Chapter 1

A scene of naught but darkness. An empty world untouched by light.

Was it a dream in sleep? Or was it that which awaited everyone after life?

Neither answer seemed to fit. Despite the lack of surroundings, Eragon felt like he was aware, that when his body moved, it was according to the will of his mind. He couldn't see himself, not even if he brought his hands right in front of his face. But he could feel the movement, feel his body respond to his mind. Dreams aren't usually like that.

So then where was he?

The last thing he remembered...would suggest that this was the end of his life.

He had been attacked, by a woman with exquisite clothing, divine features, lustrous hair and brilliant eyes. With what, he could not say. Did she cut him down? Or hit him with magic? Again, he could not say. The split second after she had seen Saphira and Cuaroc, Eragon's awareness of the world had been ended.

Saphira. What had happened to her? And Cuaroc? And the Elves? The Eggs? The Eldunari?

Eragon could feel none of them in the black expanse. Their minds were no where to be found, and even the feeling of his bond with Saphira, that was once always with him, was gone. It's absence left him with a profound sense of emptiness he felt nothing else could compare to.

It was not the sadness that Eragon had felt from Glaedr when Oromis was taken from him. He did not feel Saphira's life diminish. His feel for the bond had simply vanished. But was it really so different? Had Saphira perished, and he had simply not been aware of it?

No. It was different. The bond had been cut, but neither side of it had fallen. That explanation seemed to sit with Eragon better, but the only comfort it provided him was that Saphira was not dead. It did nothing to fill the emptiness.

That woman must have had something to do with it. Did she cut the bond herself? The thought of such an act scared Eragon. He knew that a bond could be forcefully created, from his experience with Galbatorix, but he had never heard of it being severed without killing them.

Then, was he really dead? How else could he explain it?

Just as he considered this, the seemingly empty darkness shifted, as if another had come to occupy it?

Saphira? He said with his mind in hope.

It was futile. The second the thought had formed, he already felt that the new presence was that of something different. Something...familiar?

It was a vast presence, that of which he had only felt once before. So recent was it, that the memory of it was clear in his mind.

The woman who had attacked him. Or so he thought.

But it wasn't. It was similar in that it was imposing, the presence of someone far greater then he, but it did not have the same feel to it, that warm brilliance that surrounding the exceptionally beautiful woman. This presence, felt cold and dark, as if he had stepped from an empty room into a swirling blizzard.

His eyes focused on the source.

"What a strange creature you are!"

It was a young girl. A very young girl. She looked like she was only five, maybe six years old. Her voice was sweet and her face and smile pure and innocent. She had long black hair, perfectly straight down to her knees. A long, yet fitting white and simple dress was all that she wore. Her image alone was that of a young girl any man would be proud to be the father of.

And yet Eragon's senses told him otherwise. He did indeed feel the innocence the girl portrayed so well, but he also felt a cruelty with it in that gaze of hers, like she would enjoy pulling Eragon to pieces as a normal child might do to an insect. Worse, he felt a familiar power to her, something like the woman in the tower possessed. If anything, it was far greater.

"I remember you. You're not a human. But you're not an elf either! Not as creative as I might have been, but it's good work nonetheless."

The way she spoke, as if she were older then she appeared, as well as her familiarity with him, unsettled Eragon, but it was nothing compared to the terror the space around her seemed to pulsate with.

The girl stared at Eragon intently, edging closer to him with her small foot-steps. Eragon tried to turn and move, but he could not. The ability to control himself had left him, as if his body had become a prison for his mind.

Eragon wanted assume the girl had something to do with it, unwilling to admit it was fear paralysing him.

As she drew closer, Eragon thoughts struggled for his body to act more and more. His skin shivered at her approach, feeling as if dozens of deadly creatures were crawling all over him.

And then she reached out and touched his hand.

And with a cute yelp, yanked her arm away.

"That's not fair!"

The girl's sweet voice turned vile and the cruelty Eragon had felt in her expression earlier had come to surface on her face, along with a vicious rage. Eragon's instinct would normally have him running, or at least getting into a position to defend himself, but control over his body had not returned to him.

"Why doesn't it work! It know it was you! You're the one!"

Out of rage, she tried to grab at Eragon, but the same sensation that forced her away before did so again. A faint burning smell entered his nostrils.

"RRRRRAAAAGGHHH! That stupid whore! FUCKING BITCH! She must have done-"

The expanse of darkness was swept away, as was the once pure child, who was raging about more violently then a dragon might have. Relief coursed through Eragon as the feeling of her presence and rage left him.

And then he woke up.

His eyes shot right open, only to be blinded by a ray of the sun, seeping through the curtains of a nearby window. Shielding his face, Eragon allowed his eyes to adjust to the light and soon found himself in a small, relatively empty room with brown stone walls.

"It was...just a dream?"

It was more to convince himself, but the second his eyes had opened, he knew that parts of it weren't. That emptiness the lack of Saphira's bond left him was still there, like a gaping hole in his chest.

Desperate for Saphira, he cast his mind out, ignoring everything except the memory of her and how her mind felt to him. He wasn't sure how far he expanded himself, but after reaching his limit, and not finding her, he stopped in his attempt.

"I see you're awake."

A new voice and a new person entered the room. There were no doors to the room, only an empty walkway, so the person's entry had been quite silent.

He was a tall man with tanned skin and thick, yet trimmed brown hair. His tidy beard had a fullness to it, but was quite short in length. He wore a dusty tan coloured shirt, a thick leather belt and brown leather pants above two thick boots. Green eyes the colour of moss growing in the forest gazed down at him.

Eragon wanted to ask the man a million questions. What happened to Saphira? The Elves? What was the girl he saw in the darkness? Or the woman in the tower? Eragon had guessed that this man had somehow brought him here, so he must have some answers.

As Eragon tried to speak, the man held up his hand.

"I can guess what you want to ask, but you're better off looking elsewhere. I was not the one to bring you here."

"But if you weren't..."

"You were lucky today. Extremely lucky. The Endr Caravan does not travel through the Al'Telik desert often, and they enter A'Beliese even less. It's a small miracle that you happened to be there on a day they went to the temple to pray."

Endr Caravan? Al'Telik? A'Beliese? The names were so foreign to Eragon.

"So, this Endr Caravan found me?"

"Yes, upon the fortieth floor of the tower. Along with a few others, too."

"Saphira?" Eragon asked without consideration for the man's knowledge of her.

The man's eyes narrowed. "Saphira? That name rings a bell, but there was no Saphira among those found. Unless one of them gave a false name."

"So...no dragon?"

"Dragon?" The man paused for a moment, then shook his head. "No wonder you were in that state. I take what I said back from earlier. You are not lucky. Not in the slightest." Before Eragon could speak again, the man continued. "The elves are already up. None of you are physically harmed, so feel free to get up and see them. They are outside, speaking with the caravan leaders."

"Thank you very much, for looking after me," said Eragon. The man gave a small yet gradual nod in response.

Eragon wanted to stay and ask the man more questions, but it looked like he wasn't going to stick around. So, Eragon slowly rose to his feet, watching as the man left the room. Then, he made his own way out, leaving behind the small house.

He thought his eyes had adjusted, but again Eragon's eyes were filled with light. Slowly, the glare faded and his eyes took in the sight around him.

It was a small town built around a large oasis, far larger then any Eragon and the elves had come across before. The buildings were simple in nature and most of them small, made of a stone very similar in colour to the enormous expanse of sand surrounding the oasis. Only a few had wooden structures built around them, such as a roof over the entrance, or a balcony. At the edge of the waters, the largest structure rested. To Eragon, it looked like an inn of sorts.

The heat of the desert didn't feel so bad next to the large lake and the tall trees growing by it's shore helped too. But it was still very hot, much more then Eragon was comfortable with.

People moved around the village, dressed in mainly in long, light robes, but some wore short, leather armour. It was quite lively for a town so far away from everything. And in the centre of it all, was a long train of carriages, pulled by creatures Eragon had never seen before.

They looked like large birds, with tall, powerful legs, yet short stubby wings that ends with small talons. For the most part, they were feathered in a variety of browns, whites and blacks, but scales covered the parts that weren't feathered. And they made a noise more like a husky growl, then the chirp of a bird. Tiny teeth poked out from their dark beaks.

Standing with the train of carriages were three familiar faces. Blodhgarm and Danlir spoke to a man with skin as dark as charcoal, whilst Ulithr seemed occupied with some of the bird-like creatures. The dark man didn't seem happy to be talking to the elves. As Ulithr was closer, Eragon approached him first.

"Aren't they marvelous?" Ulithr said without looking Eragon's way. "The people here call them Raparkee's. It's like they are a cross between a great lizard and a great bird, yet they are like horses to the people of the desert. They can survive the heats and go great lengths without consuming water. They feel quite intelligent too."

Ulithr's cheerful attitude annoyed Eragon. "Shouldn't you be more concerned with something else?" The words came out harsher then Eragon intended, but he made no apologies. The loss of Saphira and her precious luggage had put him in a bad mood. Not to mention what he saw before he woke.

Ulithr didn't look impressed with Eragon's tone. "We've already asked a lot of the people of this village about what happened, especially the caravan people who found us, but they have all given us the same answer. We were unconscious upon the fortieth floor and there wasn't a dragon in sight, nor any sign of the Eldunari and Eggs."

Blodhgarm left the dark man and approached the two. "Ulithr, you should show more respect when speaking with Shadeslayer." When Ulithr ignored him, Blodhgarm gave Eragon an apologetic incline of the head. "I apologise. I will deal with him later."

Feeling foolish, Eragon shook his head. "No, the fault is mine. I'm...not in the best mood. I apologise, Ulithr."

"Accepted," replied Ulithr, turning back to the creatures he had called Raparkee. Eragon hadn't really noticed until now, but Ulithr seemed to lack the manners of most elves. If anything, he acted human. It wasn't a bad thing, just new.

"Should I tell you what we've learnt from the caravan?" asked Blodhgarm.

"Please."

"This is the town of Endrgad. The Endr Caravan, a travelling group of traders that originally set up this town, found us in the tower and brought us here. If you recall, we saw this town upon the map of the library's fifth floor."

"I remember. North east of the tower."

"Indeed. Saphira, Cuaroc, nor the Eggs or Eldunari were not with us. The people of the caravan seemed less inclined to converse with us after we mentioned Saphira, however. It feels like they have something against the dragon species."

Eragon was reminded of the way the woman's expression twisted after seeing them. "What was that place? The tower? The man I awoke to called it a temple, I think."

"The fortieth floor is a temple. The tower itself goes by the name A'Beliese."

"The name that the man mentioned earlier. What did they say about it?"

"Only that it is a most holy site...and by bringing a dragon upon it's surface, we have committed a sin in their eyes."

"Did they say why?"

"They did not. We weren't able to get much else from them. In fact, I believe they wish to be rid of us. We should count ourselves lucky they were willing to bring us this far."

It seemed like that was all Blodhgarm had to say about the matter, so Eragon brought up something that had bugged him. "Before you woke up, did you seen anything?"

Blodhgarm's eyes narrowed in confusion. "Like a dream?"

"Something like that."

He shook his head. "I'm afraid not. It was a dreamless time for me. Is there something that you saw?"

Eragon considered telling him about the girl, but then decided against it. He didn't want to bring it up ever again, recalling the feeling that girl had sent through him. "It's nothing."

Blodhgarm looked like he wasn't satisfied, but was stopped by Danlir's arrival. "Did you learn anything new?" he asked.

"Only that they consider dragons to be enemies. Nothing new, in any case.

But did the notice the same thing I did?"

Blodhgarm frowned as he nodded. "We couldn't enter their minds, despite the fact that they aren't magicians. If they were, we would have met resistance. However, it was like there wasn't anything to enter."

"I tried viewing into some of the people around town. Some were the same, but others I could look into."

Though he trusted the elves, Eragon tried to test it himself, selecting the charcoal skinned man they had been talking to as a target. As soon as he extended himself towards the man, he felt nothing but an empty space. It was the same with the members of the caravan around him.

"We are in a foreign land. The possibility that magic we won't understand exists isn't low. Plus, it makes gathering information from the locals quite tedious, especially when those that seem to know are unwilling to give."

Eragon spoke up. "We may want to try to see if our own magic is still effective later, away from the townspeople. If you remember back to the tower, we couldn't search out there either. But until then, we'll have the leave the issue aside. What we should be focusing on is this: What do we do now? What can we do?"

Eragon came this way to find a place to raise the eggs, to resurrect the dragon race, and the dragon riders. Now Saphira, his own dragon, was missing. As was the Eggs and Eldunari that were with her. Right now, they had nothing.

The answer was obvious. They had to find Saphira and her precious cargo.

"But how?" Eragon asked, more to himself.

This was a foreign land, and they had no means to get back to Alagaesia for help. The caravan may have been able to get them here, but they certainly weren't going to take them back to A'Beliese. After learning about Saphira, that option had been closed to them.

"You won't learn much else taking to the caravan if you've already mentioned that dragon of yours."

The man from before approached. Out of the corner of his eye, Eragon saw the men of the caravan eyes him with a similar dislike they had shown Blodhgarm and Danlir.

"Can we learn anything from you?" asked Eragon.

The man half-turned. "I'd say so. Come to the inn, we can talk more there."

[A/N: And so the story begins. I feel like I should warn future readers (God bless for sticking around this long) that much of this story takes place outside of Alagaesia and with little interaction from the actual cast until later. On another note, thank you everyone for the reviews you've given me. They are immensely helpful and I really appreciate it.]
[A/N: To Dalja, thank you for reminding me about that. I'd completely forgotten to mention that, as bad as that sounds. Guess I got ahead of myself. And to Aurelia Roschelle, now that I read back over the chapter, your absolutely right. I was trying to go for more of a act now, cry later, kind of thing, but I guess that isn't Eragon.. Thanks for letting me know, it'll keep me conscious of if I go OOC again.]