Chapter 1: Qilby

Somewhere in the forest of Sadida,

Yugo sat with his dragon twin, Adamai. The forest around of them was serene, only the gentle humming of insects could be heard. Air had begun to cool as day slipped way into night, the blue-sky darkening overhead. Peaceful surroundings allowed the twins to concentrate.

Between them was the two remaining objects that represented their people, the Eliacube and the dofus of Grougaloragran. Both held aloft and glowed with the growing wakfu energy the two carefully tapped into. Their goal: to somehow use them to find what was left of their people; a destiny that Grougal had left to them before he perished. How they were to do this, they didn't know, but Adamai trusted their instinct would guide them as it had thus far.

Once Yugo refocused, a tether of wakfu connected between the four points: Yugo to the Eliacube to the Dofus and to Adamai. Blue life energy pulsated along the shell of the ebony Dofus as did Adamai's body as he tapped into it. With Yugo, the wakfu crackled around his arms, not nearly as tamed, yet the tether held.

Yugo kept himself as calm and centered as he could, in hopes to pull this off, but he still felt uncertainty linger at the fringes of his mind. They were just-diving into this. He had no training to use these, neither of them did. His brother was so certain they could and after he had kept him waiting for a year...Yugo felt he couldn't postpone any longer. Especially after Adamai surprised him with the fact he'd swiped the items.

A question lingered in his mind: what if they did succeed, just what would they be met with?

This left Yugo both excited and nervous.

His dragon twin, on the other hand, felt every bit of himself dancing with excitement! He was sure somehow, someway, the Eliacube would either show them what they needed or better yet- bring them to their people at long last! And so, he had to put everything he had into this! Right alongside his brother!

Adamai gasped as he felt a sudden offset through the tether. Something was wrong.

Any uncertainty Yugo had been feeling was cut off by viciously sudden visions of, what looked to be- him and Ad? Then, Fire. Screaming. Destruction. A horned hooded figure, eyes malevolent and glowing. His instincts screamed warnings. Warnings of what-? There was something else, but it sped by too quick for him to process what! A violent jerk snapped him back to reality and the issue blooming before them.

The stream of wakfu between them was getting stronger, getting harder and harder to control, the Eliacube spinning faster and faster!

Yugo looked on with mystified dread as heard Ad call out, "Wh-what's happening?"

Their vision was then consumed white light. The forest around them fell silent.

Perpetual haze of nothingness, the plane stuck between being and not, was disturbed. Suddenly and unexpected enough to rouse senses that'd long gone dormant. So much so that the mere perception of them was faint, near nonexistent. Only on the brim of conscious recognition did it go noticed in the form of being pulled into consciousness.

A familiar pull.

Both intrinsic and literal.

Out from oblivion and into the realm of being.

In the quiet of the forest, cheerful, infantile giggling bubbled from a snowy haired infant as he opened his eyes. He felt the weight of a small reptilian creature on his head. Although he couldn't understand the concept of the term, he felt its meaning all the same- his brother. All was well.

Yugo groaned as he pulled himself up from the ground, propped on his arms. His head was pounding, rattled by the shock wave. His vision was still clearing, spots of white still dotted his view. Vaguely he recalled shielding his eyes from a powerful beam of wakfu that shot down from the sky. A building ball of energy. Adamai had given a startled cry, the dofus was suddenly shaking and glowing brightly. Next, he was on the ground, surrounded by mist.

Yugo rubbed his forehead before slightly adjusting his hat and peering into the haze, "Ad-amai, are you okay?"

The murmur of his brother's voice was enough to cause Adamai to stir, and slowly he opened his eyes. Blinking the darkness away he registered the question he answered, "Yeah, I'm fine. What happened...?"

Inwardly, Yugo sighed in relief.

The sound of giggles pulled his eyes away from Adamai, quickly they focused on a form of a baby that somehow felt strongly familiar. Yugo's gaze locked on his head of white hair and the tiny black dragonette that clung to it. Immediately a shock of recognition caused him to call out in surprise, "G-Grougal?"

"Oh wow!" Exclaimed Adamai, likewise having been drawn to the sound, eyes wide with awe. He recognized them both. "The Dofus hatched- It's Chibi and Grougaloragran!" He smiled brightly at the two, "They're so cute! Welcome to the world guys!"

Grougal reborn simply gave a yawn in response to the welcoming, flashing his little teeth before going right back to sleep.

A bit unsteady at first, Yugo crawled over to meet his new and reborn siblings with his brother. He stared at them in wonder for a moment, before managing a brief laugh as Grougal went right back to sleep. "Ah, looks like Grougal wants to sleep more."

"He always did like to take his naps!" Adamai laughed.

Unbeknownst to the pair, a few paces away from them, a figure appeared out of the fading mist. For a moment, he didn't move, but slowly, weakly, he began to come to.

Qilby's eyes seemed to roll out of his head. His vision was entirely out of focus and his body felt impossibly numb. Dazed, he looked up into the darkness that hung above him. He blinked. Slowly his mind processed something that was entirely out of place amongst his homogenous memories.

Darkness...? He seemingly asked himself. Lethargically his mind ground past this observation and managed a more coherent thought. Where...am I?

Listlessly, Qilby turned his head, still out of sorts and almost virtually blind. Again, he blinked into the bleakness that surrounded him, this time his gaze focusing on a trio of forms sitting in the dark. He sat staring at them for several seconds and as he did, his vision began to clear- revealing the all too familiar faces of Yugo and Adamai. This recognition sent an impossibly harsh shock through his body. Reacting on impulse he winced and cried out. Scrambling backwards to get away. He almost immediately fell back against some surface he was too preoccupied with fear to bother with. All he managed was to grunt at the impact.

The sudden noise and movement snapped the attention of the two brothers over to its source. Yugo straightened, pulling himself up to sitting on his knees. He called out in surprise, "Who's there!"

He quickly honed in on the figure of an adult. The sight of a similarly styled hat immediately drew his attention. Recognition clicked in him. Had...had they actually done it and found more of their people?

"Where'd he come from?" Adamai questioned confusedly- he hadn't even heard him come up on them, how long had he been there?

Suddenly, he didn't know how to approach this person, nervousness held him back. "Who- who are you? Are you an Eliatrope?"

His brother's declaration caused Adamai to stall and look to Yugo, parroting, "An Eliatrope?" Looking back, he recognized what his brother was keying in on and was in sudden amazement.

The questions dragged Qilby from staring up at the figures in fear, into slight – though only barely- coherence. "Uh...I..." He was without proper words, mind still struggling to process just what was going on. But as he looked at them, he realized he was looking at children. The fact jarred him. That couldn't be. Words now tumbled from him, "You? Is it really you?"

As his eyes readjusted to the dimmer light, Yugo got a better look at the newcomer. He looked rather frail, worn out, and... scared? The latter fact perplexed him, but then he realized- they must've yanked him from wherever he'd been prior. Yugo felt a pang of upset at this. The poor guy must be very disoriented and confused. Surely a simple explanation would fix things up.

When Yugo began to approach the stranger, it prompted Adamai to whisper, "Careful brother..."

"I'm Yugo and this is my dragon brother Adamai." Yugo introduced as he motioned from himself to his stark white twin.

Following his brother's lead, Adamai assured, "It's ok. We won't hurt you."

Qilby stammered incoherently. This was far too much, too soon. Suddenly he felt his body seize up and before he knew it, the world pitched to the side. Body giving out, his eyes rolled back into his head before he solidly collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

Adamai was left staring, jaw agape. "What happened?"

Yugo gasped in alarm and immediately rushed over to the new, possible, Eliatrope to check if he was alright. The sight of breathing assured him he was at least alive. He was left with one conclusion, "He passed out." Worry crossed his face, that still wasn't good. "We need to get him to an Enirispa."

Still beside the newborns as he watched on carefully, Adamai asked, "Is he hurt or something?"

After a look over Yugo is relieved to not notice any form of injury. Though after some closer inspection, he realized that the man is missing an arm, much to his surprise. With the sleeve intact, he assumed that it wasn't recent. He shook his head, "It doesn't look like it. He just seems really tired."

"That's a relief. If he'd been hurt..." Adamai didn't finish the sentence. He didn't need to, the newcomer wasn't. They'd get him looked at and everything would be fine.

Assessment taken care of Yugo returned back to the problem at hand: getting, whoever, this was back to Sadida. The longer he looked at him though, the stronger a feeling of familiarity became. It was like when he met Adamai or Grougaloragran for the first time. Except the feeling was...different. He shook it off. He had to focus. "How are we going to...?"

The thought of heading back caused him to recall what'd brought them out here in the first place. Wildly he began to look around, "Ah-where's the Eliacube?"

Immediately thoughts on how they were going to go about transporting the unknown individual, and the obvious complications of that task, came to a halt at the more pressing problem. Alarmed Adamai whipped his large head about, looking for its glow becoming distressed when he doesn't see it. "I-I don't, Oh!" Spotting the cubical device nearby he picked it up. The dragon quirked a blue brow, noting, "It's not glowing anymore."

Yugo breathed a sigh of relief when Ad located the item, his growing panic settled. The sight of the box without its typical glow of wakfu was almost...lifeless. Yugo donned an unsure frown, he could only guess, "We probably used up a lot of wakfu?"

Yugo hoped they wouldn't have to gather more, especially with what happened to Nox. Everyone in Sadida, understandably, wouldn't like that. His brother seemed to echo his inner worries, "Must have, sure hope that's temporary."

Adamai looked down to the stranger. "Where'd he even come from?" Suddenly his eyes widened, an edge of hope in his voice, "Did, did...we do that?"

Following the same hopeful train of thought, Yugo readily nodded. "I think we did Adamai." He was pulled from the moment as he spotted glowing light begin to appear through the forest thicket. As they grew nearer, he began to pick out familiar voices move with them. "Oh! It's the others!"

Perking at the sight, Adamai remarked, "Oh good! This might have gotten tedious." The dragon put his hands to his mouth, calling out, "Hey! We're here- hey!"

Nearby, moving amongst the search party and forest brush, Evangelyne's long elven-like ears perked up. "That sounded like Adamai!"

"So, they are out here!" Huffed the brusque Prince Armand. To his men, which were fanned out around the area, he barked, "Move! Quickly!"

"Ah! Hey! Wait!" Eva called after the Prince as he ran off, headlong, with his company of troops. She turned her head when Tristepin, previously walking beside her, charged out ahead as well, his hand ready draw Rubilax at a moment's notice. Clearly the Iop warrior was motivated by the mere inkling that their good friends might be in trouble. She sighed, unsurprised, "Of course."

Tristepin pushed past guards and came to a halt once he reached the edge of the brush line and his friends where in sight, "Are you ok-" He paused blinked dubiously at what he saw, blurting out, "babies?"

The sight caused him to glance between the two as if for an answer, and it was at that moment that he moment that he spotted something behind Yugo to which he tilted head his to get a better look. It was an adult that he didn't recognize. "Who's that?" Tristepin frowned with a look of suspicion, "Did he cause trouble?"

Quickly, Yugo got in front of the unconscious man. If PanPan's track record was anything to go by he meant well, but it was better to diffuse the situation immediately. "No, no!" The Iop warrior settled at the assurance, allowing Yugo to look back that the familiar yet unfamiliar form and continued, expression both hopeful and worried, "We, we think he's an Eliatrope."

"An Eliatrope?" Tristipin exclaimed, eyes wide.

"Eliatrope?" Eva parroted as she reached the brush line. Likewise, she gave pause at the sounds of baby then peered ahead at the other surprise, "Yugo, what's going on?"

Armand, along with his men, surrounded the area in a military fashion. He looked down at the form lying on the ground with firm scrutiny before to the two causes of the issue. "What happened- and where did he come from?"

Adamai lashed his tail and grunted, "We aren't sure. But he needs help."

"What about that flash of light earlier? Where is the Eliacube?" Pressed Armand.

Looking unimpressed with the lack of empathy, Adamai snapped, "It's fine!" Holding out the device, which belonged to them, in his clawed hand, he showed it to the prince. "Just kinda out at the moment."

"Kind of out?" Repeated Armand with a suspicious tone. Now somehow even more irate, "What have you done?"

The pressure was on them. This was why Yugo hadn't wanted to mess with the dofus and Eliacube prior. Now they were in trouble for it, but there was no going back now. Especially since Grougal and Chibi were born and they obviously had the Eliacube. That said, while he understood why the Sadida prince was upset, he wasn't going to not stand by his brother. While he was tense about the situation, Yugo did what he could to keep his tone calm in order to avoid riling Armand more, "We used it to try and find our people."

He looked to the two infants, "It somehow made Grougal's egg hatch," His eyes switched over to the still unknown adult, "and maybe is what brought him here. We're not sure...something went wrong, we might've used a lot of the Wakfu it had left..."

"Were you not told to wait? That we would see to such things?" The Sadidan Prince bared his teeth in a seethe of anger at the impudence. "How dare you do this!"

Now it was Adamai who was angered. "How dare us? The Eliacube belongs to us!"

"That does not matter! You have no clue what you could have done!" Armand argued back.

Ruel, having made his way over while Armand had begun his impromptu interrogation, stood by the babies. His worn face warmed at the sight of the infant and he chuckled softly, "Heheh, Cute little guys." The old enutrof frowned at the argument in progress, questioning, "is this really the time and place to do this?"

"I'm in agreement with Ruel here." Eva agreed, looking to the unconscious form. Even with the yelling, he'd not stirred a bit. "This man looks like he may have been injured recently- we can talk about this in a safer place."

"Yes, Father will settle this when we get back-brother." Spoke up another voice, catching everyone's attention. It was Amalia. She crossed through the bushes, Alibert right behind her. She crossed her arms, not liking her sibling digging at two of her friends in front of everyone. On personal matters on top of that. "These three need to be seen to first."

Armand thinned his bushy lips into a tight frown, not at all liking how events were unfolding. However, as his sister stood by them to make her stance clear, he could only scoff at the display before looking away, conceding for the moment. "Yes indeed. We'll have to see to these events posthaste in a much more civil setting. Gather them up then and we'll escort you back to the palace."

Adamai withheld a growl as he watched the prince leave. Instead, he only muttered, "That jerk..."

As the Prince left, Alibert looked down at the two babies and his face softened. The Eliatrope infant reminded him a lot of Yugo when he first found him, even with the white hair. So much so that it warmed his heart instantly. Then he spotted the unidentified man and finds that his help would be put to much better use there. Alibert moved around the group and picks up the stranger, which is rather easy despite the length of his body. The enutrof is momentarily surprised by the lack of an arm but it was no form of trouble.

"I'll carry him." He softly said to Yugo. His son perked at this as he watched his father pick the man up. To this he smiled warmly.

Eva blinked, momentarily surprised at how Alibert chose to help. She'd expected that he'd pick up the infants. Regardless, it was welcomed help. "I think that should do-" She looked towards the old man who looks like he's about to just heft the bag that the babies were lying in. Cutting in Eva said, "I'll take the babies."

"Huh? Why's that? Don't trust me with a baby?" Ruel uttered, somewhat bewildered.

"Not really." Eva replied flatly.

"Gah!" Ruel gasped indignantly. "I've never been so insulted." He crossed his arms with a huff, "I'd be as gentle with them as if they were my own Kama!"

Already holding them, Eva remarked. "Right..."

Ruel grumbled to himself for a moment before shrugging it off, "Eh well, load off my back." He stood beside Eva, looking at the infants he chortled and wiggled a finger at the tip of the baby dragon's nose. "Cute little fella."

Grougal opened his eyes, blinked, and gave a tiny rattling growl at the act. Quickly Ruel pulled back, wagging his finger. "Mm-mm-mm, I need these for counting kama."

To this, Grougal only snorted.

Seeing Yugo and Adamai's understandable, displeasure Amalia walked off once her brother was standing out of earshot. She smiled sympathetically and reassuringly. "Don't worry, Daddy won't do anything about this. Unlike someone, he remembers how you helped save Sadida."

Yugo smiled. "Thanks, Amalia."

"Yeah, thanks." Adamai agreed. He snorted as he looked back in the direction of the prince, "That guy can be kind of a jerk huh?"

Amalia gave a brief laugh, "Yeah, but imagine having him as brother."

The though caused Yugo to shudder while Adamai's tail stood straight out. While the Eliatrope managed a slight laugh, the dragon groaned, "Ugh, no thanks. I hope he's not that bad..."

"Adventures have their advantages." Amalia stated with a wry grin.

Some distance away, seeing that everything was in order, Armand turned and began to lead the way back. Over his shoulder he gave the short order of, "Let's go."

His men in response gave a series of yessir and fell in line, behind or around the Brotherhood. Night had fallen as they headed their way back to the Sadidan capitol and the insects and resumed their songs alongside a group of footsteps. With the darkness deepening they were led by lanterns that the druid warriors held in one hand.

Tristepin grumbled to himself still not caring for the prince much, nor the shake down he'd given his pals. He put that aside, after what happened last time, it was better to leave it be. In order to do just that, Tristepin turned his attention to something else. The closest point of interest, which was easily the newcomer. He looked the worn fellow over. "You really think this guy is an Eliatrope?" He squinted, attempting to find some point of resemblance, then pointed, "Is it the hat?"

"How observant." Retorted the shushu, Rubilax.

Yugo laughed and admitted, "Well kinda." Briefly he mulled over how to put word his reasoning, "It's...almost like when I first met Adamai. Like I recognize him somehow." Yugo thought back to what the stranger said prior to passing out, "And he seemed to recognized us."

"I know what you mean, Yugo. It's so weird." Adamai said as he gave the man a closer look. The feeling still ever lingering at the periphery of recognition.

A smile perked the corner of Yugo's lips, alight with optimism, "I hope he wakes up soon."

His twin's wings buzzed excitedly, "Yeah, I can't wait!"

However, the young dragon's eyes trailed down to the missing arm, Hope he's okay though...

By the time the group made it back to the capitol, night had well settled in. From behind a blinder made of leaves, Yugo, with Adamai beside him, watched as the Eniripsa tended to the, hopefully, new Eliatrope with her magic. The nurse fluttered in place making pink runes above the adult which sprinkled down healing magic. Both hoped it would rouse the adult so, they had so many questions. Thus far, no luck and he remained unmoving. Yugo perked when he heard the heftier footsteps of Amalia's father, Oakheart Sheran Sharm. As the burly sadidan king entered the room, Yugo just barely restrained the urge to gulp. Adamai seemed to sense this and remained close at his side.

This mental urge only strengthened at the sight of Armand entering, just behind his father out of respect. Arms tucked behind his back, he firmly looked down at the children with a strict frown. Tone brusque as he spoke, "Now then. We'll settle this whole insult." Eyes hard he resumed his questioning, "What were you out doing in the middle of the forest?"

Yugo felt a form of his own insult at the underlying insinuation. His frame stiffened as he responded, "I told you-we were trying to locate our people with the Eliacube and Dofus."

"By taking it so far away and without telling anyone-" Armand cut off what he was about to say as his father began to speak, and listens intently as he did so.

"And that's where he came from?" Oakheart asked calmly while he peered back at the unconscious newcomer. He looked a measure curious.

Yugo felt himself settle at the calmer tone. It was a good sign that the king wasn't on the same train of thought as his son. He nodded. "Yeah, we think so. He seemed to recognize us before he passed out."

Simple as the answer was, Oakheart accepted it with a subtle nod, "Very well then."

His father's response nearly caused Armand to jump. He couldn't have heard correctly! "Wait- What!"

Adamai was left just as bewildered, "You...mean you're not mad?"

Oakheart addressed his son first, "Armand, I understand your concerns. I understand that you wish to protect our people from further near disaster, but we have been neglectful in not allowing them access to what is, by right, theirs. I doubt the ones who save our people had any ill-intentions."

Armand could only look on as his father speaks, taking in what is said and has no immediate counter to it. He simply stared before looking away and falling silent. Inwardly he was far from content with what said, but could do nothing. For the moment.

His son silent, Oakheart turned his attention to the two children. His tone somewhat firmer but still gentle in timbre, "In the future though, to avoid another panic inform me at least, while you stay here."

Relieved and understanding, Yugo nodded deeply in gratitude, "Thank you, King Sheran Shram."

Adamai perked at what is said and feels a twinge of regret. The king made a fair point. Despite knowing they were in the right- Events had left a lingering fear. A very understandable one, considering their people had nearly been, to their entirety, wiped out. In part, by the Eliacube or at least by the utilization of it. To both Armand and the King, "that's fair" He dipped his head a touch, "Sorry if we worried you, it's just..." His voice twinged with embers of frustration, clawed hands curling, "we want answers." Just as quickly as his tone soured it was uplifted as he looked at the infants still being held by Eva, "Also, Chibi and Grougaloragran hatched, so we don't have to worry about that!"

With a nod, Oakheart accepted the apology and gratitude, "I understand, and I'm happy to hear that." He offered the boys a curt smile before he looks back to the new comer in with intrigue, "When your new, companion awakes I'd like to be present solely to welcome him. Admittedly though, I am curious to hear what stories he has."

Practically tingling, Adamai was all too happy that things were going so well. Eagerly he exclaimed, "Yeah! Me too! I can hardly wait!"

"Well, I wouldn't expect too much too soon. Guy looked like he's seen better days." Eva reminded with a glance towards the patient. Whatever he'd been through, it'd taken a lot out of him. Whoever he was.

Yugo conceded to the cra's point. Answers could wait a while longer. "Yeah, I can wait a little longer." He dispelled his own worry with a smile. "Besides we have little brothers to look after now."

Looking over to the sleeping pair, Adamai nodded, "Hm, yeah." Heading over to the two he remarked, "you know- it's a bit weird seeing Grougal like this. Him having raised me and all you know." He smiled. "I guess I get to return the favor."

"At least you'll have some help!" Yugo chirped with a grin.