I LIVE! Oh boy, it feels good to come back to this! Allow me apologize profusely for the inactivity on this story, but I was feeling pretty bummed out by the way the Book 3 Ravenloss Saga went so... those of you who play it absolutely know what I'm talking about. But let's say that my period of mourning is over and I'm back to grindstone! I still love this story and would like to eventually complete it, but you may have to be a bit patient. These things don't just happen overnight. Thanks to everyone for the love and support you've given me, and please enjoy this new chapter, from me to you!


ALTAR HILL

"So… I take it this is the place?" I said conversationally as we sat, pinned to the tree line beneath the shadow of a huge pyramid. ChaosWeavers were congregated at its base, voices raised in a loud chant in their strange and guttural language that echoed eerily through the cavern. The sound had drawn the two of us from Ravenloss, getting louder and louder until it drowned out every other sound and we had to shout to hear each other. The top of the pyramid shined with a bright violet light that cast everything below it into a sickly purple haze. A single ChaosWeaver stood beneath it at the structure's summit, arms raised to the darkness and voice shouting out louder than all the rest.

"Yes, Karin, I do believe we've found it," Tomix replied shortly. His temper was especially short today, not that I could blame him. He'd nearly been crushed to death in the sewers before, leaving the long cracks in his SpiritLooms and the goose egg on his head. He looked like he hadn't been sleeping again.

I tried to push my concern away, focusing on scanning the crowds to try and find a way around. Whatever it was they were chanting to, it most likely was very bad and wanted to kill me. I mean, everything wanted to kill me, but that wasn't the point. There were so many ChaosWeavers… clustered around the base of the pyramid like the world's biggest arachnid mosh pit. So many legs… ugh.

I caught a flash of copper out of the corner of my eye. There! A post stuck out of the dirt a ways away from the edge of the crowd and tied to it…

I grabbed Tomix's arm. "Tomix, look!" He followed my finger and his eyes went wide. There was Riadne, a little splotch of orange and purple, tied to the post like a barn animal.

"Riadne!"he nearly yelled in his excitement, fingers tightening against the tree he hid behind. He seemed to drink in her appearance, slumped against the post with her head bowed. His jaw tightened. "We have got to get her out of there."

"And we will. Right now," I told him, pulling his through the trees that skirted the clearing. "The ChaosWeavers are distracted with their little tea party. This may be our only chance." Tomix simply nodded and followed me as we spiraled down toward the base of the pyramid. It was slow going; the closer we got the denser the ChaosWeaver population became. Several times we had to stop and press ourselves against the tree trunks a ChaosWeaver passed by too close for comfort. We had lost sight of Riadne, and I had to work off my memory to try and find the post she was tied to. I was practically holding my breath by the time we got there, sure that a single noise would bring the whole horde down on our heads.

"Where is she?" I nearly jumped when Tomix breathed in my ear.

"What?" I whispered back, craning my neck to see over the foliage. The post stood abandoned, ropes left in a heap around it. Riadne was nowhere in sight.

"Psssst!" came a hiss from a bush nearby. "Tomix! Karin!"

Riadne's copper head poked out through the leaves and gave us a broad grin.

"Riadne!" I exclaimed, only for the two of them to quickly shush me. I covered my mouth and muttered out a 'sorry'.

"I'm- we're so glad to see you!" Tomix stuttered in a whisper and the woman blushed.

"Do you know what's going on?" I hissed, beckoning her over. Riadne's moved quickly, rustling the brush, and grabbed onto my outstretched hand, letting me pulled her into the safety of the trees.

"I think so," she replied, brushing twigs from her hair. "From what I understand, the High Priest," she gestured to the lone ChaosWeaver on top of the pyramid," is communing with their Queen, a gigantic ChaosWeaver female."

I couldn't help but groan. "A giant spider…" I moaned, "Why did it have to be a giant spider?" Tomix gave me a half-hearted pat on the shoulder.

"How did you escape?" He asked, "We were coming to rescue you."

"Actually Tomix, we didn't even know she was here…" I murmured and the friendly pat turned into a warning smack that told me to shut my mouth. I supposed that now wasn't the time.

"I knew you would!" Riadne said, her smile turning somewhat shy. "But I couldn't just sit there and do nothing! I knew if you weren't here, I'd have to come and find you."

I smacked Tomix back. "See Tomix? I told you we'd find her! We're very glad you're unhurt."

Riadne's smile faltered and she leaned back, rubbing her arm. "Well… not unhurt," she said quietly and I felt Tomix tense up beside me. Her smile came back as quickly as it left, though, as she continued. "But that's not important. I'm here now, and that's what is. It's time we took these chaotic cretins down, and I want to be a part of it!" In an instant all signs of weakness disappeared and a fire burned in her violet eyes. I knew that look; revenge. The ChaosWeavers had hurt her and she wanted to hurt them back. "Let me fight with you! Arachnomancy is not a passive art, believe me." She was talking directly to me, I realized, looking for approval.

I felt a wicked grin spread across my face. She wanted to hurt the ChaosWeavers, and I was more than happy to help her do it. "Oooh, yes!" I told her, "Yes, you are more than welcome to fight with us What do'ya say, Tomix?" I nudged him in the shoulder and he started, looking flustered.

"I-I would be honored if you would fight alongside me…" he stammered, cheeks tinged pink.

Geez, what is wrong with him today? Must have hit his head harder than I thought, I thought to myself. I gripped both of them by the shoulder and pulled them close, whispering conspiratorially. "Well, then," I said darkly, "Let's grasp the Flyswatter of Annihilation +5 and swat these overgrown arachnids down!"

Tomix rolled his eyes, but Riadne looked as excited as I felt, and already I could feel the battle-rush coming on. "Just follow my lead," I told them, standing slowly, drawing my sword and pressing myself into the shadow of the trees, moving silently forward until the ChaosWeavers came back into view. The moment one passed close enough I sprang, driving my blade through the back of its neck and out the front. Acid green blood exploded outwards, splashing against it's friends. A scream rippled through the crowd as I threw its corpse to the ground and answered with a shout of my own. Tomix and Riadne took that as signal and melted from the trees behind me. Riadne was wielding a tall scythe, its blade woven from silky thread, that she had apparently pulled from thin air. Tomix's face was lit from below by the glow of his SpiritLooms, casting his face into a sinister light. We probably looked pretty terrifying. Just the way I like it.

I gave another shout and dove into a crowd that scattered like flies, fear and confusion making them panic. A few tried to slow us down, fumbling with weapons that were never fast enough to block an incoming blade or blast of magic. The three of us cut a bloody swath through the ever-thinning crowd, using the confusion to our advantage. We hit the bottom of the pyramid and started to climb. The violet light grew more intense, the High Priests voice booming out the higher we got.

Now the ChaosWeavers were rallying, soldiers swarming up the other sides to try and cut us off. I clashed with one, sword caught on its sickles as the ChaosWeaver bore down on me from a few steps higher. There was a flash of violet and the soldier was tossed clear of its spindly legs and into one of its comrades. I had just enough time to share a grateful look with Tomix before he disappeared back into the fray.

We fought to keep the height advantage, dipping in and out of each other's fights to help out. One of my throwing knives caught a ChaosWeaver in the back as it tried to sneak up on Riadne. Riadne came whirling in like a dervish when I was trapped against a pillar by three others, slicing them to ribbons with a sweep of her scythe. Tomix moved almost to quickly to see, Soul Claws flickering in the ruddy light and painting the steps with gore. All the while we never stopped moving, getting closer and closer to the summit where the High Priest still chanted in that twisted, guttural voice.

Finally, we could see him, standing before a wide altar with ceremonial daggers held in clawed wands and a widow mark on his back.

"HEY BUG-BUTT!" Riadne shouted over her breathlessness and the Priest suddenly stopped, turning burning red eyes and a mouth crammed full of teeth in our direction.

"Djyouuuuu!" He roared, spittle flying from mandibles that mangled his speech into a barely comprehensible accent. "The shpy and the shoulweaver and the hero! I vill take care of djyou for mine Mistress!"

"Hoo, buddy, you kiss your mother with that mouth?" I quipped. That would be a very disturbing kiss.

The priest snarled, flipping the daggers around in his hands and lunged for me with a scream of "DIE!".

I rolled out of the way and let him sail past me, watching as Tomix and Riadne did the same. The priest skidded down the onto the steps, quickly gaining his balance with all of those legs, and charged at Riadne. Her scythe swept his feet out from under him, but he bunched up his legs and rolled away before he could find himself skewered on the curve of her blade.

Tomix's claws draw the first blood, dragging across the carapace of the priest's back before he danced out of the reach of the daggers swiped at his stomach. The Priest hissed as green spilled out over the widow mark. The air around his hands began to crackle with black and red lightning. He was suddenly much faster than before, and I barely had enough time to raise my sword before the daggers met it. The magic boiling around the blades sent a jolt through my hands on the hilt, and I wasn't fast enough before a fist smashed into my stomach. Electricity coursed through my armor and I felt my heart give a stutter. My vision whited out for a moment as my body went numb. I vaguely registered a hand on my shoulder and the rest of my body got the memo that I wasn't dead. Sight and sound came rushing back as I shook my head.

"Are you alright?" Tomix was saying, shaking me by the shoulder slightly. In the background, Riadne held off the priest with furious sweeps of her scythe. I patted his wrist, nodding absently.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just got a little bit of a shock." My head twitched on my neck and Tomix didn't look convinced. "Really, I'm okay," I told him, shaking my hands to get the feeling back into my fingers, and let him help me to my feet. "Go help Riadne!" I said, shooing him away. He went, slowly at first but more eager when he heard the Arachnomancer cry out in distress. The priest had knocked her scythe from her hands, one of which she clutched in pain.

I took a quick stock of the situation. We were alone on top of the pyramid with the High Priests. The ChaosWeavers we hadn't killed had run off. It was three on one; this was supposed to be easy, but it was taking far too long. It was time to end this. I shook the last of the numbness from my fingers and jumped up onto the altar. Tomix had held off the priest long enough for Riadne to retrieve her scythe and the two of them were tag teaming pretty well. The priest was trapped between me and them.

I gave a short whistle that Tomix caught and passed on with a look to Riadne. She seemed to catch on as well, as she suddenly stopped with her wide elegant sweeps and snapped the blunt end of her weapon's shaft into the priest's face. He hadn't been expecting that, and his head snapped back as it made contact with his nose with a sharp cracking sound. Dazed, he could do nothing as Riadne caught him in the curve of her scythe, pulling him back and behind her where Tomix was waiting with a fist-full of violet light. Again, the priest's face met with an unstoppable force and he was flung back towards me. This had turned into quite the morbid game of ping pong. The priest collided with the side of the altar, the force flipping him unto on top of it and right at my feet. He blinked blearily at me, blood leaking through his teeth. I gave him a wink before ramming my sword through his chest, impaling him to the altar.

"The eight-legged freaked will weave no more!" I shouted, holding my hands up.

"Wow, we actually squashed him," Tomix said, trying to shake the gore from his hands, but he was smiling beneath the sweat.

"I'd like to thank the academy!" I said, taking a deep bow from atop the altar, "And all the little people who helped me get here!"

Tomix rolled his eyes. "Get down from there," he scolded me good-naturedly.

I stuck out my tongue, but climber down from the altar anyway. "Spoil Sport."

"Um, Tomix? Karin?" Riadne spoke from the edge of the platform, her head craning to look up into the darkness of the cavern. Her eyes were wide. "Did you forget what he was praying to?"

Something unfolded itself from the dark ceiling, unspooling legs like trees limbs that shook the earth when they touched it. The ChaosWeaver Queen looked down at them with cold violet eyes, a mane of silver flowing around black armored shoulders.

"Oh, oh my…" Riadne said, shrinking away, "It's…"

"Enormous," Tomix finished for her, awe in his voice.

"Um, Karin?" I turned to see Riadne looking at me expectantly. What did she want me to do about it?! The only way you could fight something that big is with something equally as bi-

Oh.

I scoffed, quickly replacing the blank stare I had given her. "Psh. Please, do you guys forget who I am?" I turned and glared up at the Queen. "I have a dragon!" I reminded them, "Cyrus and I will squish her, easy!" Except Cyrus wasn't there.

"Give me a sec," I murmured, walking briskly to the edge of the platform in the direction I remember the portal being. I touched a hand to my chest where, beneath my armor, the little pendent sat. The little gold dragon clutching a ruby in its claws. My Dragon Amulet. I felt it pulse, right next to my heart, and I felt the connection take hold. I raised my thumb and forefinger to my lips in whistled with a sound I knew he could hear. The connection sparked and I felt his eagerness, growing stronger the closer he came.

There was the sound of leathery wings beating the air, starting out quick and regular like a bat and steadily becoming longer as wings stretched out, growing with the strength of our connection.

There was a tremendous roar and Cyrus reared out of the darkness, a fully grown, titanic dragon whose blue scales shown like the sky against the black. Obsidian claws lashed out at the Queen as he swept by, sending her screeching away and giving him room to circle once around the pyramid and land with the crunching of stone beneath his claws. A yellow, slit-pupiled eye the size of my head blinked at me and Cyrus rumbled warmly, pushing his long snout against my chest.

"Hi Karin," he said in a voice that reverberated in my head and in my chest. I pressed my cheek against his scales, feeling the tension that was always there when we were apart finally relax in my stomach.

"Hi Cyrus," I replied, "You wanna help me kill something?"

Cyrus grinned, showing of a row a sharp curved teeth, eyes gleaming with childlike excitement. "Yeah! It's been forever since we killed something!"

I laughed. Seeing Cyrus fully grown like this, it was easy to forget that he was still a baby. "Let's get to it then!" I looked over my shoulder to talk to Tomix and Riadne and nearly laughed again to see them backed up against the altar, eyes wide. "Get underneath the altar you two," I told them, "Cyrus and I will take care of this." They both nodded slowly, as though in a daze, and Tomix helped Riadne into the little nook beneath the altar. He cast a look in my direction and I flashed him a smile. He didn't need to worry; I was with my dragon again.

Reaching up, I grabbed hold of one of Cyrus' long black horns and pulled myself up onto his neck. "Are those your friends?" he asked, watching them squeeze under the altar.

"Yeah," I said, settling myself against his shoulders. "I'll introduce you to them afterwards, okay?"

"Okay," Cyrus rose to his feet and ruffled his wings. I could his muscle tense up with pent-up energy. "So what are we killing?"

"Well, you remember that giant spider you bitch-slapped on your way up here?"

"That's it?"

"That's it. You ready to go buddy?" I patted his neck and Cyrus gave a sharp-toothed grin.

"Born ready." With a roar, Cyrus beat his wings and took off from the pyramid. I dug my fingers into his scales and answered his roar with my own as he soared up above the dusty city. Sitting on Cyrus' back as he flew never ceased to take my breath away. It made me feel alive, complete. We were two halves of a whole, and together we were unstoppable. My own sharp grin spread across my face and I shouted my elation to the world. What a rush!

The Queen was ready to meet us, blood dripping from the claw marks across her chest. Her violet eyes blazed with fury and she shrieked as Cyrus skirted around her, taking a swipe that missed him by a mile. Cyrus took a breath, heat glowing deep in his throat. As we took another pass, he released it in a jet of flame that burned yellow as the sun. The Queen bellowed as the tips of her hair caught fire, thrashing with her legs are she tried to put it out. Cyrus' tail whipped as he wheeled around, catching her across the face with the barbs on the tip and sending her crashing across the battlefield.

The air crackled as the Queen stumbled to her feet. Violet light built around her hands and wreathed around her head, snapping like lightning. Little orbs formed around her body and shot away like bullets. Cyrus twisted in midair, avoiding the bulk of the projectiles, but there were too many to dodge altogether. He growled as they impacted with his chest and I grunted as I felt the echoes of his pain burst across my own body through our connection. The orbs began to come faster, and larger in size. Cyrus countered with little fireballs, spat with enough accuracy to hit the orbs in midair, detonating them before they could do any more damage.

We were a brilliant blue streak against the darkness now, weaving through the starbursts of collided magic to bear down on the Queen. Just before Cyrus dug his claws into the ChaosWeaver's shoulders, I left my perch and sprinted up his neck, using our forward momentum to launch myself from the crown of his head, up and over the Queen to land rolling onto the hard shell of her thorax. I plunged the tip of my sword between the seams of her armor plating and dragged the blade along it, drawing a line in green blood that spurted from between the plates. The Queen gave a howl trying to shake off both myself and Cyrus at the same time and failing pretty magnificently.

She eventually seemed to get the idea though. No sooner than I had allowed myself a triumphant smile, violet lightning began to arch across her shell. I felt the tingling of magic through my boots. I needed to get out of there. "CYRUS!" I shouted over the wails as I started to run. Magic was sending pins and needles up through my legs by the time I finally threw myself from her back, trusting wholeheartedly in my companion to catch me. Claws closed around me just as gravity took hold and suddenly I was going sideways, safely enclosed in the dragon's paws.

"You alright?" Cyrus asked as I poked my head out between his claws. I grinned up a him.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I looked back under his belly to the Queen thrashing in agony behind us. "She doesn't look like she is though." The ChaosWeaver was bleeding profusely now, leaking green from the torn ribbons of her chest and shoulders and back. Her silver hair was shorted, singed black at the tips. Her violet eyes blazed with fury and she shrieked, legs stomping as she readied to charge.

"Time for the final blow!" Cyrus rumbled, lifting me up so I could climb back onto his shoulders.

"Give it all you've got buddy!" I shouted, drawing my sword and holding it aloft, lending my battle cry to his roar. Cyrus beat the air with his wings, fire glowing in his chest, and we barreled towards the Queen. ChaosWeaver and dragon met in a furious clash that I felt in my bones. Cyrus opened his mouth and unleashed a torrent of fire onto the Queens head. Cyrus put every ounce of breath into that fire, holding the stream for nearly a full minute, bathing the writhing Queen in white-hot flame. She thrashed and screeched, trying to buck him off, but Cyrus had her pinned beneath his claws. The only thing she could do was wait for the flames to die.

Eventually the torrent snuffed out, leaving Cyrus heaving for breath. I could feel his exhaustion as deeply as my own, but we weren't quick done yet. The Queen still stirred feebly at his feet, her once magnificent armor reduced to charred and twisted metal. Cyrus placed a claw on her chest, reveling for a brief moment in the carnage, before his head snapped down and tore into the Queen's throat.

She gave one last gurgling cry and fell still, all eight of her legs sliding to the ground around her. At last, the ChaosWeaver Queen was dead. I breathed a sigh of relief, wincing as the echoes of Cyrus' pain blossomed across my body. All things considered, he wasn't too badly hurt, but his fatigue weighed down on me like a thick blanket. Cyrus shook his head, spat green gore from between his teeth, and took off heavily into the air, angling himself back towards the pyramid.

I slid from his back the moment he touched down and felt borrowed draconic power seep back into the amulet, where it would lie dormant until it was needed again. Cyrus shrunk rapidly until her was back to the size of a cat, and I caught him in my arms before he stumbled. I cradled him against my chest and smiled tiredly as his snout stretched in a wide yawn, little teeth still stained with green.

"You sleepy Cyrus?"I asked. He nodded and snuggled his head against my shoulder.

"You did so good today!"I told him, hugging him close. "Who's the cutest little World Destroyer ever?"

He blinked sleepily and grinned. "I am!" he announced, tossing his paws in the air. I giggled. He was just so gosh darn cute.

"That's right; you are!" I said and leaned down so he could rub my forehead with his. "I have to take care of a few things, but after that I promise we'll go home, okay?" Cyrus just nodded and I let him crawl up and sprawl across my shoulders, the tip of his tail curling around my bicep.

I stifled a yawn of my own and walked over to the alter, smacking the top of it a couple of times to get the attention of the two underneath it. Riadne poked her head out and grinned widely, her eyes wide was awe.

"You were wonderful!"She breathed, stumbling out of the small space with Tomix in tow.

"Yes Karin," he said, brushing off his coat, "if I'm being honest, you make me wish I had a dragon." He looked at Cyrus dozing on my shoulders and smiled, shaking his head. "But that is not for me. I have my own path to follow."

"Remind me to introduce you to Cyrus a little later. Little guy's all tuckered out," I said, giving the little dragon an affectionate scratch behind the ears. "And quite frankly so I am. It takes a lot to sustain his adult form for such a long time. Ugh, I feel like I could sleep for a week."

"Well, try not to," he told me, "We still have the rest of the keys to find."

"Oh! Oh oh oh!" Riadne cut in, bouncing on her heels with sudden energy. "Toooooomix! Do you know what I found while we were hiding?"she said teasingly, a big grin spreading across her face. With a flourish she pulled a large key from her sleeve and held it above her head. "Ta-da!"

"It that a Key?" I asked taking a step closer only to immediately take it back. The key was all black and violet, a massive eye swiveling madly within the bow surrounded by little wriggling tentacles. "That thing looks terrifying." How did Riadne even stand holding that thing?

'That's the Void Key!" Tomix snatch the key from her hands when she presented it to him, looking incredulously between it and her. "Riadne, I could…could… kiss you!" The moment the words left his mouth he slapped the hand not holding the key over it, pale face turning a deep crimson.

Riadne giggled, turning red herself. "You should probably wait until I've had a bath, Tomix" she said softly. They looked away from each other, both blushing furiously, until I felt the uncomfortable urge to do the same. I cleared my throat loudly, turning to descend down the side of the pyramid.

"Well, I dunno about you, but I think a bath sounds like a marvelous idea!" I said, not stopping to hear if they were following. "Let's get that 'Key' back to the gate, so I can go take a nap!" I tired to ignore the twisting in my gut as I led the way back to the gate. We saved Riadne, killed the Queen, and found another key! Tomix finally seemed happy again! Everything was going great!

Right?