Taylyn stared at her chamber door where he had been moments before. How had he changed so suddenly? So drastically? His position on human involvement and their influences had always been known to her, but for him to be so adamant about retrieving his sword… She had to stop him from leaving.

Her leg took a heavy step forward but she stopped herself. No, he could cause a scene. But she had never known him to be outwardly violent. Radi had a bit of a temper at times, but always in private. He would listen to reason… No, he is no longer the Radi I knew.

What was he planning? His parting words were too dangerous to ignore, and their argument was proving he had not changed for the better. This new Radi was terrifying to her. He claimed to still love her, but every fiber of her being told her this new Radi held no more compassion behind his eyes.

Someone needed to be warned, but who? The Council would choose patience over haste. They would not act unless he did, and by then it would be too late. He was the Radi she knew early this morning, there was no other explanation to his true name changing unless someone else was involved. If that were true, what would their motivations be to give Radi the excuse he needed to unleash his centuries of bottled hatred upon the world?

Taylyn remembered her mother, Caleer, and the location of Radi's sword. It was not something Taylyn ever wanted to intervene in, but her mother needed to know Radi should not be allowed to obtain his stained weapon. It broke her heart, being reminded of how little her mother once trusted Radi.

"Mother…?" Taylyn asked. Her throat burned, causing her to cough painfully.

"Hush, my sweet daughter, rest." The gentle voice whispered. Taylyn opened her eyes, feeling a sense of vertigo overtake her before it disappeared. She felt warm, but chilled. All of her muscles ached from some serious misuse, though she couldn't remember what she had done to warrant the soreness.

"My legs, I feel a chill." She whimpered with a breathy sigh and a shiver. Caleer immediately placed something heavy on her and returned to her previous position at her bedside. Taylyn looked around and caught sight of Radi sitting in a chair to her right; his sleeping face in a state of permanent discomfort. Then, she saw his head, arms, and wrists covered in wrappings. Instinctively, she felt the need to have him lie down to ease his suffering.

At her own slight movement, her body screamed against her. Her arms, legs… wrists. What had happened?

"Why is he injured… Why am I injured? Mother, what happened?" Her voice was louder as she ignored her dry throat. Panic threatened to overwhelm her, even if she didn't understand what there was to be afraid of.

"You will both be fine, hush." Caleer shot Radi an accusatory glance, but she did her best to hide any ill feeling toward him. Taylyn studied her mother's face for a few moments before Caleer gave in, defeated.

"He has done something terrible, but I swore I would not relay his deeds to you." She chewed on the words and brought a cup to Taylyn's mouth. She drank it gratefully, still terribly confused.

"Mother, I am sure he would not have done it without reason." Taylyn countered, earning her a sigh from Caleer. Taylyn meant her words completely.

"It is not what he did I am offended by. It is the knowledge that he has shown no remorse at having done it. Given the opportunity, I fear he would do it again. That is why I am hesitant to let him near you. I am glad your father is taking them to Ilirea when Radi's wounds have healed."

"Them?"

"Radi is now a dragon rider." The words were not spoken in celebration or with excitement. They were stiff with politeness and a bittersweet statement of fact. Taylyn felt herself smile at the news.

The memory had her look up at her ceiling again. If that what he was hiding from her? Was she meant to be a rider just as he was? She had no recollection of what happened to them, only that Radi was deeply traumatized from it and forevermore simultaneously feared and hated the humans.

Taylyn knew little of this deep-rooted emotion in him until he brought her to an unfamiliar stretch of desert many years after he finished training as a rider. Maelorum was maybe a quarter of the size he was now.

The sand brings out a shine to your scales unlike any I've ever seen. Taylyn laughed, entranced at the sunbathing dragon. He turned onto his side and took in the warmth. The day was bright, with only a haze to separate them from the sun's glaring rays. A cool breeze betrayed their location's name, however. Given the right timing, the Hadarac Desert was surprisingly pleasant. At least, the north-eastern most corners of it.

She looked back to the ruins with another thought of curiosity as she voiced her thoughts.

"He has been down there for a long time, should he be this long?"

Maelorum paused in his stretch, He has asked to not be disturbed… I think he may be along soon.

Taylyn heard a hesitation in the dragon's gentle mind. The idea of secrecy made her suspicious even more. She had never known Radi to keep anything from her.

"What is he doing?"

He tells me there is a complication with the ruin's inhabitants.

"Why did you not tell me?" Taylyn cried, already running to help him. Maelorum was not concerned, but Taylyn's worry was unhindered by logic. There was no telling what Radi was up against.

Maelorum saw her sprint past his head to the entrance too late. He clumsily rolled over and attempted to stop her before she entered into the rooms below.

Taylyn, stop! He roared fearfully. Radi had given him specific instructions to not allow her access.

The staircase leading downward quickly engulfed her in shadow as she sprinted down them. Torches were lit along the walls when she reached the bottom. A fog-like stench of blood and gore assaulted her nose, nearly choking her. She continued, trying to breathe through her mouth to keep from gagging.

After a short time, Radi's broken cries echoed through hall, leading her to him.

When she found him, he was covered from head to toe in red; on his cheeks were lines of diluted blood where his tears had washed some of it away. He swung his sword wildly at the wall, in a poor attempt to tear the walls down with it. Deep gashes were already engraved where he had already been, and untouched bricks where he would.

Then, she saw the men littered about the floor of the chamber. Small sections of a makeshift camp were the only evidence the men were not already dead when he arrived, apart from the blood coating his clothes and face.

Radi swung at the wall again with deadly force, erasing portions of the ancient runes once inscribed on them. Taylyn remembered her voice, and spoke to him in horror.

"Radi, what did you do?" She sobbed dryly. He spun around to look at her with equal surprise.

"Please leave, you should not see this." His body shook from emotion, though his voice was unreasonable calm. Beneath the mask of gore, his features were full of disgust.

"How could you kill them?"

Radi scoffed without humor, "This one," He spat, on the brink of madness, pointing his sword angrily at the body closest to Taylyn, "is a murderer himself. Those two are murderers and rapists, and that pathetic excuse for a sentient being in the corner… his crimes far exceed almost every law I stand for. I killed him last, though not before he made sure I knew he regretted none of it. The rest are accomplices to the four I listed."

Taylyn counted the piles of death, no more than nine or ten. Her original count had been eleven, until she realized the eleventh pile belonged to what was left of the tenth man. As Radi finished his explanation, the horror of what he had done began to dawn on him, particularly at the fact Taylyn had seen it.

He turned his disgust to his sword and rushed out of the room, careful to not touch Taylyn. Her words followed closely behind him.

"And you saw fit to judge them; to execute them without evidence?"

"I was content in leaving them be when I came down here, but when they began harassing me, I reacted. Had I ignored them, they would have stolen your necklace once we departed. Your blessing within it was the only thing I could think to redeem the nightmares of this wretched place. Then I hear threats after me. Their wrongs were irredeemable." His lengthy defense danced around what he really wanted to say, but she could tell there was a reason for that as well.

Radi's pace quickened, and Taylyn did her best to keep up with his near-frantic need to reach the surface.

"What happened here for you to react by killing them so mercilessly?"

"I will speak no more of the events within these walls, until my dying breath or my name changes. Whichever comes last." He swore sharply. Taylyn's own anger forced her to pull his arm back.

"And what of your sword, Radi?" She growled, "I can see the guilt already eating at your heart. Can you live with knowing you have stained it with blood in a fit of… of rage, or fear, whatever drove you to slaughter the men in that room? They were humans, they could not defend themselves against you! You should have brought them to Ilirea for judgement."

"They deserved-"

"They deserved better than to be butchered! You gave them no opportunity to plead their case, nor were they allowed a fair trial. Torture is not in your nature, but you have done so today. Think about that when you unsheath your sword to strike down the next victim of your emotions."

The memory was from so long ago, and she had been right; the guilt ate at him. When he tried to clean his sword of the blood, the red paint clung to the emerald blade. She heard him that night singing words of cleansing and weaving spells of repair to rid the green of its new color. Taylyn eventually tried comforting his ever-growing panic to relieve the weapon of the blood, to no avail.

A day before they reached Ilia Feon, he swore to her that he would never use the sword again. Today's revealing argument brought forth an idea she never wanted to think of. The Radi who swore out of guilt no longer existed. The Radi leaving for Ilia Feon was another Radi… unless he was not himself. Could he be under another's control? Was it Radi she argued with, or another mind entirely? Was the Radi she knew and loved still there? She could see many similarities, this new Radi held a reflection of his old self… Reflections of… Of course! Taylyn ran to her desk, knowing exactly where her handheld mirror resided.

There may still be a way to keep him from retrieving his sword. Taylyn hoped her mother was well, and above all, willing to stop him from getting it. If he did, there was no telling what he would do with it.