"Nightshade?"

"Yes?" The Barrani in question distractedly responded.

"How long do you plan on staring at that wall?" Kaylin asked as her stomach growled, making a decent impression of an irritated Leontine. They had been walking the perimeter of the lagoon they'd found the first day on this world when Nightshade had spotted some ruins. He hadn't even tried to contain his sharp curiosity from the bond of name. He'd dragged Kaylin behind him and thirty minutes later he was still staring at the remnants of a long abandoned building.

Nightshade sighed a little before looking over to Kaylin where she sat on a nearby boulder, swinging her legs.

"This wall has a script carved into it that is very similar to an ancient form of High Barrani that I studied in my youth. From my brief examination, I believe it is possible that this language and Barrani developed from the same source. I find the implications highly intriguing but aside from my intellectual interest, I feel it unwise to discount the possibility that we may yet discover a way home amongst these ruins." Nightshade paused and smiled a little. "Lannagaros will be envious when he hears of this. When we return home, you may find him wanting to gain entry to your Helen's basement levels."

"If we get back..." Kaylin replied glumly before hopping off the boulder and joining Nightshade where he stood. He tracked her progress until she stood shoulder to shoulder with him and he watched intently as she reached her hand out to the weather-worn rock. She wasn't sure what she was hoping for. A whisper of magic maybe? Perhaps a giant sandwich board that shouted, "here lies the way home." She saw nothing and felt nothing except growing frustration. She sighed and let her hand drop.

"I will return to this later. I will not be able to decipher it with any accuracy without further study and we still have much to explore." Nightshade turned away from the wall and walked deeper into the long abandoned village. Kaylin paused a moment to glance back at the distant lagoon. The last time they were near here, Semsen had attacked her. His body was still in a cave deep under the water's surface. She'd seen death in many forms but this one still unsettled her.

Come, Kaylin. Nightshade started calling her before his internal voice was cut off by his sudden alarm, followed by utter silence. Kaylin took off in a dead run toward the direction he had been walking and came to a sliding stop when she spotted him standing motionless in a column of blue light. He was so still that she could not even see the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. His hands and fingers were curved like claws and wreathed in tendrils of pure magical energy that formed arcs of light unnaturally frozen in its path. A ring of words circled around the column, looking uncomfortably familiar to Kaylin. They were True Words. She felt her own marks heat and light up in recognition.

"Chosen." A voice thundered behind her.

She whipped around to find a tall, pale, and hairless man staring, unfocused, over her shoulder with eyes that were like glowing liquid silver.

"He has trespassed." He spoke again.

"He didn't intend to. We didn't know you were here. We thought this place was a abandoned. If you let him go, we'll leave and not come back."

"He has trespassed."

"You said that already. Who are you?"

The man tilted his head as if processing her words while still staring at some point beyond her. "I am an artificially intelligent interface, created to be guardian and protector of this laboratory."

"Are you alive?"

"That would depend on your definition of life. Am I alive in the way you are? No. But am I alive in the way that I perceive it? Perhaps." He said, his tone philosophical.

"What did you mean by laboratory? There's nothing here but ruins and overgrown weeds."

"The laboratory is not confined to this small area. This world, in its entirety, serves as a laboratory to the Creators."

"I don't think your Creators have been here in some time." Kaylin said carefully.

"You are mistaken. Even so, I must honor the geis placed upon me. It is my purpose and sole focus. I exist to protect this place and I will continue to do so."

"As fascinating as that is, I really do need you to release the man you have captured."

"You are Chosen. There are no doors closed to you in this place but he is not Chosen. He does not have the same permissions that have been granted to you."

"But he is with me..."

"Is he yours?"

"No, he's not..." Kaylin cut herself off. Arguing over the meaning of possession versus association wasn't likely to yield the results she was looking for. "Yes, he's mine."

"Do you take responsibility for him and his actions?"

"Yes."

"I will remand him into your custody, Chosen. You will be granted a tether that will ensure he will stay where you can keep a close eye on him. The containment field has not been kind to him. Save him if you will it. I care not."

"I understand. Thank you." Kaylin felt uneasy over the possible state Nightshade was going to be in once he was released but at the risk of offending the man she kept silent.

The man looked suddenly into her eyes with an intense gaze.

"One more thing, Chosen, you must find a way to return to your world. This world is not meant for one such as you. Chosen or not, your body is too fragile for what lies in wait here. There is a substance in the atmosphere that accumulates in your body that affects your thoughts and actions. The longer you're here, the less likely you will survive the return to your world. As it is, the withdrawal you face will be substantial." The man waved a hand and the field holding Nightshade vanished. The man disappeared a moment later but Kaylin sensed that he was still watching somehow.

The light crackling around Nightshade's hands shot up his arms and his neck, scorching trails across his skin. It then began pooling around his left wrist and arched out, snaring Kaylin's wrist. Glowing shackles and a chain formed where the light had coalesced, burning their way into Nightshade's and Kaylin's skin. Kaylin screamed from the pain while Nightshade grunted and wavered where he stood. Kaylin could sense that as much as she was in agony, what Nightshade felt was tenfold.

With a flash and a loud clap like thunder, the light show faded and left on their wrists two matching shackles so black that they seemed to absorb the light around it. The chain was no longer visible but connected them just the same. Kaylin looked to Nightshade and saw that light still crackled across his skin. His eyes rolled up and he began falling toward Kaylin. She wrapped her arms around him, trying to slow his fall but his weight knocked her off her feet. Kaylin felt his arm wrap around her head to shield it from the impact with the ground while his other arm shot out to catch himself from completing flattening Kaylin. He braced himself above her, hissing in pain as the light continued to burn its way across his skin. It flared, momentarily blinding Kaylin. He shuddered as the light faded completely. Letting his head drop to rest his forehead against Kaylin's, he held himself unnaturally still while breathing unevenly.

"Nightshade?" Kaylin whispered, unnerved by the amount of pain she sensed from him. She pressed her shaking hands on either of his face. In the back of her mind, she registered that her powers were rising up to heal him.

"Save your strength for dealing with the tethers." He pulled his head up and away from her hands, breaking her connection to him. "I will recover."

Kaylin jabbed a shaking finger at his chest.

"You scared the hells out of me, Nightshade! You went so silent I thought you were gone." She said, trying to not cry.

Nightshade stood and pulled her to her feet before wrapping his arms around her and holding her tightly. Kaylin knew he'd never admit to it but she thought he needed the hug almost as much as she did.

"I am sorry to have frightened you," He replied, resting his chin on the top of her head.

"I'll try to forgive you," Kaylin teased, her voice still a little shaky. "That avatar, or whatever he was, said there's something in the air effecting the way we act. I wonder if it's like the lagoon or the pollen and making us a little more... affectionate than we'd normally be."

"I will admit that a similar thought has crossed my mind. Perhaps this world is slowly lowering our inhibitions instead of all at once like a slow acting poison. Kaylin, look at me for a moment." Nightshade waited for Kaylin to look up and wiped at some of the tears she hadn't realized she'd been crying. "I find that I do not resent the poisoning as much as I should and I think I will not resent anything we've done if we are ever freed from its effects."

"He said we'd go through withdrawal if we ever got home."

"What is the Elantran phrase? We will cross that bridge when we come to it. I believe our more pressing concern is the tether connecting us."

Kaylin opened her mouth to reply but before words could come out she felt the sharp slap of magic in use and her mouth continued hanging open as she saw a portal begin to form behind Nightshade. She stepped around him and began walking toward it in a daze. There was a someone just on the other side. Someone who looked vaguely Aerian and heart-achingly familiar.

"Hope?" Kaylin whispered. Her familiar smiled and his wings twitched behind him in greeting. Her heart stuttered and her knees started giving out. Nightshade caught her from behind with an arm around her waist before she fell.

"Is this real?" She asked, afraid to believe her eyes. Nightshade's voice tickled her ear as he responded.

"It is real."