Chapter 4

Leon

Leon had flown with his brother by his side for longer than he cared to remember, they had fought in many many battles, always coming through it all together. No more, Leon thought as he guided his dragon to a landing, no more would his brother ride with him. All because of some rodent that had arcane talent, he had returned to the village where his brother had died and the demon had attacked him.

He had returned with enough reinforcements to stop this beast, he had roused the entire 4th dragon flight, 35 dragon riders in all, he sent 5 of the smallest and fastest scouts ahead to track the demon. He also ordered the remaining to split into 6 man groups to head to the nearby Sidhe villages hopefully they could intercept the Sidhe Mage and its demon, his hand gripped the reins as the dragon settled to the dirt.

He watched as the group he was leading landed all around him. Five of the best riders the Imperium had to offer all sat on their dragons around him, three of the riders where full battle mages he had requested Markus but had been told he was unreachable at the time, no matter how he hated the man he was still a good mage to have in a pinch.

"The creature we will be hunting is a Demon, it was able to slay 4 of my riders including my brother, it was able to shatter my rune sword as well as cut my armor clean through." Leon said in a growl.

He watched the reaction of his men, all seemed to grow more somber, the rune sword was supposed to be unbreakable.

"It is clear that these Sidhe dogs are allying themselves with dark forces to oppose our great empire, much like they did thousands of years ago when they led the slave revolt and fled to the woods, we have tolerated this scum for far to long, this tolerance has come to bite us in the ass, its time we rectified that error." Leon looked at each of his men in turn.

"If you spot this beast you are to immediately signal for reinforcements, treat this thing as an extreme danger, the Sidhe child with it seems to be a skilled fire mage as well, we will not rest until these creatures are destroyed is that clear?" Leon stared at his men, in unison they all saluted him with a fist over their chest.

Lori

Elle had offered to carry her, she had declined, at the speed Elle could move they would not be able to mask there trail. So they moved slowly careful not to leave much to be followed, Lori restricted her magic use to prevent tracking. Over the past 2 days Lori had told Elle everything she could about the Sidhe and the Human as Elle called them. In return Elle told her what she could of her people, much of it sounded confusing to her, she could not imagine a land with out magic, Elle was very reserved with the details but Lori suspected she might not understand them if she did tell her.

Lori had watched as Elle had dug through her pack she carried, she positioned her self to get a good view as Elle seemed to be checking each item.

Lori watched as Elle chattered to herself in her strange language, she watched as she tossed several items to the ground.

"What is wrong Elle?"

Lori watched as Elle looked at her, she had removed her helmet as they rested.

"All my equipment and gear I brought is dead, anything that works on my worlds physics seems to not function, that is for the exception of the biological equipment, but with out the other gear who knows how well its working."

Lori picked up one of the strange items.

"Can I look at them maybe I can sense with the problem is?"

Lori looked over the extremely lite item she had picked up, it felt wrong, it gave off a sense of wrongness that made her skin crawl.

"Ah" Lori couldn't take it and dropped the item to the floor.

"What is it Lori?" Elle looked interested.

"It feels wrong, like a void." Lori said rubbing her hands as if to wipe off the feeling.

Elle walked over and picked the item up.

"Tell me about this arcane energy you use Lori?" Elle said

Lori looked around slowly.

"Like I said Elle, it is everywhere, all around, you just need to tap into it. Everyone has the ability to channel it, some easier than others." Lori held up her finger and a flicker of flame sprung to life.

"Right..." Elle said looking at the flame.

"Even animals can use it, as you saw with the dragons."

"How do you channel it?" Elle asked.

"I don't know, I guess I just pull it into me, the keeper said I was more skilled at channeling than most Sidhe, normally we tend to use the arcane in a less aggressive manner." Lori said repeating what she had been told several times.

Elle.

Elle cursed the fact that all her gear was useless, she was not even able to recharge her internal reserves, she could get energy from photosynthesis but could not store it, so the slow trickle was of almost no use. After talking to Lori about her magic she started to form an idea, but it would be a long shot, she watched Lori cause a flame to appear on her finger.

"Lori how accurately can you channel your powers?"

"What do you mean?" Elle tilted her head at her.

"I mean how small of a flame can you make, can you slowly heat up a small area with out causing a flame? Or could you create a small consistent flame?"

Elle watched as Lori furrowed her brow, she seemed to be thinking for a moment.

"I've never tried any of that, but I guess I could."

Elle watched as Lori sat and stared at her hand, they ate in silence both lost in thought. Elle needed to find a suitable power source, she needed a lab, and most importantly she need to see what ever passed for science in this world. The whole magic and arcane energy thing intrigued her, it was a new form of energy no one in the alliance had ever encountered, Even if it was limited to these dimensions it was still intriguing.

Elle was lost in thought when she started to feel strange, she got very dizzy rather quickly, she also began to feel a strange rumbling in her gut.

Lori

Lori glanced back at Elle as they ate, she was holding her side and looking pale.

"Elle?" She called, she did not seem to have heard her.

"Elle?!" Lori raised her voice.

Elle seemed to shake her head.

"Sorry ... I ... somethings wrong." Elle said

Lori watched as Elle tried to stand up, she had to prop herself up on her sword, Lori looked closely at Elle's face she seemed to be sweating a bit, she also noticed changes in Elle's face, she had sworn she had looked more like the female beast men, but now she could see traits that reminded her of her family, it looked as if her ears and eyes had grown.

"Elle your face is changing!" Lori said stunned when she realized what was wrong.

"Yes the virus is taking hold, I can adapt myself to the local environment better this way, it seems to be taking more out of me than I thought."

"Why would you chose to look like the Sidhe?" Lori absently touched her own ears.

"Why would I not?" Elle said leaning more heavily on her sword.

"It's just that you already look like the beast men, and they are the strongest race in the realm..." Lori looked down at the ground.

"Lori for my purposes, Sidhe blood is just as good as anyones"

"Really?" Lori said looking up.

"Yes Lori, you have all the adaptations I could ever need to survive here."

Lori watched as Elle seemed to doze off and then she fell to the ground, Lori ran quickly to her side and tried to wake her. She could feel the heat radiating from her pale skin, Lori looked around for anything that could help, she needed to find water.

"Ancestors please help us." Lori mumbled to herself.

Elle

Elle found herself dreaming, it was strange normally while sleeping her consciousness would be working on her research while her biological systems rested her mind never truly dreamed. She found herself strangely detached from her body, she glanced around confused unsure what was happening.