The rest of the mages had found survivors and were now meeting in their specified point. The dragonrangers had been continuously flying back and forth to pick up victims, and then they would fly support for the streets. Meanwhile, the [leaders] had setup a few dozen of tents to act as a [camp]. Many of the victims had been too injured to move until they were healed. They were strewn across the plains between Soluna and the mountain ridge that separated it from the valley.  
Fortunately for Bex’s charges, they were flown straight back from where she found them, but she still rushed back to see the magisters. Peredur was with them, helping to direct the evacuation effort. Magnus was next to him, leaning over a table-top displaying a holographic version of the terrain. The surface was almost half red, and Bex knew it meant that the monsters were advancing. She entered the tent just in time to hear Magnus sigh. “This isn’t good…” he stated before noticing that Bex had entered.
Peredur acted like he didn’t see her enter and proceeded to address the few other leaders. “We have no choice but to keep going,” he mentioned, “I do not see a way to expedite our progress.”
A dark-haired man nodded and added, “You’re right, we’ll evacuate who we can save, leave the rest…”
Forgetting her purpose in the tent, Bex gasped, “What are you talking about?! We have to save the whole town!”
Magnus bolted upright and reached for her shoulders. The grip was strong but he kneeled down and looked her over with sympathy. “Bex, continue doing what we’ve asked you to do…” he commanded, firmly but gently.
“But you are planning to leave people to whatever fate that fog has for them!” she reared back, attempting to shake her father’s hands off. “Those monsters are killed people!” Irately, Bex flailed, gasping in more air in her growing panic.
Bex shouted, “And what about Shade? His dad still works here; have we found him yet? Are we going to leave other families broken?” Suddenly, her mouth gaped and her body doubled over with a racking cough.   Several shuddering breaths followed until a series of coughs that she couldn’t control.
As one everyone in the tent surged forward and Bex barely registered herself being lifted and moved. The lack of air quickly took her and she struggled to breathe. Managing to flick her eyes open and shut Bex could vaguely see a nurse coming to her side. As the flurry of movement continued, she continued to cough away the burning feeling in her lungs.
Magnus frowned as the nurse checked Bex’s throat, then placed a hand to her chest. Her hand glowed in a simple white light. She closed her eyes with a hum and moved her palm back and forth. Quickly she sat Bex upright, while frowning.  “I can’t find what’s wrong!” the nurse said frantically, becoming rushed as Bex started to turn blue. “She doesn’t have asthma or an obstruction!”
A small person pushed the nurse aside, “Out of the way!” When she turned she saw Moki approaching. He loosened her clothing around her neck and chest, and the nurse went ballistic.
She snatched his hands and shouted, “What are you doing?! Only trained professionals should be in these tents!”
Moki smirked, but before he could say anything Magnus interjected, “He is a trained professional. His medical level is senior journeyman.”
“That’s…higher than mine,” the nurse murmured, stepping back, “My apologies.”
With the nurse now willing to provide assistance, Moki used a stool to reach the table. He checked Bex’s airways, eyes, chest sounds, and body for injuries. With Bex’s lips turning blue the coughing stopped but she continued to wheeze. After a examination of her chest he placed her on the table flat. “She’s in Anaphylaxis….” He mentioned firmly.
 Swiftly waving his hand over her body, his hand glowed. The many colors shifted until they reached a green. Bex’s body lurched towards his hand, and he began weaving them back and forth towards her throat. With an exhale a strange liquid came out of Bex’s mouth. Moki pulled it up into the air. “I need a container,” he said, struggling with his capture.
The nurse scrambled, bringing a glass bottle and cork to him where he dropped the liquid. Bex’s breathing resumed. After briefly studying the liquid, Moki turned back to his friend, and nodded. “She’s fine now,” he grunted.  
“What was that?” Peredur asked, leaning into the tent which was too small for him to stand upright.
“An allergic reaction to whatever this is,” Moki jerked one hand at the jar.
A small moan preceded Bex’s movement upright. “It’s the fog; I was saving some boy and mother from the monsters, when the fog came in.”
“Miasma,” Magnus interjected, “We don’t use it, but many magicians used to.”  
With ease Peredur stepped backwards, regaining his proud posture. “Ah, yes, I remember. The last occurrence of that in Orsan was in the Koa’nesk wars, right?”
As he watched Moki place his hand over Bex’s head, Magnus replied, “They called it ‘The Haze’ then and used it for killing anyone who hid.” He paused enough for Moki’s ministrations to finish. “The Koa’nesk eventually used their indoctrinated soldiers’ powers in the same manner, effectively making The Haze a double-edged sword. Orsan magicians decided to discontinue its use after the war.”
“Like mustard gas from Earth…” Bex added, getting up and rubbing her throat. Magnus nodded at her. Then with a startled expression Bex asked, “Right?”
“Yes,” Magnus smiled at her, soon helping her off the table. “I suggest we make an announcement about the nature of this fog; we don’t want this, or worse, to happen again.”

In human form, Bex stood atop the exposed wall of a ruined house. Even in plain sight she felt safe, counting on her skills to swiftly shift into any animal. Down below her, a few blocks away, she could see the extended tendril of smoke-like miasma sift through the alleys and streets. It would soon overtake the town—and them with it—if they were not quick enough in evacuating the injured.   
Her stomach fluttered. The pain from coughing the first time she inhaled the miasma shallowed her breathing. She curled over herself, touching her chin to her chest. Her feet threatened to take her over the edge of the wall. Her knee touched down next to her hand on the stone, steadying herself until the burning in the dip of her ribcage stopped. When she looked up again the tower of energy was pulsing with light.
The edges around it spliced themselves and sloughed off like a peal. Like medusa arms, they were thin pillars compared to the main spire. They wriggled down, pulled by gravity until they seemed to fade in midair, settling like fog on the streets below. The miasma closest to Bex flowed like the tide further towards their camp. Bex gasped, taking in a few breaths just to be sure what she was seeing was happening.  This time however she made sure to keep clear.
Instead of jumping into the fray, Bex took to the air, mounting on her black wings again. In crow form, she could steer clear of the fog, since it blanketed the ground. She made many circles above the town, seeing many pockets of resistance. Mages here and there were facing gangs of monsters in order to rescue more and more people. Others were trying to find some way to block the fog from advancing by toppling buildings or using magical barriers.
As she banked around for another approach to the main-street, Perdur ran up along her flight path. With instant recognition, he flagged her down with a wave of his head. She furled her wings and extended her legs onto one of his horns to perch. The black drake tilted his head downward, which made his horns lift, raising Bex with a gentle jostle. “Your father wants you to come back for safety,” he sighed.
“What?!” Bex squawked and puffed out her neck feathers. “He’s going to let these people die in that fog?”
“He’s not calling back the others, just you,” Peredur was bereft, snorting at the notion himself.
“I’m fine! Tell him I’m fine!” She hopped off his horn, filling her wings with air, and rising to a gutter nearby. “I don’t need to be looked after!”
“He’s worried that the miasma could cause permanent damage!” Peredur watched her closely, but stayed back in the street. Even though he could force her to come back with him, he had his own honor code to uphold. “You’re very precious to him—you know that.”
“I know, but,” Bex shook her feathers out, “We can’t even go into the fog now because of his orders…”
“It’s miasma! A magical byproduct,” he assured her, “We can punch it back with the right magic, but not if we loose mages in the process!”
“But not in time!” She exclaimed, “If the fog doesn’t get these people, then those monsters will!”
Peredur tried to console her, but soon enough she was airborne again. Her wings beat violently against the damp air. She panted. She dipped. She slowed. Eventually, her muscles ached too much and her breath was too short to be angry. She lowered herself just above the building tops, where her flickers joined her.
You were angry…Link mentioned when she was curious about their sudden arrival. Flickers had an uncanny sense of knowing what their owners felt. Bex had always thought it to be because of their imprinting.
“I was,” She said simply in crow, just for convenience. “But it’s nothing now.”
Cole was eyeing her sideways across from Link. He didn’t say anything but she knew he doubted her words. Instead of fighting her like often, he fell in line wingtip-to-wingtip.
A slight wind carried them for a time above the town. She closed her eyes, wondering what her father would say to the blatant disregard for authority. In an instant she realized she didn’t care. Proudly she picked up speed, looking down for a target. She noticed the town’s chapel, still intact, and needing a break landed by it. Calming and gentle breezes urged her held breath out. She sighed, thankful for the respite, she allowed herself to morph into her human shape and stretch out on the stone walkway. Inhaling never felt so good, and she soon felt the pain of the miasma fading.
Link crawled onto her chest staring at her with confusion. Cole was sharing the same expression, but from his seat nearby. Craning her neck down to see the white flicker, Bex cocked an eyebrow at him. You are healed…he mentioned, with more worry than his expression had offered.
“What are you talking about? I’m just able to breath better now…” She mentioned, lifting herself up and taking a few good breaths to show them. “I’m just liking the air!”
Cole snorted. The air contains good magic, no bad magic.
For a few minutes, Bex had thought he meant the clean air. However, when she remembered a flicker’s natural sense for magic—the reason why she had trained them—she stopped. The air here did seem unnaturally clean. Granted they were by a small church, but when it was in the heart of the miasma that wasn’t plausible. “We should go in…” Bex told them. She cautiously gathered them on her shoulders and climbed the stairs.
They opened the large wooden doors at the front and entered an inviting atrium with lots of light. The light came in through slanted windows, and even with the dark energy outside, quite a bit of natural light poured in. She suspected it was a technology from the colonists, maybe even a bit of magic, but the rest of the church was relatively conservative and primitive. It was the style of many churches after the Koa’nesk war to go back to pre-spaceflight architecture, which meant that they had to forgo a lot of technology and magic.
 It was strangely homey inside the church. Pews ran up the man room, with an aisle in between like any other church. The stage was uncluttered, except for a pulpit and seats saved for the pastor and song leaders.
[Insert stone scene]

The stone itself was smooth on the surface, like it was eroded away. It was nearly perfectly rounded on all sides. However, there were markings all along it that didn’t make any impressions in the stone. When Bex turned it over in her hand she noticed a slight sheen to it, like a glittering clear glaze. The glaze itself wasn’t so unusual—Bex knew that magic could be used to make that sort of sheen—but it was the nature of the markings that confused her.
Her dragon had deposited Magnus and her at the Ashton Fury complex. A row of tall pillars, like man-made mountains, with bridges spanning them allowed passage from the landing ground to the [building]. Bex knew that the Fury contained many types of people, each with a different job. They each studied very hard to learn their job, sometimes at the University in Eleo Valley.  The only difference between Aston Fury and the rest of Eleo Valley was the dragons.
As she looked upwards, Bex noted the amount of dragon traffic, as well as downward, where dragons accompanied groups of people at the base of the mountain.  Once they reached the end of the bridges, solid ground lead them up a path to a large, glass dome-building. Dragons had been coming in and out of the oculus at the tops since she had been watching. Sliding doors had been open to the sunny wilderness, where they slipped in.
Magnus harried her to a group of buildings set up like a row of markets along the inside of the dome wall. Once inside a man looked up from a messy wooden desk and cleared his throat. His spectacles, an old and out-dated item in Methy, slid from the bridge of his nose while he tried to get a good look at them. The action made him jump and he hurried to push his spectacles back before either of the mages noticed. “We are here to see the Geologist,” Magnus announced, either not noticing or ignoring the clerk’s actions.
“Right, Archsage Magnus, we were expecting you,” the man nodded, extending an arm to the side where a silver flicker was preening itself. The flicker looked up, recognizing Magnus and hopping to his shoulder. “We got your note very early this morning and thought you were coming earlier.”
“There were some complications…” Magnus simply said, waving it off.
“Of course, right this way,” The clerk mentioned, walking back out the door. “I’m afraid he is not in the main dome; he went to the Library right after we got your message in order to find records from what you mentioned.”
The clerk led them out the door and to a plaza which extended out to a large square building. Once they went inside, the clerk made them wait while he searched the winding shelves of books and records to find the geologist. The man that came out the aisles behind the clerk was dressed in a leather overcoat, with suspenders to hold up his pinstriped pants. His shirt was cotton and tucked in neatly, and all with small brass-colored buttons. He was young looking but something about the way he dressed suggested to Bex that he was educated.
“Archsage Magnus!” he came to them, shaking hands with them in turn. “I’ve been waiting for you. I found some information that I could not wait to tell you.”
[Insert smart talk here]
“So that’s why it was repelling monsters!” Bex chimed in, turning the stone around in her hand again. “There was something oddly calming about it.”
The geologist scratched his head, “Unfortunately, we haven’t found any of them. Most like any other artifact, they get passed around and lost. However temples to the stones stand all over Methy.”
“Ancient Methyeans worshipped them?” Bex wondered, suddenly off-put. “I thought magic wasn’t worshipped.”
“Someone had to have worshipped magic at one point in history, however, I doubt that’s what the stones were for,” the geologist opened one of the books at hand. “From my research I believe the temples were no more than stone outcroppings that acted like a conduit for the stone’s power. It was channeled into the land, thus preserving the pure magic. Somehow they eventually lost power and deteriorated.”
“Do you know where any of these temples are?” Magnus asked. “We couldn’t find the matching one to this stone, let alone any others.”
“I believe I do know of at least one,” the geologist pointed towards the eastern continent on a nearby map, “In the Asayake Region, I think is one last intact temple; it would have been the most fortified.”
“Then we will go there…” Bex mentioned.
“No…not you,” Magnus glared, holding up a palm. “It’s too dangerous.”
“That’s what you said about the evacuation!” Bex clenched her fists, “C’mon! I can do this! I’m your best student, and your only daughter! If you think I can’t do it then send my friends with me!” When Magnus still appeared doubtful, she added, “Besides, you have to be here to protect everyone! If you go, then if Eleo gets into trouble you can’t help!”
He sighed, finally saying, “Fine…but I expect regular reports! And [fun thing].”
Bex followed her father out of the library, happily smiling to herself about the victory. It wasn’t even a full week before they had scheduled an airship to take them across the ocean and she was looking forward to proving herself away from home.

Pylons of an old building towered about overgrown thorn-bushes. Dark red spines blocked every attempt that Bex and her friends made to enter. Koiushi surveyed the branches of the bushes, noting that they were probably poisonous. The rocks around the area blocked any alternate routes, and Shade mentioned it was perfectly blocked by slate rock cliffs.
When Bex came back from her own surveying from the air, she confirmed their findings. She shed her bird form upon landing with a shake of her head. “We’ll have to go through it…” she sighed.
Moki’s brown flicker happily flapped his wings, tipping from his shoulder perch. “Scorch!”
Link and Cole hissed as one at Scorch. Soon enough he settled down and Bex focused on the thorns. She lifted her hand up, palms facing their path. Bright red and blue flames began to dance from her feet to her head, then spiraled around her arm before shooting outwards.
Everything growing was ablaze in seconds, spreading out from the point in front of them until they were charred to ash. The branches that did not fall were easily broken as they picked their way gently to the temple, leaving their ponies outside.
Clear stone paths lead them to the front door. Each tile was colored by what lay around them. Greens greeted them along the edges. Reds reflected off the tiles closest to the roses. Blues and Purples painted most of the path. Even the walls of the temple were blue and purple, but nothing reflected off of it. Tapestries and stone, possibly magicked, created the color for the entire building to set it apart from the drab cliffs.
“Strange…This feels so out of place,” Bex walked out along the path between hedges and roses as her flickers settled on her shoulders, “How could this all grow here?”
The ending of the garden was a long walk way, framed by orbs of blue light along the sides. Bex was particularly interested at the pattern-work along the stone ways. It seemed more like a tapestry pattern showing scenes of some kind.  There were also arches of plant and stone, which she had to pass under, that would put any landscaper back in Eleo to shame.
“It…this is definitely very old…” Moki murmured. “I wouldn’t be surprised if someone was watching.” Shade agreed, bowing his head with respect.
They entered the doors, flooding the opening with light. Inside, more orbs came alive. A second glance showed that the fixtures where magicked to turn on the orbs when someone entered. They continued to light when they continued down the hall.
Bex was awestruck by the designs on the wall. Blues and purples made illustrations feel calming. “Weird, these are too new to match this place,” she mumbled, taking a closer look. Sure enough, it was the same as the garden outside—it didn’t match the dilapidation of the outside.
Link craned his head up, looking down the hall, What is that?
Bex and Cole both followed his lead, and saw a warm light in a room down the hall. It didn’t match the rest of the corridors’ cool lights.
“What?” Shade noticed them straining.
“That room,” she replied distractedly, starting to walk towards it, “It’s different. Think it’s something important?”
Koiushi shrugged, falling in line behind her, “Never know until we check it out!”

 When they reached the doorway, the warm light came from two bone torches against the wall. Beyond them, there was darkness. The opening was large enough that two horses on top of each other and two side-by-side could enter . A mossy rock wall started where the door ended. Bex hesitated, staring into the entryway.
“Could this be an old part of the temple?” Moki asked.
“Maybe…” Bex sighed, walking again, “The older the better; you remember how old the stone was.”
Koiushi was hesitant, but eventually fell in line behind Bex’s careful steps with the others flanking him. Bex’s sight was better in the dark—she could turn her eyes into any nocturnal creature’s. They didn’t even need a torch!
When the darkness had all but engulfed them, their feet suddenly found the ground had shifted. The smooth surface of the rock became loose and crunchy. Bex found her footing sinking into something irregular. She looked down just as her foot went out underneath her, causing her to fall. Below her, where her hands were now scrapped and bleeding, was a pile of precious gems and golden trinkets.
“Look!” Moki shouted, but there was no need to check where he pointed to—Bex had seen.
The room erupted with fire-light. Torches snaked their way along the edge of the chamber, coming alive. Reflections off the metal and jewels was something out of a room of horrors, but the mages contained their emotion. Instead, the rising black mass revealed itself with little noise, save for the ringing of coins as they fell from the mound.
A myriad of colors dotted the scales of the fantastic beast, jet black and smooth as porcelain. Around them, the wings lifted from the dark like ebony spears. They created a ring around the mages, so there was no way back. Koiushi sighed but Bex was dubious, holding her breath in the presence of a wild dragon at least ten times her size.
Heat rose from the scales, steaming up the room with a musky haze. The dragon’s arrow-shaped head poised itself like a snake ready to strike. It merely faced them, eyes the color of the orange sunset shining off the torch-light. Small specks of green, red, and purple danced on the lens of those orbs. It was like a living jewel, perfectly cut and polished. Bex blinked; she had caught herself lost in them.
The dragon lifted a leg and stood atop the mound of gold with a low hiss. “You risk much coming into my horde…”  she continued to hiss, flicking her whiskers, “Are you thieves?”
Slowly, Shade encouraged Bex to stand up, away from the gold pile. She instinctively kept her head low, which made the dragon lower her shoulders. The curious gesture gave Bex the confidence to reply, “No…we came because we are looking for answers….we didn’t know this was your home.”
The dragon hissed, softer this time, eventually settling into a low vibration in her belly. It took a while to dawn on her, but Bex realized that this was just the dragon’s way of speaking—an accent. Like a cat, the beast stepped down from her mound and eyed the four youths. Her body circled them, keeping its distance as her head glance at them periodically. Eventually, she stopped, right in front of Bex and stared into her eyes once more.
“It is good that you brought a dragon-friend with you,” she made her words slow and deliberate, gesturing plainly to Bex. “For if you hadn’t, I would have no need of you…”
Bex could hear Koiushi’s nervous gulp, and inwardly allowed herself a bit of pride. The black dragoness finally furled her wings and sat calmly in front of them, her eyes resonating with a content green. “Speak,” she commanded.
At first, Bex felt like turning back the way she came. Her knees started to get weak. She fiercely planted her feet. She was going to do this. It was her home at stake and she offered to come. “We were told that this place could help us deal with the monsters that are attacking,” Bex’s voice sounded shaky, something she wasn’t expecting, but she forced her body to make up for it.
The dragon took one long look at all of them, her expression unreadable. With a lift of her chin the black dragon rumbled, “I see…” The short answer caused the mages to glance at each other. Koiushi crowded Bex, grabbing her shoulders and keeping her between him and the wild dragon. She rolled her eyes; for a rider, he was uncomfortable in the presence of a dragon. “I shall have to fulfill my promise…”
“Promise?” Bex whipped back to the black dragon, “What promise?”
“Come….” She mentioned, slinking down her mound and passing them. “I will show you this temple’s secret.”
Bex stumbled over herself to catch up to the dragoness. “Ah so…what’s your name?”
“Orina,” she stated abruptly, never looking back. “The black dragon of Methy.”
    “of…Methy?” Bex inquired, “You claim the whole planet?”
    “What else must a wild dragon need to attach herself to, if not anywhere and everywhere?” The black dragon snuffed out wistfully and added, “I can go any place I please because I have no place to go…”
    As the dragon lead them away from her horde, the mages glance one more time at each other. Bex shrugged and took up a position after the black dragon. They began looking at the carvings she was so fascinated with when they entered.

 
The patterns on the wall eventually took on the life of a story. As Bex placed hands on the stone she walked down the pages of drawings. Shapes and figures popped out to her as well as some she did not recognize. At the end of the story was a large round room with a glass prism held by flourishes of metal bars. Over it, an oculus allowed the light to fall down on the prism, lighting the room with facets of color.
One wall was lit up brighter than the others. Over the top were five drawings—a dog, a deer, a finned horse, a flower, and a mountain. Underneath were dark creatures, under the weight of the five brighter ones. “These are monsters…” Bex muttered, recognizing one from her first encounter.  
“It looks like they are being defeated by these five creatures…” Moki mentioned, peering over Bex’s head. “Could this be it?”
“It could be,” Bex touched her hand to the wall, getting a closer look, “but I have no idea what it means. What are these?”
Orina curled up in the middle of the room like a cat. “Those dark beings are called Orimmar,” she said, “They used to live on Methy very long ago. Drakes fought them. Then dragons fought them.”
“Did you fight them?” Bex asked.
“No, I am not that old,” Orina tilted her head up and Bex could see a slight toothy smirk.
Moki, who had been walking around the room looking at each illustration wall, slumped his shoulders, “I don’t see any mention of the stones!”
Suddenly, a glare from the middle of the room blinded them. Bex covered her eyes and noticed when Orina reared back and snarled. The light took on a life of it’s own, moving around the room. It gathered all of the prism’s color to it, and balled it up in an orb of it’s own. Slowly it changed form.
The orb elongated stretching its form to roughly human sized. A strand of electric blue snaked along the surface of the light, with several other colors, more faded, morphing and blending behind it. It touched down to the ground, still gaining more definition as they stared at it.
When it started to look more human, eyes popped open, followed by a mouth. The rest of the being was pale, like a creature lacking skin pigment. It was tall as well, and had longer than normal limbs and torso than a human. When the long ears jutted out from its head, and clothes flowed out from the middle, Bex gasped. “A….pure kura?”
“So, you’re the ones who brought Aeymid’s stone here!” it exclaimed, in an all too cheerful female voice. It sounded mature, but strangely uncultured, considering pure Kura were ancient.
Standing forward, looking unfazed, Moki quirked an eyebrow. “Who’s Aeymid?”
The kura lifted her head, her elongated neck moving so gracefully it floated like light. “Aeymid was the first…” she mentioned, “That’s his stone you have in your bag!” She glanced at Bex’s bag, causing the girl to tighten her grip on it. “There are more…”
“How do you know?” Bex asked, clutching the stone with all her might as the kura came closer.
“Because I have one right here,” the kura hovered in front of Bex’s face. Her bright green eyes stared at Bex for a while, until her whole body began to glow. In a flash, the kura was a ball of light, swiftly fluttering over the centerpiece.
Orina growled, unsettled, but the boys watched in awe. The kura’s body elongated, flashing momentarily and blinding the mages. Once the glare subsided a prism hovered under the kura’s body. When she floated back to Bex the prism followed. Upon closer inspection, the same type of inscriptions covered the surface of the prism as the stone Bex found. “See?” the kura said, then her form shifted a slight orange. “But why would you be looking for the Ririni Stones?”
“Ri…Ri-ri-ni?” Koiushi repeated slowly, shrugging. The others shrugged in response.
“It’s not a word I recognize,” Moki mentioned. “May be ancient Methyean.”
“It is,” The kura shifted colors again, this time many at once. “Again, why would you want these? They are useless without the Ririni they belong to.”
“Useless?” Koiushi gasped, pulling out his hair. Bex glanced at him then whipped back to the kura.
“What?! But we came all this way to find a way to defeat these monsters!” she exclaimed. “Now we have stones with owners that died thousands of years ago?!”
“Who says they are dead?” the kura landed on the ground, once again taking on her strange in-between form, “I said the stones belonged to someone, didn’t say who.”
“But they are ancient!” Koiushi whined. Shade nodded. “Ancient stones equals ancient owners!”
“Not necessarily…” the kura lifted, presenting herself proudly, “I am Dimnar, Ririni of Light. This stone belongs to me, and I have been quietly resting in it for years and years.”
“Whaaat?” Koiushi gasped, quickly muffled by the other mages. He slumped to the floor with the boys piled on top of him and Bex shushing him. Afterwards he folded his arms and sulked.
“I can’t believe it…” Bex breathed slowly. “Not only did we meet a pure kura, but did we meet someone who can finally give us answers! Monsters are destroying our home!”
“So you’ve said.”
“And?”
“And what?”
“Can you help us?” Bex extended her arms to the side in order to somehow snap Dimnar out of her strange obliviousness.
“Not on my own. You’ll need other Ririni to have hope with battling Orimmar,” Dimnar sighed, “Unfortunately I have no idea where the others are now.”
“You’re kidding me!” Bex slumped to the floor herself, hands between her knees.
Orina, sensing the mood, stopped at Bex’s side, “Surely there is a way to find them?”
     

The echo of footsteps interrupted their meeting. Shade jumped into acton by the door, growling low. Koiushi and Moki leapt up, ready to fight, but Bex remained close to the dragon and kura. A dark, slender young woman draped with a mantle entered the room. She was so pale Bex suddenly felt a strange attraction to her that made her sick to her stomach. The vibe of darkness was worse when she noticed her eyes—dark purple unfeeling eyes. This woman surveyed the room, expressionless and commanding. “I couldn’t help but overhear you down the hall,” she stated softly, “but if you are looking for these beings…you might want to check Sirius.”
“Sirius?” Dimnar surprised everyone by questioning her first. “Why there?”
“I came that way on my journey, and I found markings in records there that matched the walls here,” she said, “It also mentioned a temple. I didn’t realize the similarities until I got here. I was planning on going back to take a second look and I can always escort you.”
“Well…we could use the help,” Shade mentioned, backing away from the door. Looking back at Bex he snapped her out of a trance.
With a start, Bex jumped up and grabbed her bag tightly. “It’s the only lead we have, we’d be happy of the help.” Inwardly, she regretted the decision, but whatever she sensed about his person, she felt that keeping her close was best.
“My name is Randi,” the woman bowed till her torso was parallel with the ground. This affected an awkward bob from each of the mages and a calm dip from Orina.
Dimnar, however, stopped Bex when they walked out of her chamber. “I know you have just met me, but be careful with this one. I sense something is not right.” Nodding, Bex kept quiet, spooked by the fact that Dimnar had sensed what she did. She was definitely going to keep a close eye on her.

Sirius was a town of excitement at this time of year. A festival was in full swing with fireworks and dancing. Tents with souvenirs lined the open commons by that town, and a few locals opened their yards or homes for weary travelers. Bex and Orina decided to find a spot outside the congestion to set up their tent, while the boys and Randi looked around the town.
“In the meantime…” Bex clamored to the bright colored fabrics and signs of the alley of tents. Following hesitantly, Orina rolled her eyes.
“None of these are shiny enough…” The black dragon mentioned, when Bex noted interest in the clothing.
She laughed, “It doesn’t have to be—I’ve always loved the fashion of the Asayake region! All the hand-painted fabrics and well-tailored pieces!” Continuing to browse the selection with gusto, Bex sped through the collections of a dozen tents. Even her flickers found interest in the softness of the robes or the color of a few trinkets. She ended up buying a few of the less expensive ones, and haggling for an outfit she couldn’t part with.
That afternoon, a gathering caught her attention. Orina helped her see the stage as a large man in local clothing eagerly shouted to the crowd. Try as she might, she couldn’t quite tell what he was trying to get them to do, even the signs—which had strange symbols and squiggly drawings—didn’t illuminate her.
Sensing her confusion as the people parted, Orina whispered, “He was mentioning that it is time for the families of those buried go and pay their respects to their ancestors. He invited everyone to join them in a few traditions.”
“Isn’t that a private matter…?” Bex wondered, watching everyone part.
“I do not pretend to understand the ways of human dead, but I think he assumes they’d rather have a good time than a solemn one,” hesitantly Orina followed the crowd. Of course she was the only dragon, but everyone seemed to respect her presence.
Going along with it, Bex watched families clean graves and pay respects to their dead loved ones. A few people flew enormous kites high into the wind and others burnt incense.  High above the town, the brightly colored kites tossed in the wind. Eventually, many of them began to tear and rip. Since no one seemed saddened by this, Bex assumed they expected it. In fact, many smiled.
After sometime in the graveyard, the locals began to tread back to the heart of town. About to go with them, Bex picked herself up, but Orina wouldn’t go. She growled, startling a few people nearby. “Orina? You’re scaring people,” Bex mentioned, nudging her gently to calm her.
The dragon lurched away, and Bex felt it—the gnawing darkness. She glanced around as the crowd became thin. The townsfolk just kept walking away. The dragon continued to walk away, sniffing the air. “This way,” she whispered to Bex.
Bex followed, wary of her friend’s current mood. Outside of the town, in the clay-mounds, they trekked in the dark. The uneven terrain proved to be treacherous, so Bex used the form of a dog. With better traction she eventually took the lead.
The darkness was the only indication of their path. Soon enough it was replaced by the tell-tale smell of dark magic. The awful ashy smell urged Bex into a run. She slid down an incline only to be stopped dead in her tracks. It was just like last time.
The endless darkness of a hole in the ground froze her. Orina, who hadn’t seen this herself, arched her back and snarled. “Not here, too…” Bex murmured, shaking her head.  “We have to tell the others, and find that temple quickly!”
“No need…” Orina pointed her muzzle above the pit, where the mounds began to rise once more. Stone the same constancy as Dimnar’s home [rose] out from the clay. The edges of the pylons were unmistakeable. The rest of the building was crumbled and falling down into the pit, hidden by darkness and clay.
“No!” Bex whined, tail falling down between her legs, “How are we supposed to find the Ririni now?”
“Perhaps the townspeople will know?” Still tense, Orina managed to break her stare from the pit, “They did live here.”
“You’re right…” Bex admitted reluctantly, “Plus it’s the only option. If we have Orimmar around, we’ll have to stop them.”

The games and party started back up again in the morning, with brightly colored things. The mages stood dumbfounded as they took it all in. A tall man with loud, brightly colored headdress and mask immediately plucked Bex from the group and started dancing with her. Bex’s face was awestruck as she tried to follow. Koiushi started laughing at her.
“Hey!” She shouted, but was soon dragged up to a stage where others had been brought by the players. She noticed that the one who brought her up was dressed as the Sun. He wore the rays and blue eyes that were identifiable.
Among the players the moons, wind, fire, ocean, and earth spirits were present. Each of them were played by a man or boy and brought up a person from the crowd. The guests were given special masks and told to dance for the crowd. Bex had a hard time doing this so the sun-man led her through the steps again.  Then the lanterns around the stage were dimmed as the sun-man cowered from the darkness then rose up again.
The sun and fire did a brilliant dance, leaving Bex and Fire’s guest. Ribbons that symbolized fire danced around the ground and Earth began to wither. Ocean began to dry up. Wind danced swiftly around but tired soon after, the fire unaffected. Soon a bright light flashed and the two moons came out to subdue Sun and fire. Fire was whisked away and sun soon went to sleep and the moons danced around, causing the other elements to be revitalized.
When the players bowed and everyone clapped, the sun-man gave Bex the special mask to put on. It was a smaller form of headdress that he wore of blue and gold and orange that covered her eyes.
“Strange, I knew that story…” Bex said when she returned to her friends, “It was in my abatus, Cornelius’s book!”
“The one that Magnus finished? About the elements?” Koiushi still couldn’t help but chuckle at Bex’s embarrassment.
“Yeah…”
“What book?” Randi asked.
    “Origin of Elements: How we got our Magic,” Bex replied, “Cornelius started writing it before he died and Magnus decided to continue it. It has all the stories of how the elements were found and learned.”
    “All of them? Even darkness?” Randi wondered.
    “Even Darkness…” Moki stated, “Magistre makes every in-training mage read it.”
    “Ugh..that was so hard….” Bex grumbled.
    “What was the story about that you just danced?” Randi asked.
    “It was about the sun and the moons…” Bex said, “It’s actually part of the creation story.
    “The sun wouldn’t go to sleep when she was created and the earth was in danger of melting and burning. So God created the moons, her brothers, to watch over her bedside and take care of the land dwellers as she slept. With their light by her side she was able to sleep.”
    “Why wouldn’t she sleep?” Randi asked.
    “She was afraid of the dark…” Bex said wistfully.
    Randi hummed thoughtfully but said no more. Koiushi hummed himself, eventually walking with his hands behind his back. “Did you notice? The players matched,” he said.
    “Matched what?” Moki scoffed.
    “They matched the Ririni drawings, but with some more!” Koiushi winked, “White wind deer, Light dog, Dark dog, Water horse, Sun jaguar…”
    “You’re still missing some,” Shade rolled his eyes, “Besides, there was only one dog and no jaguar on the wall!”
    “Still! It can’t be a coincidence!” Koiushi whined. The boys and Randi laughed at him, but Bex folded her arms.
    “He’s right!” she exclaimed, earning quizzical looks from the others. “Guys, I found the temple…but it was swallowed by a pit!”
    Their concern was almost instant. Moki opened his arms, “If there’s a pit, then where are the monsters or miasma?”
    “I don’t know but they are bound to be around,” Bex sighed, eyeing the shadows. “I think we should look around for them.”
    The mages spent the rest of the day searching for signs or feelings of dark magic or Orimmar. The asked around and even got Dimnar and Randi to translate for them. Bex even found a small shopkeeper and talked to her about monsters, but the only thing she could tell her was folktales about multiple-tailed foxes. When Chunkash popped in on them, she screamed and forced Bex from her shop. They all met back at the city green, defeated.
    

“I can’t believe we didn’t find one clue!” Bex threw up her hands with a shout, leaning on Koiushi back-to-back.
The blonde-haired boy looked up, sighing. He pushed back against her and added, “No sign of monsters or miasma. It’s like these people hadn’t even heard of them!”
“That’s not right!” Moki spat, “There has to be history of monsters, all of Methy had them in ancient times. The Firedrakes even mentioned that they had to fight them when going abroad!”
“Something is not right…” Bex growled. “Did we even check the records?”
“Yes!” Moki said, “They mentioned all types of monsters! It even included a bestiary! However no one else seems to have any clue what was in there.”
“Except one,” Bex sighed, and when the boys looked dubious she continued, “I met a woman who freaked out when Chunkash came to get me. She had been talking about multi-tailed foxes taking people’s bodies in folklore, and he sauntered out and she screamed.”
The platinum fox twitched his tail, mewling with delight as Koiushi pet him. “Hey, Moki, didn’t we see something about a multi-tailed fox in those dusty old tomes?”
“Yeah, kitsune,” Moki nodded, “They are able to take on people’s forms by placing their skulls on their heads. Some kind of old shapeshifting secret maybe?” He nudged Bex. “Imagine trying to do it that way?”
She frowned, “I am not a murderer!”
“Didn’t say you were! Just wondering if it’s true…” Moki waved his hands with a shrug. A few seconds later the boys all went silent, and all four of the mages leaned against each other with Randi and Orina watching.

The locals, faces painted and masks of skulls or other fearsome beasts,  went to the graves to pay respects once more. A heavy anticipation held the area in a grip of fog-like haze. This time Koiushi, Orina, and Randi joined Bex in following the townsfolk. Bex shivered, feeling the cold anxiousness in the distance of her mind. Leaning over warmly, Orina draped a wing around her new friend.
    The kites, incense, cakes, and decorations all were laid out on the graveyard. Once done there was a noticeable pause as everyone held their breath. Before the breath was released a scream echoed in the distance. Everyone murmured. The buzz of shifting heads surged through the people as everyone tried to determine who it was. When it turned out to be none of their own, everyone began to stir.
    Inching in the direction that the scream came from Bex’s hackles stood on end. Behind her, Orina contained her rumbling growl. There was an archway, with a shadow standing in it. It was blurred out by darkness. Rubbing her eyes, Bex tried to clear the image, but it didn’t turn out to be her body’s doing.
    The shadow creaked forward out of the archway. People nearby quickly darted out of the graveyard as a few locals chanted desperate words. Even Bex could feel herself backing away in fear. The figure moved like a puppet on tangled strings, lurching and jerking out of the stone.
    “What is that?” Koiushi wondered when it materialized as if the shadow walked through a mirror. Bex tilted her head when a red fox as large as a dog became clear. Odd tendrils from behind it—what Koi must have noticed—lashed out at Bex. This fox wore a mask and had five tails colored mostly in yellow-white.
    “A kitsune,” Randi mentioned cooly.
    Growling under her breath, instantly in a dog form, Bex said to herself, “Just as we thought…” Orina nodded.
    Then Randi jerked with a greater concern, “I heard they were very dangerous, but I thought they lived in the woods!”
     The kitsune began to move forward, its grace astounded Bex. Soon enough the fox started to writhe in pain. It growled and whined and soon its tails were pulsing in its struggle to avoid what was happening to it. It didn’t seem to be attacking, but she jumped to conclusions too quickly.  
    “What’s it doing?” Koi wondered, but soon the kitsune launched forward. With its teeth bared it jumped over Koi’s head. He placed himself between it and Randi, hoping to block it. The sharp teeth of the fox disappeared and it spun forward engulfing itself in fire. Randi pulled Koi over and they fell away. The place they had been standing was turned into a patch of purple fire.
    It turned and swiftly slapped its tails on the ground. Dark flares of purple hovered above. They whirled around, almost memorizing. Koiushi, who was standing once more, managed to look away. Bex however, intent on keeping them in sight, suddenly fell under their spell.
    “Bex! Don’t look at them!” Koiushi called to her, ready to jump the gap if need be. With one swift motion they multiplied around the shifter and brightened into orbs of light. When the light subsided, they became slips of paper.
    Bex was instantly forced into her human form and yelled in pain. The slips somehow were restricting her movement. The kitsune grinned painfully. With Koiushi yelling and beginning to charge, the kitsune let out a shriek—the very air shook. Bex’s scream rang out as a dark energy struck her, causing great pain. When it subsided she fell to the ground, dark tendrils seeming to waft up from her. Koiushi checked Bex over as Chunkash faced the kitsune down.
    A smoke-plumed roar shadowed over the kitsune. Suddenly it was engulfed in fire as a great black beast umbrellaed the mages. When the fire died out there was no sign of the fox. Orina, however stood sentinel over the group.
    “We have to get her out of here quick,” Koi growled quickly.
    Randi glanced darkly in his direction. “Let’s take her to the town’s clinic…” she replied.