A Strange New World for one so Old...(Open)

[nightarcher]

This world was such an oddity. That first night after waking up from that shock-wave of pure alien power, he had exited his cave into his garden on the peak of the mountain. The stars were just the beginning. Not a single constellation matched his memory. At daybreak he had learned that the horizon itself was not right from just that peak hidden deep within the mountain range. It looked like there was more of a forest in the distance and not the plains he remembered at the very edge of the Serenity Mountains. That just wasn’t right.

He needed to make sure his students that were in his care would stay safe. Not a one of them was any older than 400 years, and in an unknown world he would not trust them to be able to defend themselves. None of them were allowed to leave his lair without a location amulet. After tweaking his protective spells to not let them out without one of those amulets, and after listening to the complaints of the students, He left to try figuring out why everything had changed. Spreading his wings to soar away from the peak of his home, Helios began to wind his way through the tall mountains.

It was very disorienting, the headache from the energy wave that had knocked him and his students out cold. Whatever had caused it was slowly disappearing, or at least the feeling of the rift was dissipating slowly. It would become unable to be sensed before he could ever find it, and before the headache ever disappeared. As he flew, passing one of the old ruins of a long dead kingdom, Helios flew to an outpost at the base of a long unused pass. The guard post for the castle he had just passed, and one of the few places the old gold dragon to just sit and relax alone.

The tall open guard tower in the center of the ruins was his target, spending multiple passes circling the tower. The thought that someone might have decided to come explore the new mountains that had appeared less than a week before never crossed his mind. Helios watched the terrain, it had all changed a few miles from the mountain, the long open plains were now gone, replaced with the very border of what looked to be a large forest. At a last pass, Helios hovered, sending immense gusts of wind to the ground before he landed along the side of, and clung to the side of the tall thick tower.

There he clung for only a moment before he triggered the magic inside himself, and shifted to his humanoid form, onto the top of the tower. The best place to relax to him, or used to since people had forgotten about this place in his world.

At that thought as he sat on the edge of the tower, something hit him. “This is another world. That power wave was a dimensional rift…” he grumbled and growled to himself. “it took the whole mountain range by the looks of it, thousands of square miles… I will never find it and reverse it before it disappears…” the grumbling turned into a low growl that did not fit the humanoid form at the thought of reversing it. “… if that is.. Even possible… never had studied that… phenomenon. “ all this was just voicing his train of thought as he tried to remember if anything like this was in all the magic he had studied. Similar to teleportation… maybe, but far more powerful. Was this permanent? More than likely that answer was yes.

“My students won’t be happy… if they can’t get home… though Falsha will love this, she is too curious for her own good.” He grumbled, looking out across what was left of the plains around his home into the far off beginnings of a large forest. After another moment of dwelling on his thoughts, Helios tried to distract himself, breathing in deeply the scents of the far off forest. It was all so new, and very little smelled like what he knew of a forest. It was so curious. He wanted to explore and see what existed here. So much to learn… but this world wasn’t his and his student’s home… “Unpleasant…”

[Insanity Renaissance]

Geographical landmarks were not fast-moving. They took thousands of years to form when the land was left to its own devices, and once they were there, they lasted for thousands of more years. Unless massive explosions or great disasters befell the area, of course.

Taking this into consideration, Aran was slightly perturbed to see a massive range of mountains in the Unmarked Terrain that were not there a week ago. She could feel the energy of a rift, but it was on a scale that was much bigger than anything other than the Downward Spiral itself. Really, who's idea was it to dump an entire mountain range in the middle of Genesis?

Sighing, the celestial stepped out of the border of the forest that had remained untouched despite the fact it was now near a mountain range. She could sense magical power emenating from the mountain range and spot what looked like little dots of maybe a civilization, but she couldn't be sure. Hopefully the people ther had some idea what was going on; she didn't want to have to explain to hundreds the concept of an "alternate reality." But nevertheless, an investigation was in order. There was no way that the mountain could go back; she could already feel the rift closing. For now, she suspected those living on it would have to make do.

A pair of massive white wings spread from her back as the angel took to the air, gliding towards the range with a slight frown on her lips. Looks like she would have her hands full.

((OOC: I'll post her graphic later. Currently in school ))

[nightarcher]

What was he going to do; every moment that passed he could feel the magic from the rift that had brought his home here dissipating. Though the headache still remained from it even after the time to recover, he still felt like a dwarf was pounding his head with the biggest warhammer the little bastard could find. That just made it a little harder to focus on the question he had asked himself. Still his thoughts were hung on the fact that he could probably not return home, and could not get his students home either. “I wish there had been a book that I could have studied for this form of magic.” Was all he grumbled to himself.

While his mind dwelled on that, he watched the forest line across the short miles between it and the edge of the mountains. The breeze blowing across all that remained of the plains he knew carried the scents of the forest. Nothing specific about the creatures or what lived there, but the scent of it all together. A calming scent that helped him think, while the headache hindered his thoughts. At least this new world kept that quality about his favored resting place, calm, quiet, with comforting smells of nature and the remains of a long gone civilization.

The calming feel of his favorite resting spot still couldn’t stop him mind from dwelling on what had happened, and keep his mind from going in to loops around what had just happened… and his students that were here. “I need to stop thinking about this. At least until I can find some information on those rifts…” Helios began before pausing and thinking of a way to take his mind off that. Instead he looked out at the forest and thinking about the possibility of what could lay beyond them.

What were the people of this world like? What kinds of magic did they have access to, or studied in this world. Depending on what he found the first time he left to explore this world, and ensure his students could be safe exploring. The thought of how many tomes and books that he may be able to find made him think about maybe having to add another level to his own library. But even that couldn’t keep his mind off the situation of being in a new world. But something else did much better at distracting him.

A scent that was both familiar, and yet different. Something or someone was coming, a denizen of this new world? Picking up that scent on the wind, Helios lifted his eyes away from the forest, putting his nose in the air he began searching. The position looked weird for someone wearing a human-like form. With the scent was also, or more like with it, was the scent that usually came with feathers, ans slightly liked a human.

But no human had feathers… “And Angel…” he growled deeply at those words while bringing up his hand and focusing his magic to bring his glasses to him, to hide is burning reptilian eyes. “What is a messenger of a damned human god doing here?” He didn’t think here was one in the mountains when the rift opened… unless this one came from this world. This could end badly if a god from this world was taking notice of these mountains. Helios never liked any god who took an active role in manipulating a race of people, and especially would not enjoy one taking an interest in his home.

Looking up, Helios spotted the place in the sky, the figure approaching on those light grey/white wings, and dressed in black. The old dragon did not move from where he was sitting, but did focus on his magic and contained the aura it produced around him. Pulling all his magic he could into himself to hide his aura, it would wind down from sensing like a raging inferno, to feeling like nothing more than a simple campfire. He had been told before doing this made him feel like nothing more than a human mage to other dragons… who knew how well it would work on an angel. But past that and putting his glasses onto his face to make his eyes look like a normal blue like a human, Helios did not move much else other than watching the angel approach.

“An angel… if He sees me and stops, I am going to have my hands full.” He grumbled to himself. At least he knew the angel would never be able to find the entrance to his home.

[Insanity Renaissance]

The power that Aran has sensed began to die down as she approached, and she sighed in frustration as it shrunk too fast for her to track it. Someone obviously didn’t want to be found, but given that their mountains had just landed in a completely new world, that apprehension was quite reasonable.

The celestial landed gracefully on a ledge, looking around for a moment. With a sigh, she looked around, mismatched eyes scanning every inch she could see. Eventually, they focused in on a figure not too far off. Ah, finally, someone! Now she could get this thing over with. A smile spread onto the woman’s lips as she took to the air again, flying over to the stranger.

“’Lo, there!” She called, landing in front of the man. He seemed quite normal for a human mage, but the celestial knew better than to judge a book by its cover. There were many creatures of all sorts that could disguise themselves to appear human both power and appearance-wise. She should know. She was one of them. Her wings folded comfortably behind her as she spoke to him. “Are you one of the people that was dragged here along with the mountains?” She was nothing but pleasant, smiling warmly as she clasped her hands behind her back and rolled slightly on her heels.

[nightarcher]

Helios watched silently, only moving his head as the Angel approached and then flew by shortly. Instead of coming straight for him, he had bypassed the small outpost he was resting on. That would be one less thing to deal with if he didn’t have to deal with an angel. They were never much more than a headache… and he didn’t need more of one of those.

The dragon wasn’t that lucky, and he growled to himself a little when he watched the angel land on a ledge that overlooked the plains, mountains, and this outpost. It didn’t take the angel long to spot Helios, it wasn’t hard to see his dark brown cloths against the old grey stone. So it looked like he would end up actually needing to deal with this angel man. If he was a messenger of the one who had brought the mountains here then he would not live long. It had been a while since he had been forced to eat an angel.

As the angel approached, Helios turned around so that he was sitting facing inward toward the center of the tower. So He… no She, the angel was female, there were some features to her that were unmistakably female. But he had turned so she had somewhere to land without difficulty, and so Helios didn’t have to stand from where he was sitting. This gave him a good angle to study her as the angel woman descended to land on the tower in front of Helios.

Helios met the angel’s smile with a flat face, neither hostile, but not as pleasant as she was trying to be, instead, just sat there, hands resting at his sides on the stone bulwark of the tower. “Greetings.” Was his reply to her as, at this range he got a much closer inspection of her. Something in him told him that this angel woman was more powerful that she looked or felt. Maybe that was just his own instincts as a magical beast, or the fact that he himself was something more than what he was playing as was not even close to what he really was.

Her question though he debated for a moment before answering. “Yes, I am one of the people torn through that rift with my home…” he answered for a moment before asking a question of his own. “… are you just some curious inhabitant of this world, or are you a messenger of some god or powerful being who tore my home through the rift?” he asked staring into her mismatched eyes with the what appeared to be plain blue ones, watching for any hints of a lie or holier-than-thou attitude. The answer to that would determine if he became more civil, or if he would have to become aggressive.

[Insanity Renaissance]

Well, he was a bit rude. But most people in his situation wouldn’t be too trusting of strangers in his situation. However, the remarked involving gods hit a nerve, and Aran’s smile became a bit more sheepish. “Well, no and no. No, I’m not a resident here. And I do work for a being that can be seen as a deity of some sort, but she isn’t an actual god. But I, nor her, were responsible for your home being transported here.” It was unfortunate. If Khaos was somehow involved, she would be able to fix it. “Actually, no one really knows why you fell through. You’re not the first, though. And definitely not the last, I’m afraid.” Aran sighed, looking out at the land for a moment. She hadn’t been here for very long; her job required her jumping all over the place, in and out of realities. But Genesis was the one place she knew of that people always fell into. It almost reminded her of Reunir, but this bore no mark of a Titan.

“People have been falling onto this world for a while, now. Though you’re the first with a whole mountain range, as far as I know.” Aran shrugged, grinning again. “My name is Aran Andreas Niomii. I guess you could say I’m like an unofficial welcoming committee. I sensed the rift when it opened, and decided to check it out. Wasn’t expecting all this, however.” As she said ‘all this’ she gestured to the tower beside them and the mountain range. An impressive amount of energy must have been required for the entire mountain to fall through. If it had been caused by a creature of some sort, Aran would hate to meet it.

“I’d be more than happy to answer any questions you have about this place. But if you need serious aid, I would suggest talking to one of the nations on Genesis. They’re usually somewhat accommodating to people such as yourself until you have an idea to adjust. But to be honest, if I were you I’d avoid Isafaro, as they possess a pseudo-totalitarian state of government with an oppressive leader.”

“But I would appreciate it if you didn’t associate me with a god because I’m an ‘angel.’” Aran remarked, her wings shifting slightly as she shifted her weight to the other foot. “Where I come from, my race has no relation to any ‘god’ or ‘deity.’ In fact, we call ourselves celestials.” One of the things that always bothered Aran was the stereotype that was applied to her race. There were so many other worlds out there were beings of light were considered “holy messengers” of some great deity that “mortals” worshiped, and demons were harbingers of evil. In her home, celestials were merely celestials and demons were merely demons. The reason the two nations were always butting heads was not because of some holy mission or a battle of good and evil, but rather the fact that their planes were often connected with each other and they often competed for resources. So it came as quite of a surprise to Aran when she was among humans and “light” became “good” and “dark” became “evil.” She had learned to get used to it over the years, but the idea that this stranger immediately didn’t trust her because she was supposedly a servant of some god was rather annoying.

[nightarcher]

The slightly faltering smile was hard to miss the faltering smile. At least he had no desire to make friends at this point in time, though he rarely ever desired friends. But at least from what he could tell she was telling the truth, and was honest that she served a deity. But that deity wasn’t a god? Didn’t deity and god basically mean the same thing in most languages?

Of course what she said next about being dropped here took his attention from that little question so he didn’t have the chance to even ask it. She said that her master wasn’t behind this rift, and no one actually knew who was, or why. He actually took his eyes off the Celestial at that and rubbed his temples as if trying to try getting rid of a headache that what she said had caused. “Ok, I believe you’re telling the truth. And sorry about being so rude. The rift and dropping me and my home here has left me feeling like I have a dwarf pounding on my skull with a warhammer…” he said before looking back up at her, his look a little softer, but still not really giving much away other than not as hostile as before. He stayed silent and let her speak.

The grin came back on the Celestial's face as she spoke about a whole mountain appearing here and that being so unusual. But of course she got to introducing herself, and Helios actually remembered human manners for a moment as he stood up. He bowed to her for a moment at the introduction and got to his own. “A pleasure to meet you. I am Helios’Astras.” He said before taking his seat again. The bow would align him more with much older human cultures that what Aran was probably be used to dealing with. “If you wish you can have a seat as well, though a stone guard tower isn’t the most comfortable place.”

Helios had to smile a bit at the all this comment, himself now thinking about the possibilities as to why something this strange happened. “Well, it probably proves a legend from my world about these mountains. That the Serenity Mountains are the last resting place of a goddess. The Dragon Mother. Her spirit is told to protect the mountains and any who call them home. That is just a legend though.” When he said the title of the goddess, it seemed to be in a different language that would be extremely difficult to say, it actually sounding more like a name. “But that may be an explanation as to why an entire mountain range was transferred. She would not let her grave be damaged by being separated.” He didn’t mention that that was his hope. As a dragon, that little legend was one of his, even though he had never actually found any proof that it was true even after living in the mountains for thousands of years.

He fell silent again as Aran continued, a couple questions were spinning in his head, and jumbled around by each stroke of the hammer against his skull. At the mention of multiple nations, Helios was again curious, and had a few questions about each. He restrained himself a bit. “When a man achieved too much power, it corrupts and changes them.” Helios muttered a moment at the mention of an oppressive leader. Though he continued with his questions after. “You said this world is called Genesis… but where was my home dropped on this world? Are there any of these Nations you spoke of close by that I would have to worry about?” he was resisting the urge to ask about libraries, or anything new he could learn… first came his students and the mountains, making sure they were safe.

Helios snorted a little, the small sign of a laugh at what he guessed she was meaning when she was speaking about calling her an angel. Well, she apparently she had a really touchy subject, stereotypes for people. “My apologies. But people like you are angels in my home world, and they are messengers of the Human pantheon of gods. They have made my ‘people’ hated by the vast majority of humans. And why we are hunted like monsters.” He said, though didn’t seem too insulted, or angry at all. Though the way he said people made it not sure if he was saying what he was wasn’t a person.

Though he didn’t mention the legends as to why the human gods and the humans hated dragons so much. He wasn’t sure this woman would like old stories older than any living thing that Helios knew of, or even care. Aran looked more like a warrior, not someone who enjoyed old stories, and learning anything more than sword skills. Plus, he wasn’t sure he would like teaching them to someone he didn’t really know at all.

(OOC: when I am using italics, he is speaking in a different language.)

[Insanity Renaissance]

Aran smiled at his apology, bowing in a similar manner to his own. ‘Sun star? An interesting name.’ “Oh, it’s fine. It’s perfectly reasonable for you to be stressed.” She sat down next to him, folding her legs and rested her head on one of her hands as she listened to Helios’ legend about the range. He spoke a word in a language that was foreign to her, which piqued her curiosity. It was always fascinating to learn something new. Even after almost 8000 years of existence, there was still so much Aran didn’t know, and that excited and astounded her. “That certainly may be the reason.”

A small chuckle escaped the woman’s lips before she answered his questions. “Don’t worry, your home and its residents are safe. You lie on the continent of Elim, in the Uncharted Terrain. There is little to bother you here. Isafaro is on the continent of Jherra, a long ways away.” Pointing off into the distance, the celestial continued. “That way lies the Island Prison Zorteth. You shall get no trouble from the wardens there. And that way,” She pointed in a different direction. “Is the Republic of Xanaris. I haven’t really been there much myself, but the people are not unfriendly to strangers. Apparently though, they’ve recently made some great technological achievements since people from all sorts of realities started showing up for no rhyme or reason.”

The celestial remained silent as Helios explained his judgment of her. A small, sympathetic smile appeared on her lips, and she bowed her head slightly in apology. “I’m sorry to hear about the tragedy that befell your kind, Helios’Astras.” She looked out to the horizon for a moment, sighing softly. “Even though they are not my kind, it makes me feel a little ashamed to hear that their actions have led to your suffering. My people have caused a similar stigma from humans to fall to one of our enemies, though it was not intentional on our part. Merely due to a misunderstand that at the time, we failed to realize would have major consequences.” Yes, the demons were looked down on my humanity as nothing but monsters due to the celestial being seen by the humans as “harbingers of justice” or something along those lines. She used to wonder how a race could make such assumptions, but then she had been forced to be a part of human civilization for several thousand years, and came to realize that it was because, well, at the time, they didn’t know that much about the universe. Or anything, really. It was rather fascinating to see how a race could advance so much in her lifetime.

“If you don’t mind me asking,” Aran spoke up suddenly, looking around. “Are you alone on this mountain. Or are there others with you?” It would be sad to think that a person such as Helios was alone in the vast mountain range. No one should have to be alone, secluded from society. Unless they were hell-bent on destroying said society, of course. But Helios was no rampaging monster, that much the silver-haired woman was certain of.

[nightarcher]

When Aran sat down on the next protruding stone over on the tower, Helios had to turn himself a little to keep his eyes on her, and to keep her from seeing under the glasses and his real eyes hidden. There was no real way that he knew that this angel… no, Celestial, could tell his own race. And he had no desire to let her know. She may not think he was a monster, and just a human mage. But if she learned what he was, that most certainly would change. It always had before when people learned what he was. Dragons to most were nothing more than beasts, monsters, or a big pay day to most smaller races.

Of course when Aran started pointing off in different directions and spouting the names of different places. None of them really meant anything to the dragon, and the prison she mentioned had no interest in him. The one she mentioned as Xanaris may prove to be of some interest though as she said they wouldn’t be unfriendly to a stranger, thus translated wouldn’t attack him on sight for not dressing like them. “I get the feeling I am going to need a map… pointing in random directions does not help if I can’t see what you are pointing at.” At least he couldn’t from this tower. But the mention of technology got Helios to look at her with a curious look, if a bit clueless. “Technology? What is technology?” That was an honest question, he had no clue what this word was, or even meant. He probably only said it right because he had heard her say it.

Helios chuckled a bit at the mention of a tragedy. “Not really much of one. My people aren’t all that easy to kill, and very hard to find when we don’t want to be found. Only the foolish and young are easy prey.” He didn’t seem to feel all that broken up about the fact, though he had said that it was part of his original apparent hatred/dislike for her. “Though it is why the young are usually taught and protected by some trusted elders. Or a High Magus.” It wasn’t hard to assign students to older dragons since dragons were not born all that often. Though Helios was one of the few who actually had students of other elements.

Though her question about if he was alone or not caught Helios off guard a bit there. Why did she care? She just met him. “No, not alone. But then the only others are my students, and they are all barely out of adolescence.” He sighed a bit before shaking his head. “If the rift had waited another week, I would have been thankfully alone and not have had ended up with those who are little more than hatch… uh, children to take care of.” Helios corrected himself hallway through speaking, almost referring to the students as what a dragon would, and not a human. Hopefully Aran wouldn’t catch it or not think anything of it.

[Insanity Renaissance]

Oh dear. It seemed that Helios was from a land that had yet to make any outstanding technological achievements. She would have to catch him up on that, wouldn’t she? “Technology is… well, it’s a versatile term. In this case, I use it to refer to certain machine and society advancements. The technology I speak of revolves around using energy, more than often electrical, to achieve things without the use of magic. Like this.” Fishing around in her pocket, she pulled out a digital camera. Holding it up, she took a picture of Helios, and then turned it around for him to see the screen which now contained a picture of him. “This is called a camera. It’s a piece of technology, used for capturing images. It only records them, it doesn’t steal your soul or anything, I assure you.” She gave him the camera to hold as she continued. “Technology is quite interesting, but it’ll probably be a bit confusing for you to get used to. Ask me sometime and I’ll take you to Kari, a city on the next continent over. It’s rather advanced, and has an impressive library.”

Aran smiled as he spoke of his students. It was obvious he had some fondness for them, but what teacher didn’t care about the ones they took under their wing. It was almost like taking care of one’s own children… her smile became a little more wistful as she thought of her own children. Jerico and Merian, her son and daughter. Ah, such beautiful children she had. She had been here in Genesis for such a long time… maybe it was about time for her to stop back home and check on them. Her work often kept her away from her family, which broke her heart. But at least she wasn’t gone so often where she couldn’t see them grow up strong. “At least you have company,” She commented. “People who know where you came from, and can understand what you say and mean. There are so many others here who are all alone, with nothing but the things they had on them at the time to remind them of the place they called home, a place they might never see again.” She caught his slip, wondering why he would be concerned. It almost sounded like he was a dragon or something. Actually, that would make sense, considering all the things she had noticed. The shrinking power that had caught her attention? It could have been him. However, he seemed interested in keeping his race a secret, and Aran didn’t want to make him feel uncomfortable. That wouldn’t mean she wouldn’t drop him a hint that it was O.K., though.

“There are many varieties of people that tread across these lands,” She remarked off-handedly. “Some of which you might recognize, others you might not. Don’t be surprised to see more of my kind, though we might not be from the same reality, so I can’t guarantee their friendliness. Some actually are vanguards of some crazy god.” The silver-haired woman laughed at the notion, as if she found it completely stupid. “I’ve seen vampires that seem more demon that nightstalker, a few aliens, a headless faerie, some super-powered human, a machine with its own personality, a few gods…” Aran’s experience in Reunir had made her all but immune to such random varieties of people. It was frightening how much this place was like that prison. At least here, no one was forced to kill each other to get home. “It would be wise to let your students be aware of their current predicament, though.”

[nightarcher]

Just listening to her explanation, Helios was already feeling the headache worsen. At lest it was a simple explanation, and he knew the basic concept behind machines since that is what dwarves called their tools they used to construct things like his home, and these guard towers. Like the cranes that lifted the stone blocks into place. Though they were all made out of wood. But this electricity thing he did not know a clue as to what that was. Of course he didn’t have much of a chance to question it when Aran pulled out the small box, barely the size of a person’s palm. “A camera?!” was all he got to say before she took the picture, there was only a really small sound.

“What?” Yeah, the old dragon was mostly speechless at the display of something so simple. He took the camera and was turning the little box over in his hands, and seeing the image of himself in the little window on one side. “How does this even work?!” He wasn’t even listening. Though the mentions of stealing a soul, Helios looked up at Aran like she was crazy. “This thing doesn’t give off any aura with the ability to contain a soul… how could anyone think this could steal a soul.” He asked simply, holding the camera back out to her before he would do something to break this… technology. “But this Kari place. It would probably be too much. My world, magic was widely available. Mages who created magical items could make a lot of money. I don’t think anyone has ever thought of making something like this technology. A place full of it would probably be too much. ” Helios paused but smiled a bit. “This ‘impressive library’ though I would like to see. I wander if it is bigger than my own. Please tell me they at least also do value magic. I would love to study some other schools of magic from other worlds.” He wasn’t mentioning that hearing about this technology, was definitely triggering his curiosity, and he wanted to learn much more about it. The first city he visited, he would also spend most of his time in the nearest library.

Unfortunately, the conversation turned away from this technology and towards his company, his students. She had no idea what it would be like trying to keep those dozen safe. A few would have too much curiosity and would get themselves in to some deep trouble. He knew one would at least. “Maybe. But they are all still too young to have a meaningful conversation with me without it turning into a lecture. My people are solitary beings, we are not meant to be in large groups of people for long.” As he said that he looked away from her and up into the mountains that they were facing, those towering peaks, some snow-capped. “I know as soon as the oldest of them woke up a few hours ago after the effects of the rift, I ordered her to watch over them until they woke up, and not let anyone leave without wearing a Locator Amulet. That is the safest I could make them while I came out here to think and to figure out how much of a danger they would be in.” Though he was also thinking of maybe having to find them all a cave to make into their own lair. Dragons stuck together without an elder like him around would probably start fighting each other. They needed somewhere to go to have their own peace and quiet. “The safest place in this world for them though is my Lair.” That last statement sounded like him thinking out loud.

The next little speech made him think that this woman was definitely very intelligent. She probably did catch his small slip-ups in speech that most didn’t. now that he thought about he had let slip another one by calling his home a lair. “Sounds like this world can’t decide on who it wants to inhabit it, or whoever made it wants it to be a big melting pot. I cannot imagine there is any lasting peace with the mix of peoples you are stating are here.” Though when she mentioned gods being here too, a very not human growl could be heard from Helios. He was glad he gave this celestial the benefit of the doubt when she had flown by, but if any came any deeper into the mountains, he may not. Angels did taste better than humans, especially if they served a god.

Helios shook the growl off, and just laughed a little at the image of a headless fairy, though the word alien didn’t mean anything to him. And then it came back to his students. “I am dreading telling them… especially telling them they may never go home. They may be young, and still need teachers for magic, but some have started families and are mates of others back home.” Yeah, that was a good reason not to go back to the lair. He may be an old dragon that could not care about much if he so chose… but he didn’t want to see the despair on some of his student’s faces when he would tell them that.