"Zyphre?" said Lydia softly. Her eyes darted around the tent, hoping maybe that she would see him lurking in a corner. When it became apparent that he was not in the tent, she returned her gaze to Lupin. "Lupin. When was the last time you saw him?"

"I – I saw him come into the tent and kind of sit with you, but then I fell asleep and when I woke up he was gone and you were asleep!"

"Asleep?" asked Lydia, momentarily distracted. "Impossible. I can't sleep. I started to trance…"

Lupin shook his head. "No, you weren't trancing. You were sleeping."

"I was…sleeping," said Lydia softly, looking down at the mask on the floor beside her. Her heart panged while looking at it. Had she somehow turned Zyphre into a mask? It was possible. She wasn't a master at her sorcery yet, and she had somehow magicked a dress onto herself.

"And then when I couldn't wake you up I moved back to the other side of the tent, and when I looked up you were awake and in that dress!" Lupin looked at her intently. "What happened?"

"I…wish I knew," said Lydia. She didn't take her eyes off the mask. It was unmistakably a bat, the eye holes cut into the wings and what was supposed to be the ear tips protruding at the top of the bridge. Two tiny rubies were set into the bridge of the mask's nose to represent the bat's eyes. And Zyphre was nowhere to be found. Lydia felt his absence in the pit of her stomach.

She took the mask in her hands and closed her eyes. Concentrating hard of an image of Zyphre, she focused her magic into the mask. It along with her palms glowed bright gold, but the mask remained just that. A mask. Unchanged.

Lydia gave a sad sigh. She slowly tucked the mask into the front of her gown. Her head was bent, her shoulders drooping; she looked defeated. Then abruptly, without warning, she got to her feet. Lupin jumped.

"Where are you going?" asked Lupin as Lydia opened the tent flap.

"Waterdeep," said Lydia vaguely.

"But your wound –"

"Is clearly healed," said Lydia shortly. "Zyphre is gone, and the feeling to go to Waterdeep is as strong as ever. Besides…maybe if I go to Waterdeep…I'll – I'll find a way to get him back."

Lydia's head was down and her shoulders were squared, fists clenched. Lupin noticed that she was shaking. He hesitantly put a hand on her shoulder. It was a sign of how distressed she was that she didn't shrug his hand off. Lupin glanced at Lydia's face. Her eyes were shut tightly, in a failing effort to prevent the tears from falling.

"It'll be okay," said Lupin awkwardly. "I mean, he was kind of a jackass…"

"He was my familiar!" Lydia snapped, rounding on him. "He's linked to my soul, to me! Who cares what his personality is like? I need to get him back!"

Lupin backed away as the cold fury lit up her eyes. He glanced past her and his eyes widened. "Shit."

Lydia whirled around. A group of goblins were rapidly approaching the tent. With a snarl she reached for her dagger. She was relieved to feel the hilt still on her hip. One hand on her blade, she hurriedly wiped her cheeks with the other.

Lupin stepped out of the tent, Lydia behind him. The four goblins stopped in front of them.

"This Goblin's Quarry," said one goblin. "Why you here?"

"We're just passing through," said Lydia.

"You leave now," said a second goblin.

"Now!" chorused the other goblins.

"We were just leaving," said Lupin coldly.

"Get out now!" shouted the third goblin. "Or you die here!"

"Then let us through," snapped Lydia.

"You die here!" shouted the first goblin, pointing his spear at Lydia, the tip touching her throat.

"Don't you point that thing at me!" Lydia's eyes flashed. She said something in Draconic and the goblin's spear melted as acid covered it. The goblin dropped the spear in panic.

The next thing the both of them knew, they were in a battle. Lupin was dealing with three of the four with his axe while Lydia took the last one. She swore loudly as her magic missile only grazed it as it ducked under her spell, drawing her dagger now that her offensive spells were used up.

With an angry cry, she swung her dagger at the goblin's face. Then, without warning, she stopped. Everything went white, and Lydia knew no more.

Lupin, fighting with the other three goblins, stopped and looked up at the horrible strangled yell, abruptly cutting off, over at Lydia's fight. The other three goblins looked up as well. The goblin Lydia had been fighting fell to the ground with a gaping hole clean through his head, gushing blood onto the ground, never to move again. In the frozen horror, a quiet noise echoed around the quarry.

"Heheheh…"

Lupin looked up at Lydia, bent over the dead goblin. Her bangs were covering her eyes, but her lips were curved in a cruel smirk. Her right glove was stained crimson up to her elbow.

"Hahahahaaa…"

"Lydia…?" asked Lupin cautiously, moving forward a bit.

Lydia suddenly threw back her head, her cruel laugh echoing around the quarry, as if there were a hundred Lydias laughing insanely all at the same time.

"Ahahahahahahahahahahaha!"

"Lydia, what's wrong with you?" shouted Lupin, but Lydia was moving, faster than he had ever seen her move. Before he could blink, she had reached the circle of goblins. Lupin gasped as he got a good look at her.

Lydia's lips were parted in a manic grin, her canines much sharper than usual. He could see her fingernails had been sharpened to points, the clawlike nails on her right hand stained red. But what were most terrifying were her eyes. Her pupils and whites had vanished, and instead of their usual emerald green, they had turned black. Black fire.

Almost faster than the eye could follow, she had killed the closest goblin by plunging her bloodied hand straight through his skull. The remaining two goblins turned tail and fled.

"You're not getting away," said Lydia. Her voice sounded odd. Like there was an echo behind it.

She moved her bloody hand skyward and a wall of fire rose up, completely blocking the escape. One of the goblins didn't stop in time. He turned to ash as soon as touching the arcane fire. The other skidded to a halt, nearly falling in his haste to turn around. He ran to the wall of the quarry and tried to scale it as the fire dissipated. Lydia was much too quick for him. As she broke a hole in both sides of his skull, the bone stuck to the rock, pinning him there.

Lupin couldn't move for shock and fear.

When Lydia came to, the first thing she saw was Lupin, cowering next to a goblin that appeared to have a hole drilled in his head. She looked around, gaping at the scene of carnage around her. Another goblin, over where she had originally been fighting, had a hole in his head too, a growing puddle of blood spreading. There were signs of a fire on the walls, with a pile of ash on the edge of the scorch marks. The last goblin was pinned to blood-soaked wall. She looked down at herself. The front of the white gown had stains of fresh blood on it. Her right arm was drenched in hot, sticky blood up to the elbow, soaking into the glove, dripping from her fingertips to make a small puddle at her feet. She looked back up at Lupin, who jumped.

"…What just happened?" she asked blankly.

Lupin averted his gaze from her green eyes and tried to say something intelligent, but only incomprehensible words and terrified noises came out. Lydia cocked her head to one side in confusion.

That confusion was quickly replaced by panic. Something had just happened, and she had no idea what. It was like the last few minutes were a blank in her memory. Try as she might, she couldn't remember anything of what happened after she had tried to stab the goblin. But whatever had just happened had clearly terrified Lupin out of his wits. What had she done?

"Lydiaaaa!"

Lydia looked up and let out a cry of joy at the familiar black shape soaring fast towards the quarry. She opened her arms as Zyphre came pelting into her chest, the force pushing her back a few paces. She hugged him tightly, laughing. Zyphre dug his claws into the dress and clung to her like a baby bat clings to its mother, not trying to shake off the suffocating hug.

"What happened?" asked Lydia. "I thought I lost you."

"I don't know what happened," said Zyphre miserably. "I woke up and I was in some city. I didn't know where I was or where you were, I was just trying to get back here and – why are you covered in blood?" This last question sounded fearful.

"I…don't know," replied Lydia quietly.

"What happened?" demanded Zyphre.

"If I knew, I would tell you," said Lydia. "Let's get back in the tent…"

She and Zyphre moved back into the tent. Lupin didn't follow them, watching Lydia warily, terror etched on his features. Lydia sat on her bedroll and patted the spot next to her. Zyphre looked from the spot she patted to Lydia's face to the spot again before rather reluctantly removing his claws and moving next to her.

"You first," said Lydia.

"Well, you made me feel like shit, so I was mentally beating myself up next to you, and I guess I fell asleep. When I woke up, it was almost dawn and I was on some tower on the outskirts of some city," said Zyphre. "But that's not important. What happened to you?"

"I went into a trance to escape the pain, and apparently I fell asleep. I had a dream I was in a ballroom with a man who told me to go to Waterdeep. When I woke up my shoulder was healed, I was wearing this, and this was lying next to me." Lydia pulled the bat mask out of the dress, laying it next to Zyphre. "I thought it was you, and I had somehow transformed you. I thought I would never see you again. But we left to continue on our way to Waterdeep and then we were attacked by goblins. I…whited out…and when I came to all the goblins were dead and I was drenched in blood. And then you showed up."

Zyphre was looking at her in horror. "You fell asleep?" he repeated in a hushed voice.

Lydia waved her hand dismissively, spraying drops of blood. "Lupin said I was asleep, but it doesn't matter. I couldn't have fallen asleep. That's impossible."

"No, it's not," said Zyphre, shaking his head slowly.

"What?"

"It's not impossible," said Zyphre faintly. "It's happened before, only once. An elven queen fell asleep, and this caused a greater demon to be unleashed upon her city. The only way to stop it was to…sacrifice herself."

Lydia frowned. "I've heard that. But…isn't that just a legend? A children's story?"

Zyphre shook his head, folding his ears back in misery. "It happened." He crawled up into Lydia's lap and clung to the front of her dress like he did before. "I don't want that to happen to you," he said so quietly that it was barely audible.

Lydia felt a creeping unease in her stomach. Zyphre was rarely this serious, usually hell bent on being as annoying and causing as much havoc as possible. But now, when he looked so scared, she couldn't find a response, except to hold him close. He was trembling.

Zyphre was perched on the top of the tent, watching the moon move across the sky. This wasn't good, it wasn't good at all. If what he thought had happened had actually happened, then there was nothing to be done.

"Damn!" he shouted to nothing in particular, smacking the wall of the quarry with a wing. "Damn, damn, damn…"

He sat in silence for a moment, ears pricked to make sure he hadn't woken Lydia, who was trancing inside the tent, or Lupin, who was slumped against the rock after refusing to reenter the tent. When all stayed quiet, he resumed cursing under his breath.

But he couldn't stop the thoughts from passing across his brain. If she was reverting back to the way she had been before she lost her memory, then all Zyphre had worked for had been for nothing. And if she really had fallen asleep…Zyphre had no explanation for that.

"Fuck!" he shouted in frustration. He took flight and left the quarry, letting the scents of the forest above calm him down. After about an hour's flight he arrived back at the tree he and Lydia had slept in after escaping the orc camp.

He settled down on the same branch Lydia had picked the night, slumping moodily against the trunk. The whole flight he had been going over in his head what had happened, what might have happened, and what it would mean for Lydia…and for him. When he thought of what would happen if he failed…the anger and sadness was almost overwhelming.

"No, no, no!" Zyphre shouted, blinking his eyes rapidly and shaking his head violently. "Calm down, Zyphre, calm down. It'll be okay. What am I saying? This is the opposite of okay. If she's going back…fuck! I fucking took her away to save her! This can't be fucking happening!"

Zyphre stopped trying to repress the upset. He sat on that branch for longer than he knew, his head buried in his wings. When he felt emotionally drained enough, he took to the sky and flew back to camp.

He entered the tent and snuggled down in Lydia's bedroll, worming himself under her arm and against her chest. Lydia smiled in her trance and moved a hand up to his folded back ear automatically. Zyphre relaxed and fell asleep with Lydia unconsciously rubbing his ear.

Oh, this was fun. Our DM kicked me from the call when Lydia went nuts, but I'm not gonna do that to you guys.

Our DM actually gave me experience for saying "...What just happened?" He started dying like it was funniest thing he's ever heard and telling me how perfect that was.