the past, but ultimately, the euphoria of the dream won out after what seemed like hours of restlessness. Her mind finally allowed itself to relax and she sunk deeper into sleep, allowing the dream and its underlying message to wrap around her fully and without her half-conscious resistance.

Once she was sucked into the happiness, once it's pure euphoric light and seemingly perfect warmth had permeated her entire being...was it sucked away in a brutal instant. The sun went black and gave off a dirty grey light, the wind grew harsh and cold, blowing in wickedly from the north, and all the flowers that surrounded her on that hill withered and died. She could feel death around her, the death of that which she had once cared most about. But new death as well, vague images in her mind of chess pieces crumbling. The knight, two rook, and two bishops.

In the distance she saw 14 green horrible eyes staring at her from a cloud of darkness, they were in sets of 7 it looked like. Red and green lightning flashes and she could a glimpse of a form that could dwarf mountains, it had 6 pairs of legs, it had a number of massive tattered wings that could block out the sky, and it's head seemed to be a horrible fusion of flesh and bone creating a horrible mimic of a draconic face.

When it roared, it's mouth opened up as if it were a cone, opening in a horrible gigantic circle, roaring with 8 different pitches of sound. It all went black, and she heard a voice that belonged to Raziel, but she would immediately know was not there of his doing, this was not made by him. It said to her "Seek out the Cataclysm, to stem the Fall."

A frightful hiss ripped forth as Caeriadne shot awake, all fangs and talons and ready to fight. Her great head reared back as if she expected to look straight up into the eyes of whatever had permeated its way into her dream.

Dream, she thought again. It was just a dream...

But was it just a dream?

She would notice that the sun was beginning to rise, that quick dream was most of the night. It had somehow dragged on through hours of her night. She would feel rested, but at the same time somehow restless. It wasn't a normal dream, it must have been a vision...right?

Whatever it was, there was business to attend to today. The dwarves and giants were already in a long caravan and preparing to leave with the sun rise.

She was glad that she hadn't caused much of a stir by waking so violently, and once she calmed down, she grew to appreciate that her new followers were already up and preparing themselves. She shook off the remnants of the dream, resolved to discuss it later with Raziel and perhaps the others, and readied herself to take off. She spent a few moments checking with the different groups, helping with any last-minute preparations, and then went to find Mil'drucht to finalize the plans.

Mil'drucht walked over to her once she found the wagon he was working on at the moment "Hello my lady Caeriadne, I noticed you wake with a start, but you seemed alright so I didn't cause a scene. Are you ok my lady?"

"Yes, my friend, I just have many things drawing on my mind at the moment, and I suppose that it's taking its toll on me...but it's quite considerate of you to ask. And, do tell, how may I be helpful to you and your people, before I take my leave this morning?"

"You've already done so much for us, simply taking us in was more than we could have asked for. I believe we will be fine, perhaps you should give me a refresher on the direction? Land marks and that such? I'm sure we have enough in the way of maps and charts to know how to get there, but I just want to make sure we do it in the quickest way possible."

"Technically, my friend," she said with a wry smile, "you took me in to your home. I just happened to have saved it from imminent destruction under favorable odds at the hands of a less noble, less clever foe. So, I am not so great that you should feel so indebted to me. As for directions, they are quite simple, even on foot." She proceeded to detail the fastest route, as she had studied it on the map before leaving and again when she flew above on her way here. It should be far off from Darilith's path, even if by some fluke he had managed to make it this far already; they should be safe nonetheless. Caeriadne had noticed no dangers or obstacles along the way, and determined that she would check again on her return flight.

He smiled and laughed heartily "I suppose but whether or not you like it, we are indebted to you. You saved my people, and that's a debt I can never repay, but you better believe I'll try." He listened intently and nodded, writing a few things down as she explained them. "Alright, thank you very much Caeriadne. I think we're ready to go..."

"Be safe, and know that you go upon the wings of Sapphire." She said this as much to Mil'drucht as everyone else that had gathered around. With that, she lifted up into the air, shaking off any last vestiges of weariness she still had from the night before. She circled the hold once, and then made a sweeping arc a few miles to the north as a final assurance that there were no hidden dangers intending to close upon the Hold or its denizens after she left. And then, soaring high into the skies above Blazehill, Caeriadne soared to the south directly back towards Brighton.

The large caravan would be safe on their journey, it was a long one, but as she could see it would be a rather uneventful one. As she was returning to Brighton she would sense something, an absence of something...Raziel was not there. But neither was Darilith, she could feel he was much closer but he was not quite there yet.

Caeriadne swept across the sky of Brighton and came to a landing hard in the courtyard. "Where is Raziel," her voice boomed out across the little city to any who would answer.

Lancaster was nearby when she landed and he managed to walk to her as fast as he could, which was still rather slow, annoyingly so. "My lady I'm sorry, we couldn't stop him. He said one of the other Lapis Dragons was having an issue with something along the way so he went to help. We tried to tell him now but you can't really stop someone who has dragon magic..."

"Damnit, Lancaster! Where is Silus, then? Did he at least take soldiers with him?!" Caeriadne was furious. They had ONE job...

Lancaster managed to stay cool in the face of an angry dragon and just nodded "Yes, and Silus knew you would be furious we couldn't keep him here, so he made sure he brought a couple of our best. But he himself couldn't go with him."

"And why not? Nevermind! I want him here, now. Have Lang and the others returned from the enclave yet?"

"Something has stricken Silus, he is in the town hall, in a room we set up as a sort of hospital room for him so he could still be close to the decision making. He demanded it. And yes they have, at this time only the leader of the Enclave and five other tieflings have come with them, and they came to meet with you. Would you like them to meet you in the town hall?"

"No. Offer them my sincerest pardon and put them up as comfortably as possible in the inn until I can deal with them. Now, my priority is Raziel...and Silus. Go and tell Dylan he must come with me to see Silus immediately." She paused as a grim expression played across her usually calm serpentine face. "And Verior."

With that, she took a few great bounding steps towards the town hall. As she moved, the glimmer of energy swirled around her. She changed forms almost in mid-stride, falling from the huge sapphire figure to the slender human woman before their eyes, as she reached the door of the hall and swung it open. Her sword-hand naturally and instinctively rested along the hilt as she entered and sought out Silus.

Lancaster nodded and was off as fast as he could, still slowly, to go and tell Dylan and Verior to meet her at Silus.

It wasn't hard, there was a doctor just leaving the room Silus was in and he immediately pointed the room out to her when he saw her enter. When she got in the room, what she saw was rather sobering. At this point it would see everyone knew he was dragon born, his torso was bare, revealing the scaled patched of skin he had. But the scales looked much less colored, slightly pale. There were dark circles under his eyes showing that, even though he appeared to be sleeping he wasn't getting much rest, and a sheen of sweat shown on his body. What ever had happened in her absence, Silus had come down with something rather bad. He seemed like he could be woken though, he wasn't in a coma.

"Damnit," she cursed under her breath. She doubted that this was a coincidence. "Silus! Silus, wake up. I'm here." She waved the doctor in after her, without taking her eyes off the loyal Silus. "Tell me everything." She stepped closer, but was careful not to touch him - it might be contagious, after all.

Silus opened his eyes and immediately tried to sit up and winced slightly "My lady! I am so sorry, I failed to keep Raziel here, I swore to serve you and the first time you left me with an important duty I failed you. I will accept any punishment you may have." He sounded so weak and tired, but his first thought was to her.

"Later, Silus," she was cross with him, but not impatient or unjust. Even if she may have lost her temper, his condition was too severe to warrant unnecessary callousness. "Tell me everything," she repeated earnestly. "What has stricken you?"

"I...I'm not sure my queen. I know that no one else has contracted it, so it doesn't seem to be contagious. But it happened just a day ago, and a few hours after I was brought here, bed ridden, Raziel got a message from one of the other Lapis dragons, one named Ruile, and he had to go help him. Besides that, nothing has actually happened in your absence. Everything was going smoothly..."

"What are your symptoms?" This was addressed as much to the doctor as it was to Silus. "And who went with Raziel? I must know where he has gone, and if I need to follow him to help him. He could be in great danger. I fear Darilith, or the other dragons, may single him out as an easy target if he is traveling and vulnerable." Of course, she didn't elaborate on the whole truth just yet - they knew what they needed to, for now.