After spending what felt like hours upon hours to converse as to whether Serana would 'eat' Silver or not, the three women finally decided that leaving the cave would be the best thing to do.

When Arya and Silver stared at Serana expectantly, the vampire hurriedly raised her hands exclaiming, "Don't look at me. I've just slept for-"

She trailed off.

"What year is it even?", Serana asked whilst furrowing her brow.

"We're currently in the 203rd year of the fourth era."

Serana stiffened instantly only for her shoulders to slump and her head to fall down shortly afterward.

"Why would mother let me rot in that thing for over four thousand years?"

She sighed deeply but somehow composed herself rather quickly.

"Anyway, I'd go that way," the vampire pointed at the bridge Arya and Fírnen hadn't explored yet, "Considering you two came the other way our exit should be somewhere over there."

The three companions crossed the instable-looking bridge. A couple of pebbles crumbled off of the structure and dropped into the water with quiet ripples. The cavern was completely silent save for the strong gusts of the wind which ruffled their clothes and hair when they arrived on the other side of the bridge. Arya lowered her dragon onto the ground and started climbing the staircase in front of her to search for a hidden path or something. Serana went to the right and Silver to the left, which left her with searching the muddy and slightly watery section.

Fírnen meanwhile wandered off on his own. He hopped from one pile of rubble to another and played around when suddenly the wish to fly crossed his mind. The small dragon remembered he hadn't been able to fly when he had been this short but nevertheless flapped his fragile wings numerous times in an experimental form. Feeling the strength behind each movement he tried to take off after growing familiar enough with their smaller appearance.

It took Fírnen several tries but after some frustrating moments, he managed to first hover above the ground and then actually fly.

Being airborne the cavern was twice as beautiful.

Moonlight streamed through the few holes littered on the cavern's roof and even a small waterfall cascaded through one of them.

The emerald colored dragon circled the three women's heads, descending from his high up position to inspect certain areas from time to time. He even flew down do graze the water's surface and to annoy the young girl by splashing her with the greenish liquid.

With two powerful movements of his wings, Fírnen was back up and discovered a secret path leading up to a hole in the cave's wall. Flowing towards said opening to inspect it from a closer point of view, he accidentally grazed a gruesome-looking statue. Thrown onto the wall by the following explosion the dragon somehow managed to break his right wing. Fírnen screamed in fear when the statue started moving and actually headed towards him with drool - where that came from he wouldn't even dare imagine - hanging off the large fangs inside its maw.

All three women heard the terrified scream and immediately started running. Silver stumbled over a rock and fell down face-first whilst Arya gracefully hopped over the balustrade surrounding the terrace she had been exploring so far.

Serana arrived mere seconds before the elf did and by the time Fírnen's rider readied her sword several incredible sharp ice blades had already separated the creature's head from its really ugly body. Fueled by the magic still running through its very being, the gargoyle - Serana had shouted something about useless, bastard, mud-crab brained, oblivion-loving garbage-made-gargoyles - flapped its monstrous wings a few times before falling to the side with an extremely loud thud. Dust flew up from the impact and covered them all in the milky white substance.

Arya hovered above her dragon, lightly poking his wings to examine them for further damage. Agonized growls caused her to halt her prodding and whisper Heill for the second time. Fírnen's mewling and growling continued on whilst snaps and cracks resonated from the small reptile when his bones returned to their original forms. The small dragon writhed around in Arya's arms as he tried to snuggle closer to her, not even caring about his hurt wing. When satisfied with his position he thanked her through their mental link and fell into a peaceful slumber. Light-gray plumes of smoke escaped Fírnen's nostrils with every breath he took. Pleased to see her best friend calmly asleep Arya stood up from the ground and slightly waved the dust away with her free hand.

"What in Sithis' name was that thing?", asked Silver whilst slightly coughing from the dust.

"One of my mother's pets it seems. As you can see, she rather enjoyed the magical school of conjuration. Actually, anything necromancy was her area of expertise."

Determined to learn more about this world's magic and history resulted in Arya hearing one single grand speech for the rest of the journey out. A speech that was delivered by the one and only Silver.

It's safe to say that by the moment the four companions felt the moon's light on their skin again, Arya had acquired more knowledge of this world's swears and curses than any actual knowledge about facts and general information. Thankfully the vampire cut the young girl off every so often to offer specific information on the way their magic worked.

"So you're trying to tell me you're simply... imagining you have ice in your hand and thus create it?", the elf asked in a fascinated way, "Are there any restrictions?"

"Yes and no. It's not just simple imagination... I'd rather call it manipulation. I imagine what I want and manipulate my surroundings in a certain way to receive what I wished for. As for restrictions, not really, no. Sure, more experienced magicians have the ability to not only cast stronger spells but also do so for a longer period of time but that's about it. On the other hand... there is no way to completely understand magic. There are people who never used a single bit of magic, never even came in contact with it yet somehow have incredible powers. And I'm talking about mages moving and reshaping entire chains of mountains to their personal liking. True there haven't been any of those mages even back in my days, and I don't even know whether they're real or not... but, honestly? With all, I've seen magic be capable of? I believe they that they do exist someplace."

Arya listened eagerly. The elf might not seem like the type but there was nothing she enjoyed more than acquiring new expertise - finding out about unique things. Be it a new weapon she could master, a new recipe for her secretly favorite dish - how can anyone not love cheesecake with rosepetal-topping - or new types and secrets of the ever mysterious magic. Being an elf affinity towards this very energy was raised so much she could rarely differentiate her very own being from the constant flux surrounding her.

Back in Ellesmera, the elves' library was filled with hundreds upon hundreds of books and scrolls on a subject called 'Fizyca'. This Fizyca was more or less a method they used to describe and interpret the world around them. Fizyca mostly concentrated on energy and events one could see and observe, for example, an apple falling from a tree. Which is why Fizyca wasn't the sole method used to understand the environment around one.

The elves created Ahrytma to count, calculate and use it as the basic language for Fizyca, Chyma, and Byolog. Everything one expressed in the latter four methods - elves called them sciences - one did by using Ahrytma.

Chyma focused on reactions between substances, for example how certain fluids attacked the person's skin or water could be found in several different forms; liquid, frozen or even as a vapor.

Byolog, on the other hand, was as the last of the four methods used to describe the world in itself. It was the subject concentrating on living beings and was thus, in the eye of most elves, the most interesting science. Much of the knowledge the elves had collected for Byolog, they had obtained from the animals, the plants and thus fairly much the world itself.

Now, this flux the masters of Fizyca loved to preach about - yes, it was that bad - was something every magic user in Alagaësia was capable capturing and of manipulating. Depending on how well one was able to shape it and how much power one had over oneself as well as the Ancient Language, one could use magic easier or with greater difficulty, better or worse.

And even though Arya was somehow still able to manipulate the flux, she could barely feel it. The biggest problem was, that she actually felt two completely different fluxes: one was familiar to her - obviously, the very same flux she could feel back in Alagaësia - and one, the more powerful, was something completely new. Somehow being able to feel this new flux utterly irked Arya.

Sunken in her thoughts the elf hadn't realized the other two women stop to make camp.

"You back here with us?"

Silver. Of course. That girl was getting on Arya's nerves in a surprisingly endearing manner. The elf simply shot a playful glare at the fire-haired girl and sat down onto a mossy log next to the Vampire. Slightly poking her dragons wing she checked whether it had healed well. Murmuring an additional quiet Heill she made sure that every last nerve was knitted back the way it was supposed to.

Wolves howled and certain birds still chirped even when the entire clearing she found herself in was flooded by moonlight. It was then Arya discovered the second moon hovering above them.

"Masser," Serana said and pointed at the bigger of the two. A slightly reddish hue enveloped it and Arya realized that the smaller one actually revolved around Masser.

"And that is Secunda. It is said the moons are Lorkhan's sundered corpse."

"You actually believe in these gods?", Arya asked incredulously.

"Oh, trust me, they're real and they are responsible for most things you see around. So, yes, they are very real, sadly so in particular cases. Vampires didn't just appear like that..."

Silence enveloped them when Serana trailed off. Fírnen had fallen asleep from exhaustion and was snoring - he was growling and grumbling as if he wanted to murder something but was asleep nevertheless. Silver kneeled next to a pile of branches and tried to light it using the minuscule spark in her right hand. The wind ruffled leaves in the trees and from time to time a single leaf would fall off and slowly float down, slightly swinging from side to side in a spinning dance.

Another wolf howled.

"I must admit," Arya whispered and turned her head to observe the black-haired vampire whose golden eyes glittered in the moonlight.

Her entire being seemed to glow from inside and an unexplainable aura of absolute power encircled her. Only now Arya actually realized that the being next to her was as antique as is was dangerous. Serana's immense beauty was one of her strongest weapons as it covered her tremendous wisdom and knowledge. There was something purely evil about the vampire next to her, but Arya felt she was wired differently. Where most would probably see a monster waiting for the perfect moment to kill Arya saw Serana's unshakable will to live. A certain coldness enveloped the woman, perhaps that was the reason why she seemed this evil, which Arya was painfully familiar with. The coldness someone adopted after having been broken entirely and thoroughly; the coldness one guarded oneself with.

Silver bursting out into another string of curses threw her back into the now and the elf finished her sentence.

"I'm curious as to the drinking-blood-thing works? How come you can live off of it? As far as I'm aware it only consists off of a few metals and oxygen."

"Don't forget that sickly yellowish liquid always seeping out of wounds!", Silver shouted from her kneeling position over the campfire.

"I... Uhm... Look, I'd love to enlighten you and all, but already I can barely control myself around you two and if I started speaking of delicious blood it would only become worse. Its unfortunate enough I won't receive a proper meal until who knows when."

The teen's head shot up at that.

"How in the Void have you survived for over four thousand years without blood supplies anyway?"

"I.. uh. I don't know? Mother most likely put me into some kind of hibernation."

Shooting the girl a glare, Arya asked Serana whether animal blood would suffice or not. A shameful expression covered the vampire's face when she negated the question. Vampires wouldn't be able to digest blood with animalistic origins without getting nauseous and in the end pretty much feel as dead as ever.

"I'll manage. Just don't get near me when you're wounded. That might end up... messy."

"That spike that went through my hand... I saw blood flowing down into the altar."

By the time Arya had finished her sentence the vampire was staring at her like she was the most delicious thing existing in this world. Golden eyes bore themselves into the elf, seemingly penetrating her very soul.

"So it was your blood that woke me..."

Once again a spark of fear ignited itself within Arya when Serana bit her lower lip. For several long seconds, the very world stopped whilst Serana's face came nearer and nearer. Her generally intelligence-filled eyes now entirely grazed over by what could only be described as the most basic and animalistic hunger. A soft yet clear moan escaped Serana's lips after she lightly sniffed the air. Only mere inches in front of Arya's neck did the vampire stop and she did so whilst growling in annoyance.

"Anyhow. Can we please talk about anything else?", she asked whilst shaking herself. The vampire stood up and brought as much distance as she could between herself and the dragon rider. Leaning against one of the oaken trees surrounding the clearing she appeared to blend in with the night as the only still visible thing were her fiery golden eyes.

Letting herself fall down onto the ground with a soft thud Silver pointed accusingly at the vampire.

"What about the question as to how we're even supposed to bring you back home without knowing where it is."

"It was on an island north of Solitude. I guess it'll still be there."

"You don't seem that enthusiastic about returning home," the young girl said in a sympathetic tone and went on with trying to light a campfire.

Taking pity on her never-ending series of curses and inability to light even the spark of a flame the elf murmured Brisingr and immediately a burst of hot flames licked at the wood, jumping from one piece of timber to another.

"You have to teach me someday."

Serana sighed and stared into the dancing flames.

Heat from the now lit campfire seemed to be sucked into the frigid air before ever reaching Arya's frozen hands. Scooting nearer to the heat's source she silently watched the vampire standing there lonely. She wrapped her fur cloak tighter around herself and threw more wood into the burning lumber.

A sudden cold had fallen over the clearing as if some otherworldly being had taken residence in their camp.

Silver poked the campfire with the next-best stick she found, desperately trying to save it from dying. The small fire seemed unsure of itself, unready to discover and devour its offered food. It licked at the logs and sent feeble sparks up to die in the freezing air. Wheezing screeches resonated from the crumbling branches as the flame slowly died.

Suddenly Serana's hand was wrapped in a blazing ball of fire and from Arya's perspective of view, it almost seemed like a miniature sun. As soon as the fiery ball hit the fervor a burst of sparks flew up. Slowly but surely the shy flames grew in heat as well as in courage and the campfire finally burned as it should.

With the fire, the sudden coldness disappeared.

Serana lowered her still raised a hand and quietly stated, "That place, it's no home for me. It could never be a home. I doubt I'll ever have the privilege of calling anyplace home."

"Well, you got us two-", Fírnen snorted indignantly in his sleep, "Alright, alright you got us three now. Perfect, now we've cleared all that up, how about some sleep, elf-lady?"

"Is it some odd tradition or sign of respect to address in your society to address people by their race instead of given name?"

The girl simply shrugged which caused Arya to lightly chuckle.

"You two, get some sleep. I'll keep watch," Serana's golden eyes were fixed on Arya.

"Well, sleep it is for now, but after dawn, I really need to introduce you to my best friend!"

The vampire's quiet laughter was the last thing Arya heard before succumbing to her waking dreams with a delicate smile upon her luscious lips.


Sorry for the long wait :) Can anyone guess who 1) was responsible for the sudden frost and 2) Silver's mother is?