"So lemme get this straight, you seriously invented me for the sole purpose of having someone to argue with?" Bid'Daum asked incredulously.

"Yup. Because you're not me I feel less guitly of what we—or in other words, of what you—think. So you're kind of the creation of my guilt." Eragon responded, laziliy casting an eye over by the egg the this dragon had died to save.

"And even though I already know, why don't you tell me exactly what your guilt lies on?" Bid'Daum asked smugly.

"The dragons. They're not worth destroying. Not entirely..." Eragon muttered guiltily.

"So you just admitted that I'm useless because you believe it." Bid'Daum was openly laughing at Eragon now. "I have three things to tell you: you are sitting on the source of your guilt—a dead dragon. You really do know the way to save the elves—he's waiting for you in that there egg the-source-of-your-guilt-which-you-are-sitting-on. And finally, it's not healthy to have a split personality that will make you grumpy and irritated. If you're gonna invent someone, it should be someone who's gonna calm that mind of yours."

"See! You really are the creation of my fear and guilt! Do you realize how preposterous the suggestion of raising a friendly dragon is? Yes, it's genius—I admit that much to you, Bid'Daum, but how could I raise him? I'd have to do it in secret; I'd practically have to seceed from the army and raise him in the wild."

"Which is where he'd grow up anyways." Bid'Daum pointed out stubbornly.

"But the point you made earlier—no form of communication," Eragon wildly tried to change the subject.

"How do you train a dog? It's the same principle for a dragon baby except that he'll be like the stray mutt that is wild to the core."

"And if the mutt can tear off a finger, imagine what this guy will be able to take off. My arm? My head?" Eragon said.

"Well, I bet you can't come up with a better idea, not even if you thought about it all your waking hours till the day you die. So what could it hurt to try? If you smash that there little egg, I will not let you get out of here until you find another one to take home, and that is a promise." Bid'Daum grumbled obstinately.

"Then we will wait here until I starve," Eragon said, not willing to give up his side of the arguement in favor of the one he loathed and loved at the same time.

"Aw c'mon Eragon, you can say it was me—the evil side of you that you've been supressing for years and years come to surface and confuse your poor scattered brain!"

"Shut up! I know I could say that. But would it work in the slightest?"

"Well, since you've created me, yeah."

"You can't lie in the ancient language, dumbo."

"Well you can decide that a year now equals a minute, and then it will be true."

"But you've surfaced quite a bit now, haven't you? I would still be lying."

"Oh fine, you would be. Which is why that's not what you're going to do, right? You'll just hide like a good little Eragon, no issues concerning the subject. You'll just listen to me because we both know you want to."

"You're crazy!" Eragon shouted furiously, leaping up as though to punch another humanoid who was not there.

"I am exactly what you make me. And since I am as much you as you are me, I will take that egg since you apparently wont."

"Oh no! I am so not going to let you take the glory of saving my species, I-" Eragon stopped, realizing what he had just said. He took a deep breath, and slowly let it out. "If it goes bad, you did it. Otherwise..." Eragon chuckled self-consciously. "Otherwise it was all me."

"Fair enough. I am the source of your guilt, should it actually turn out to be guilt. If not, I am your blaze of inspiration-"

"That no one except for you and me will ever know about," Eragon finished the sentence with his most proficient tone of finality.

"Yup. One day you'll thank me though. Now, toss your mask off the edge and put the egg in its bag. Then you'll go around and make sure the battle's over. Then-"

"Seeing as I am the boss around here, I think I will be issuing the orders," Eragon put in, silencing Bid'Daum.

"Sure thing, boss."

Taking another deep breath, Eragon hobbled over to the perfectly round and pure white rock that would change the course of history. He knelt down, and gently lifted it up to his face, marveling the perfection. He hesitated only slightly, because he had made up his mind. He stuffed the egg into his bag, stood, and bounded with exhaustion off into the night, looking for any sign of elvish life. He wondered if they had lost, retreated, or if both sides had lost all life.

"Definitely not likely boss," Bid'Daum said inresponse to that thought.

"Well it's a possibility, all right, genius? I am entitled to being able to think my own thoughts and have my own opinions," Eragon grumbled, trying to concentrate on silencing Bid'Daum.

"You know, I can't imagine how annoying you must be, considering what I'm like."

"Shut. Up."

"You know you can say that all you want and I'll still just blabber on and on, trying to keep you from thinking demonic thoughts and-"

"Actually, if you actually paid attention, you were the one suggesting demonic-"

"Yes well, I'm distracting you from that now. Okay? Distracta-distracta. Boo. Are-you-scared-yet? You should be. You're alone in the night in the nest of an angry and endangered species. You should really be more logical about these things."

"Listen, there's a difference between being scared and taking precautions. You know?"

"Nope."

"You are SO annoying."

"Yes, you are," Bid'Daum snorted ironically.

Eragon managed a smile at the irony, and he continued his search with a slightly lighter heart than before.

As he made his way across the rock, he was sorrowful at the heaps and heaps of bodies. At intervals he came across an elf that was barely alive, much like himself. He did what he could to save them, or at least to make them comfortable before their deaths.

"All should go down knowing they are heroes," Eragon told Bid'Daum solemnly.

"Heroes that no songs will be sung about, heroes that will die in the memories of our kind," Bid'Daum said quietly.

"Heroes that died and saved us whether or not we remember them," Eragon whispered bitterly.