After the strange game of croquet, Kaira tells Alptraum to follow her. The dragon leads him down a forested path, gradually changing until she's once again as Alptraum first saw her: a full-sized dragon clad in shining armor of various metals. The path finally exits the forest, ending at a cliff overlooking a large valley. Here the dragon stops and turns to the Eeee. "So, are you ready to learn about souls?" she asks.

Alptraum walked along quietly with Kaira. Even as she shifts it doesn't seem to bother him and he actually rests a hand on her side as they walk. When she turns to face him, the Eeee nods once. "I am," he agrees, "What I have to do in the near future requires that I … lose some of my ignorance of things." With a short bow, he says, "I am your willing student."

Taking her giant, black-iron sword, Kaira turns it point down and strikes at the very edge of the cliff. There is an odd tearing sound, and a crack spreads from the impact point along the edge until the scene itself breaks apart and falls away. Instead of a valley, there is blackness beyond the ledge. And in the blackness are stars, along with things Alptraum's never seen before: colorful, glowing nebulae and swarms of swirling galaxies. "This is a representation of the universe, Alptraum," Kaira explains. "Looks pretty big, doesn't it?"

The Eeee walks to the edge of the fractured cliff. His foot claws curl and grip the rocks as he peers out into the crack. "Large, yes, and in some ways small as well. I almost feel like I could cup those swirling disks in my hands," he says.

"In the larger scheme of things, you could," Kaira notes. "All matter, energy, space and time that we can perceive make up only a tiny fraction of the real universe. A cupful of stuff in a sea of energies and forces that are beyond our frame of reference, but still exert some influence on us. Some of those external frames can be highly localized, such as the one that constitutes 'magic' in your world. But I'm going to tell you now about the fundamental magic that is at the heart of reality."

Alptraum's head dips with a nod as his wings curl slightly around his form. "All right," he says, head turning away from the blackness before him and to the large reptile.

Kaira looks out into the blackness, and says, "It has taken me some time to break it down into metaphors that are easy to understand. The one I've settled on is a book. Think of the universe as a book."

"And even longer to break it down into something someone as … limited, as we are would understand, I imagine," Alptraum admits. "So, a book. Then is each page in that book representative of a person or a place?"

"Not quite," Kaira notes. "You can think of the pages as representing place or time, but it's not really necessary. The point is that a book is a lot more complicated than it looks. It's a physical thing that you can touch. The pages are real, because you can turn them. But, there is a property of a book that is not physical. And that is the stories it holds. They are something beyond physical."

Alptraum's brow furrows at the description, then nods. "Okay, I'm following you so far," the Eeee says.

"Think about the words in a book. They're defined by a language, which is defined by rules and grammar, which are further defined by fundamental concepts and perceptions. But the words in a book are just words. The same words can be used over and over again in different ways. The story isn't in the words, but in reading the words and organizing them into a sort of memory."

"Okay, that makes sense. The words are just a mechanism to convey an idea, a story, a concept, or the like," Alptraum says. "The tellers of tales of my tribe when I was growing up always said it wasn't the words that mattered, but the meaning behind what they formed."

Kaira nods, then pauses. "Okay, the metaphor is about to get stretched now, because I couldn't think of anything to really convey this next part," she says. "Your life, and everyone else's life, is a story in the book. Only, they're all being written at the same time. If someone were telling your story, and Tulani's story, they'd be telling them at the same time and overlapping in parts. And that's the way the universe book would record them. So it isn't something that can be read easily, without a special key code to pick out one thread among the tangle."

"That makes better sense than you might think, actually," Alptraum says with a nod, "Another way to think of it I guess is like being in a room of hundreds where everyone is talking at one time. You can't make out just once voice easily. But, if you could somehow filter to just one voice, one pitch, you could find just that conversation in the middle of hundreds."

"Yes, that's a pretty good example!" Kaira agrees. "Your brain knows how to filter out the stuff you don't want to listen too. The universe keeps an index, of sorts. It makes sure that ever story has a unique title. If you know the title you can find the story. And what's more, you can even edit it while it's being written. That's the most fundamental level of magic."

"Well, being an Eeee helps me understand, perhaps. We travel by sound. Even in a pack of other Eeee, we can always isolate our own tone, our personal key, so we don't run into things. Plus, we have to get good at filtering or we'd go crazy hearing everyone's heartbeats and the like all the time," Alptraum comments, "But sorry, I'm interrupting. I guess since the story is currently being written, then yes, a force could be applied to cause the story to change?"

"In a sense," the dragon says. "What magic really changes is the narration of the story. Stories have lives of their own – once read, they can't be unread. While the universe doesn't have a mind, it does have a memory separate from the book. Stories – or souls – live in that memory, and the same title key can be used to change the memory."

"So, am I correct in thinking that the key to me learning to manipulate and move souls like the shadow dragon is learning how to synchronize myself with their key?" Alptraum asks after a bit of thinking on the current description.

"Something like that," Kaira says. "The danger is in that 'synchronization' as you put it. You could be lost to the other key, giving it control over you instead of the other way around. There are also differences between animals, mortal and immortal keys, and some limits to what can be altered. If I had your key, and used it to change your story title from 'Alptraum the Eeee' to 'Alptraum the Dragon', then I could change you into a dragon. But I couldn't change it so that you'd have always been a dragon, because for that I'd have to change all of the stories that have interacted with yours as well."

"Heh, could you change me into a dragon, or is that an example?" Alptraum asks curiously and smirks. "So, I have to be careful when manipulating things; that certainly makes sense. How do I protect myself from getting lost?"

"Well, no, I couldn't… probably," Kaira admits. "The key to protecting yourself is to know your own key – your True Name. Doing so makes it a part of your narration, in essence, which makes it harder to change. It lets you become a reader as well, and is the first step towards learning other keys."

"Heh. And how does one learn their True Name?" Alptraum asks and rubs the back of his neck lightly. "I presume it's not what your parents' decided you would be called, of course."

"No, it isn't," Kaira says, smirking a bit. "For one thing, you couldn't pronounce it, nor write it down. Your little torc has a key written on it, but it's a key into a Name, not the Name itself. The trick is that you have to think outside of language, because the universe doesn't use language. It uses mathematics, and the closest you can get to a language of mathematics is music, or song."

"I'm not sure you want me singing. Music I can play, but sing … not so much," Alptraum comments and looks back into the abyss. "And if I go through all of this, it will change, won't it? If I merge with the shadow, that is. Our True Names merge?"

"No, that is something we have to avoid," Kaira says, her ears folding back. "There is no way you could expose your Name to the Shadow's and hope to prevail. There is a fundamental incompatibility between the Names of mortals and of immortals. They don't… harmonize. What we need to do is embed a key that gives you some control over the Shadow instead. To be fully merged you'd be like me – something with a Name but existing outside of the book, in essence."

"Then how did the Countess Draco do it? Or is it much the same with her, just an embedded control?" Alptraum asks, looking a bit confused now.

"Hmmm, again I find it difficult to describe the relationship," Kaira says, leaning forward and using her sword as a bit of a crutch. "You don't have dogs in your world, but you do have dangerous carnivores that can be trained to serve a master, yes?"

"Sort of. I had a pet one once that hatched from an egg in Babel. Err, well, never mind that," Alptraum says and waves his hand. "So, she basically just keeps it under control." Now peering at Kaira as she leans over, he asks, "Are you all right? You look tired."

"Tired? No, I'm just… It isn't easy for me to think along certain lines, is all," Kaira admits. "I'm a copy of my creator, but not a perfect copy – just enough to do what is needed without opening her up to risk. But that's beside the point… oh! Yes, a Dromodon. A big lizard with six legs and very strong, right? I'm sure you've encountered them?"

"Haven't needed them since I fly, but yes I have," Alptraum says with a short nod. "What about them?"

"Well, the ones who control them use what, a little leather bridle?" the dragon asks. "What keeps them from simply snapping it and trampling their handler?"

"The handler feeds them. Plus, I think they have sort of a friendship, as it were … a bond of trust, in other words. Well, as much as any you can form with an animal," Alptraum says. "Or maybe it's just simple training and their minds just accept it."

"All of those, but even so… a Dromodon could turn on its master if the mood struck it. Any animal could," Kaira points out. "Now with a dragon, there has to be something a bit more substantial than 'food' or 'friendship'. Draco holds a dragon by a leash, but only because the dragon lets her. It gets something out of it that is crucial to its survival, since anything less isn't worth being leashed for."

"She told me she could destroy it with its True Name," Alptraum notes. "I presume that is pretty motivating. Is there something else, then?"

"Or she gives a physical presence, perhaps," Alptraum adds, "But I doubt that. It isn't in control of her body."

"Really? I wonder if that is actually the case," Kaira says, rubbing her chin. "But she is part of the dragon as well, somehow. The key may very well be an invitation for the dragon to house some critical part of itself within a mortal being. Something that keeps it safe from detection for instance."

Alptraum nods. "She did. If you two meet, you can ask her about it, even," he says with a small shrug. "She also gets long life out of the deal as well; she doesn't age. And, she asked if the Barsunala spirit talked to me; which makes me thing the dragon talks to her."

"It must be keeping some key part of its life force within her then," Kaira supposes. "Ah, yes… the Barsunala. I was about to get to that, and the role it can play… "

"All right," Alptraum says and then draws a breath. "I'm not sure I'm going to like this."

Kaira grins. "Well, it's not that bad. The Barsunala is bound to you, and you gain the advantage of using some of its abilities. However, it doesn't have a will of its own that it can influence you with. I suspect the Shadow is the same – mindless. However, just to be safe, it would be best to use the Barsunala to enact the key you found. That way, it is a matter of a living spirit controlling another living spirit – much safer than a mortal controlling an immortal. This Amena creature that owned it sounds as if it was a spirit controlling a mortal body itself."

"So, in other words I control the dragon in a sense by controlling the Barsunala. I merge the two together via the key?" Alptraum works out, still looking a bit confused. "Wouldn't that make the Barsunala spirit a lot more powerful?" He taps his chin, then notes, "Supposedly the heirs that all controlled the shadow were the same woman, who transferred her soul from body to body, so I guess it would have been spirit to spirit."

"Well, the Barsunala cannot control you," Kaira notes. "So far as we know. If the Shadow were not entirely mindless, then it would be safer if it could only control the Barsunala spirit, if that. We can easily sever the link between you and that spirit if needed."

"And the moment we did that, I become useless to you," Alptraum points out with a sigh.

"There is always some risk in such endeavors," Kaira notes. "However, I think we can control for them if we have the Shadow in here to study first."

"So, how do I get it in here, then?" Alptraum asks. "Last time I was near it, the shadow actually pulled away from me, as if it knew touching me was a bad idea."

"It also ate Vorgulremik's body though, and the knife blade is made of his blood," Kaira says. "It may shy from your touch, but the dagger gives you a way to touch it without using your own flesh."

"True, it did. So, I just need to stab it and instead of letting something flow out, I pull it back in?" Alptraum asks.

"Essentially," the dragon says with a nod. "I'll have a holding area set up to isolate it."

"I'm really surprised you're going along with this, I must admit," the Eeee notes, "But then if all else fails, we've at least removed a possible dangerous force from the world."

"Yes. Plus, I'll try to be there with you when it's time to make the attempt," Kaira says. "Assuming the sorcerer is defeated first."

"Well, he has to be defeated before any of this could even be done," Alptraum says with a nod, "Which won't be easy. He has a lot of tricks. His lair was trapped by illusions last time. It even messed with my hearing. I just had to trust it was all fake.""

"Illusion can be powerful in your world, true," the dragon says. "It even turned Tulani into a dragon, after all. That sort of thing is the specialty of elven kind though. Aside from occasionally transforming ourselves into humans, it isn't something dragons deal with often."

"I guess I could pay a visit to the elves while I'm here, perhaps. I've been meaning to spend some time with the various races trapped in here anyway. It's not fair that you have to take the brunt of their complaining," Alptraum says and pats Kaira's side. "We're partners in this, after all."

"Thanks, but I'm supposed to keep them from getting to you directly with their motives," Kaira says. "Remember, I told you to never trust an immortal."

"Who said I would trust them?" Alptraum asks with a glance over. "Can they physically hurt me in here?"

"Not really, but that's the least of the things you should worry about," the dragon warns. "Remember, some of them may know how to read Names, and yours isn't fully protected yet. They can sense your mortal nature, and it is their instinct to try and dominate you because of it."

"Well, can you set up something so that if they start trying to get to my name that I'm immediately removed?" Alptraum inquires.

Kaira thinks about it for a few moments. "Probably not," she admits. "It would be better if you could disguise yourself."

"Disguise myself? As what? The only shape I can take in here I that I know of is the Barsunala itself," Alptraum points out.

"Well, that might work," Kaira says, with a shrug. "Try it."

"All right," Alptraum says. He steps a few paces away from Kaira and draws several deep breaths, brow furrowed. This time Alptraum can both see and feel the shift as it slowly comes over him. It's as if a sickly ectoplasm oozes from his body, covering it and reshaping it more in the visage of the spirit. The skin between his wing membranes tear as they disintegrate into strips of torn wing flesh. The silvery irises of the Eeee also fade into white, while his pupils themselves seem to contract until they're gone. The shimming effect of the ectoplasm then solidifies, leaving the Eeee looking somewhat larger in stature, and yet a bit gaunter. "Forgot everything ends up looking 'funny' when I draw it out more," the Eeee comments, voice taking on a whispering, raspy, edge.

Kaira dips her head down to sniff at Alptraum, and then – oddly – she licks his cheek. "Mmmmm, demonic tasting. Much better, it masks your mortality and your appearance. Should work fine."

Alptraum reaches up and rubs his cheek. "Careful or I might lick you back," the Eeee warns in the raspy tone he now uses. "I don't really 'see' like this. Which makes sense since the 'Barsunala' is blind like Sunala But somehow I know where you are and what you look like, it's like everything appears gray." His gaunt face purses in thought for a moment, then asks, "So, how should I speak to the Elves, then? Pretend to be seeking information to pass on to the blade carrier in an attempt to get him to lower his guard and allow for takeover?"

"Nothing so… subtle," Kaira says. "Don't suggest your interest is for anyone but yourself. You're a demon. Say you were tricked by a Sidhe illusion once and want to know the secret to detecting them. Go to the dark elves, which are the enemy of the Sidhe. They may help you for a chance to thwart one some time in the future. Do you remember the barbarian hall where you met the succubus?"

"Yes. She made it quite memorable," the Barsunala says with a short nod. "As did you scaring her off, I might add."

"There is a new passage to that echo, so a good excuse for strangers to wander in," Kaira says. "I can arrange for you to show up there."

"Are you going to sneak in to watch, or am I on my own?" the Eeee demon asks.

"Would you feel safer with a companion?" the dragon asks.

"I would be curious to see if I can manage on my own, I must admit. I need to get better at dealing with such things, anyway," the Eeee demon says with a shrug. The strips of wing membrane make a disturbing rustle. "I can always leave quickly if I need to."

Kaira nods. "I'll go make the arrangements, then," she says, then steps off of the cliff and falls away into the void.

Alptraum watches Kaira fall into the void. "Don't trust immortals," he comments to himself, "And yet I am placing a lot of trust in her. I wonder if that would displease her? Bah, no time to think on such things, I have others to deal with and cannot get distracted." So, while he waits, he spreads his tattered wings to try a few experiments on the ground here … mainly, to see if the wings still 'work' even in their current state. Needless to say, it's probably best for the image of the Barsunala that no one was around to see the end results…