The trip has almost reached its end. Rory, Reece, and their four guides are nearing the valley of the Niton, Reece's home… and the residing place of 'Mother'. Through the Journey, Reece has gotten progressively worse. He's lost weight, and mumbles to himself constantly in some strange clacking tongue. The only person he seems to react to anymore is his Shadow-Mage friend.

"We go no further." barks the head guide, setting down his pack. "Lands here cursed by dragon. We wait for you to come back." His three companions bark their agreement.

Rory stammers, "C-c-cursed?" He looks to Reece for support.

The lizard just watches a bug fly by his nose, snapping it out of the air a few moments later.

Rory sighs. "Well … I guess this is it, Reece! Just us. Us and Silhouette, wherever she's hiding, that is. You ready, Reece?"

The old canine nods his head. "Old magic from ground. It rises up and infects everything. Be careful, magician."

Reece nods his head. "Mother… " he mumbles and starts down the dirt path cutting inbetween the grasses.

Rory grimaces. "That sounds sick. Well … don't forget. If I don't come back alive, then all my stuff goes to my friend Skiree. I mean, I'd give it all to Silhouette, but she can't do a thing with it. And of course, don't let anything happen to Mister … " He turns toward Reece. "Yes, Mother!" He nods. "We' – HEY! WAIT!"

Rory clip-clops as fast as his hooves will take him, after the lizard. "Wait for meeeeee!"

The lizard doesn't slow his rapid pace and continues along. Luckily he's not moving SO rapidly that Rory isn't able to catch up. From behind, the four canines howl mournfully.

Rory turns back just long enough to say, "Hey! We're not dead YET! Don't jinx us!" And then he clips along with Reece.

As the pair quickly move along, the sounds around them seem to change. The noises of life in the air begin to trail behind… replaced by a strange rustling noise. Dead bugs seem rather prevalent on the ground here… and the air seems to have developed a strange tingling sensation against the Aeonian's skin.

"Reece?" asks Rory, "Does the air feel funny to you? Is this normal? And what's that noise? Reece?"

The unicorn looks around nervously.

"Feel like home." Reece answers, not slowing his pace one bit. Ahead, the plume of smoke rises up in the air… and seems to be slowly making it's way along the grasses. The noise seems to be eminating from the stalks as well… it's the sound of them… growing? Yes, growing! At a pace so rapid that it's visible.

Rory says, "Uh … Reece? Look how fast they're growing! What happens if they get so tall that a sky island hits them?"

The smoke moves closer… blowing a scorching wind down the path.

"AAA!" Rory shouts. "Watch out, Reece! It's a grass fire! We're going to get scorched! Where's the water?"

As for the threat of the grasses growing too tall, Rory soon receives his answer. About twenty yards ahead, the crimson flames of the grassfire reach the path… hungrily devouring the tall stalks of grass on either side. Amazingly though… the flames never actually touch the bare dirt of the path itself, and soon move on deeper into the grasses and out of sight.

The lizard pauses and offers Rory his waterskin. Too bad it's empty.

Rory gasps, ducking closer to Reece. "Uhm … no … no thanks. I'm okay now. Sorry I had to ask about the grass."

"Is alright. Mother protect us." Reece hisses, and then starts along his way again. Up ahead, the entrance to the valley can be seen.

"Oh? Oh! Oh … that's good. It's nice to know that your mother will protect us. I mean … that … makes me feel safer… " Rory nods several times in emphasis. Then, he points ahead. "Ooo! Look! We're almost there!"

A few minutes later, the pair reach their destination. The valley seems oddly familiar to the little unicorn… perhaps from his shadowplay with the little shadow-creen. The valley itself looks as though it could hold the College Esoterica easily, and is littered everywhere with bushes ripe with berries. There also also hundreds… perhaps even thousands of lizards just like Reece – and each and every one of them seem to be completely oblivious to the two new arrivals.

Rory bounces up and down. "Hello! Hello! Look! Reece is back! He's home! Say hello, everybody! Where's his Mother?"

The unicorn hugs Reece around the waist. "Yay! We MADE it! Aren't you happy?"

Nearby, two Niton gobble down the fruits of a bush… while a third lies on the grass, napping.

Reece seems to be in a daze, "Made what?"

Rory blinks several times, surprised at Reece's lack of reaction. Then he looks at the others around here. "Uhm … like … we completed a great quest. Don't we get a parade or something?"

The lizard blinks at Rory, and then moves over to one of the bushes and begins munching away on the berries growing there… just like every other oblivious lizard in the valley.

"Reece – which way is Mother?" He starts to tug on the lizard … but then looks at how his friend has gotten so thin lately. "Oh. You must be really hungry. Guess I'm sort of hungry, too. Or I SHOULD be. I guess I'm just too nervous. Uhm … " He looks around for anything that looks big and obviously like Reece's mother.

Or a sign that says, "This way to Mother." That'd be nice!

Nope… no such obvious signs. Although the layout of the valley is familiar, thanks to the little shadow-creen's scouting. Rory shouldn't have too much trouble locating that cave where Mother resides.

The tingly sensation on Rory's skin has gotten stronger… it's not uncomfortable yet, just a bit odd. And just like the old guide said… it seems to be eminating from the ground.

Reece continues to gobble away at the berries until his stomach looks almost bloated. He then just sits quietly in front of the bush, staring at it.

Rory says, "Uh oh! You eat FAST! Now you're REALLY going to get sick." He sighs, shaking his head. "Well … I guess you can't move much now … and I really don't like how the air is feeling. You stay here, okay? I'll be right back. I'm just going to go see if your Mother is home."

Oddly, Reece seems to be getting thinner by the minute… while the bush behind him sprouts new blossoms, and then more berries right in front of his eyes.

"Uh? Reece? Oh … Getupgetupgetup! This is too WEIRD!" He rushes back to the lizard, trying to get him up. "We'd better RUN to see your Mother! Everything is going so fast!" He glances up, half-expecting the sky to start a strobe-light effect (not that he knows what a strobe-light is) with the sun racing the Procession in high-speed motion.

The sky seems normal… although the things on the ground seem to be growing at an alarming rate. Perhaps that's why the grass grows so quickly outside. Reece shakes his head as Rory tugs on his arm, as is pulling himself out of a haze. He nods, "Yes… find mother." and allows the unicorn to lead him along.

Rory rushes as fast as having Reece in tow will allow him, trying to retrace the shadow-creen's path to Mother's cave.

"It IS a cave, isn't it?" Rory asks. "I mean, or does she live in a castle or something? Mother, that is?"

Ahead lies Rory's answer… like a doorway, the mouth of a cave leading down under the valley can be seen. Beside it sits a corroded metal drum with the fading image of a strange flower with only three petals.

"Mother… cave… " hisses Reece, swaying on his feet.

Rory nods. "Hey! Look! Metal!" He points at the drum. "Anyway … ohhh … you don't look good." He does his best to prop up his lizard friend. "Just a little further … right?" Louder, he calls out, "MOOOOOTHER! I mean, REECE'S MOTHER! Not my mother, of course. HELLLLOOOOOO! … PLEASE?"

No answer from the cave… just the sound of Rory's echoing voice.

Rory gulps. "Well … on we go… " He carefully presses onward with Reece. "I hope I yelled loud enough so we won't surprise her or anything."

As the unicorn enters, he briefly feels a sharp sensation of coldness… as though someone had just dunked a bucket of water over him. As soon as he's through the mouth of the cave it's gone though. It feels like Rory just passed through something powerful, the ward that kept his Creen out perhaps. Reece follows behind, and the two are soon lost in the darkness deep inside 'mother's' cave.

Rory says, "Uhm … Reece … can you see anything? Are there any pits or cliffs or anything in here? I'd really really not like to fall and break my neck or anything like that."

"Mother… protect… usssss… " comes the gasping response from the lizard. Ahead, cutting through the darkness, is a very faint bluish glow.

The air smells strange here. Very sweet.

"Uhm … walk into the light?" asks Rory.

If Reece nodded, it's too dark to see. But his scaly footsteps can still be heard right behind the Unicorn, apparently willing to follow wherever he may lead.

The smell grows stronger… like some strange perfume, or exotic flower.

Rory reaches back, making sure he keeps a light hold on the lizard, and keeps approaching. "Uhm … hello? Anybody home?"

As the shadow mage reaches back, his hand comes in contact with… nothing. In front of him, the darkness seems different somehow. Did something just move?

Rory sucks in his breath, then calls out, fear filling his voice, "Reece? REECE? Don't leave me!"

"STOP YOUR RACKET." comes a… voice? Well, Rory seems to hear it inside of his head, but silence still hangs in the air.

Rory abruptly shuts up … and then looks back toward the light.

The light seems to be eminating from a small crystal circle set into the cave floor. It's dim… just enough to make the shadows seem more ominous and alive. Very very alive.

Rory carefully and slowly makes his way toward the circle. "Uhm … sorry. I don't mean to intrude, but Reece is my friend, and I'm looking for his mother. He's getting really sick, and only his mother can help."

The sweet smell in the air has dissipated now. And Reece is nowhere to be seen.

The unicorn manages to make a couple of steps in the direction of the circle, and then finds himself roughly shoved back by… well… it looked almost as though a piece of the darkness reached out and pushed him. "Stay back!"

Rory shrinks down. He whispers, "Okay… "

The glowing from the crystals die down a bit… making the shadows seem even more sinister and alive. "Reece… is this the one you came here with? You don't look much like a warrior… " the voice 'says', reverberating through the Unicorn's mind.

Rory blinks, then nods. "Yes, Reece is his name. He's my third-best friend! And I'm really worried about him. And, no, I'm not a warrior. I tried to learn how to use a peashooter like Skiree, but I'm no good at it."

"I've never had one of my pets return after leaving the valley… very interesting." the voice muses. It's still hard to place exactly where it's originating from. "And you… I've not seen an Aeonian here for quite awhile, ever since… wait a moment… "

Rory stands at attention. "Okay."

A tendril of darkness emerges from the shadow and slowly moves towards the unicorn. It hovers in front of him and looks to be examining the small Shadow Mage.

Rory's lower lip trembles. "Uhm … how long of a moment?"

The little unicorn's wide eyes track the movement of the tendril.

The crystal's light flares up brightly, finally revealing the contents of the room to the Unicorn's light-starved eyes. He's standing in a chamber of a massive vaulted cave, stagtites and stalagmites jut out from the ceiling and floor like sharp jagged teeth. But there is one portion where the light does not illuminate… a strange hazy shadowy place in the center of the cave. It's hard to define, really… it looks as though someone had bundled a bunch of shadows together and placed them there. The tendril retracts back into the larger mass.

"I was not expecting to see you again either… perhaps I should stop expecting things at all." the shadows say.

Rory gingerly lifts one hand and wiggles his fingers in a restrained wave. "Uhm … Hello there. I'm Rory. Well, Rorschach is my full name, but everybody calls me Rory. I'm an apprentice of the Collegia Esoterica, from the Sphere of Shadow. You look kind of shadowy, too. Do you like shadows?"

"No… I do not." it replies. "That is why I am here. I am Koshiro… "

Rory frowns. "Oh. Well, sorry you don't like shadows. In any case, pleased to meet you, Koshiro, and thank you for letting me come in here." He looks around. "It's a pretty place you have here! I especially like that big crystal thing you have there. How did you make it light up like that? And … did you see where Reece went?"

Koshiro actually… laughs! "Hah! You are please to meet me. It has been a long time indeed, have the Aeonians all forgotten about us?" Another tendril pulses out and gestures towards the strange glowing structure. "This is what feeds me, and you cannot destroy it… many have tried. As for my pet… I will be done with him soon enough and he can go along his way."

Rory blinks. "Your pet? Uhm … done with him? What do you mean? You aren't really Reece's mother, are you?"

"His mother probably died days after giving birth to him. I am just an observer… watching these creatures entertains me. I am here to watch things, and as there are so few of your kind left, I have switched hobbies." The mass of shadows becomes a bit more hazy and then solidifies again. "Because they normally leave me unmolested, I grant favors to them on occasion… just as purging their bodies of the radiation that emanates from here and allowing them to leave."

Rory furrows his brow. "Radiation? You mean the light here hurts him? But then what's wrong with him? Why did he need to come back?"

The walls rumble a bit as the shadows make a sighing noise. "You are full of questions, aren't you? I suppose children are… " The light fades down a bit more. "The radiation comes form the ground, how it got there is beyond me. It was there long before even I came to be in the valley, somehow the inhabitants had evolved to cope with its effects… to the point that they would die if they left the valley. I can purge them of that, but their bodies still need to be held stable… so I maintain a link to them." A small pebble flies out from the shadows and lands at Rory's feet. "With this."

Rory says, "Sorry to ask another question … but should I pick this up?" He stoops over to look at the pebble, but doesn't reach for it.

The 'pebble' looks almost exactly like the little 'dragon scale' that Reece wore around his neck… except that it lacks a means of tying it on. "It won't harm you… in fact, you are probably one of the few creatures on Sinai that wouldn't be harmed by the energy here." There's a moment of silence before the shadows speak again, "So tell me, Aeonian… have you met any more of your kind here? Do they reject you?"

The unicorn gingerly reaches for the scale, as if expecting the voice at any moment to shout, "Don't touch that!" He answers as he crouches down, "Just Silhouette. I'd introduce you to her, but I'm not sure where she got off to. Besides, you said you don't like shadows. But she doesn't reject me. She's my first-best friend! And my second is Skiree, who's an Eeee from Ashdod. And Reece is my third-best friend, like I said earlier. … I'd be REALLY happy if you can make him better again, by the way."

"Yes I know. The spirit linked to you." Koshiro says, "Hmph… I did not think she would find a way to manifest herself. Just stubbornness I suppose, the black ones always were."

Rory blinks a few times, then says, "I'm sorry, but could you please tell me what you're talking about? How do you know Silhouette? And why are you acting like it's some surprise I'm here and all that? Am I supposed to know you? And I know that's a lot of questions, but I like to ask all my questions right off and get them out of the way, because I'm REALLY awful at chit-chat." He frowns. "I don't mean to be rude or anything."

"You're supposed to be dead, left in the grasses after your friend… Silhouette as you call her… brought your mangled body here to be healed." the shadows say matter-of-factly. "Apparently her abilities in the healing arts weren't quite proficient enough. I don't know why I accepted, considering you had repeatedly invaded my cave and tried to kill me… perhaps it just brought a bit of interest in my life."

Rory gasps, and says, "I did NOT! Liar! I haven't tried to kill ANYBODY!"

"FOOL! I'm as unable to lie as you are." Koshiro replies. "You've never once questioned where you came from? If I lie… then tell me about your parents."

Rory pouts. "I don't have any parents. And you're still a liar. If I knew who to tell, I'd tell on you!"

Rory says, "I … I'll tell REECE!" He nods, giving a "so there!" look.

"Reece will probably accuse you of lying… little Aeonian." The shadows twist their shape again. "But perhaps I can give you a measure of proof… I cannot take you there myself as I cannot leave my cave, but I can give you directions. Perhaps seeing Silhouette's home shall convince you."

Rory huffs. "Well … fine. But I'm not leaving unless you promise you're going to take good care of Reece, especially if his mother isn't alive anymore."

"My pets are the only thing that make me happy. I would rather die than see them harmed." there's a shadowy chuckles. "Ah… if only they could hear me speak this back home. Perhaps being exiled here along with your kind has made me soft."

Rory says, "I really really don't like how you keep calling Reece a pet. I don't think that's very nice. Anyway, fine, I'll go look at this house. But that doesn't mean I killed anybody. I mean, the Dream Twins gave me a dream where I saw this knight who kept on going into your cave and got himself killed, and maybe THAT'S who you mean, but he didn't look much like me at all! I mean, I'm not even the same color, so don't you give me any of that, 'All you shadow mages look alike' stuff." He sniffles.

Koshiro becomes even more hazy and shrinks in on himself. "I do not have children, I do not have friends, 'pet' is therefore the most appropriate term for me." He pauses, "Ah… so there are glimmers of your past left in you. I was not sure if they had all been wiped away. Perhaps I should be more specific then. The one you saw was what was once you – many of your kind wished to kill mine in hopes that once we all vanished, you could return home. They were all fools, and the knight you saw was as much of a fool as any of them. He came to me and I defended myself, but I did not kill him. He was ALMOST killed by a pack of raiders in the grasses, I healed him when your friend couldn't… but it was at a cost."

Rory shrinks down. "This isn't fair. I really don't like being a liar and a murderer. But if I am, I'm really really sorry." He looks up. "Uhm … what did it cost Silhouette? She used to be like in the dream? But now she's just a shadow … because of me?"

"Because of what you came from." the shadows reply, their tone a bit softer now. "I am a shaper of flesh, and the wounded one had fallen too far. I needed something to draw from."

Rory's lip quivers, and his voice becomes very quiet. "Is there somewhere quiet I can go? I'm really sorry. I know I'm not supposed to cry in front of grown-ups. The professors really really hate that. I mean, I'm really sorry. Really I am… "

Koshiro sighs again, "Child. I will direct you where to go to meet your companion. As for what you are feeling now, I cannot help you with that. You should simply bear in mind that you are neither Silhouette, nor the fallen one anymore. Do not let the destinies of others weigh themselves too heavily upon you." The crystal shape begins glowing brighter again.

Rory just pulls his hood down over his face and nods several times quickly, then hugs himself with his arms.

The light from the crystal beams upon a previously unseen tunnel. "Follow it until you reach the end. He will be waiting for you there."

"Thank you," Rory says quietly, and wipes his nose on his sleeve. He pauses, his mouth moving a few times like he's starting to say something else, but can't seem to think of what to say. "Bye." He clip-clops rapidly down the tunnel, aiming to get away from the crystal as quickly as possible … and find Reece!