Jessi: Now to an interesting bit: Chel's past. This too has changed a lot in the past five years. At first Chel wasn't even a dragon :p

I was tempted in the last chapter to put in some accidental bath time peeking but I thought it sounded too much like Love Hina :D

"The pantheon was split three ways- the goodly deities under my father, the evil deities under his sister, Tiamat, and a few neutral deities who stood by themselves.

"This war went on for decades, centuries. Tiamat was getting stronger, stealing the power of the deities she killed. Yet she lost her share of allies too. When I was hatched only three deities remained: Tiamet, Tiamat and..." Chel's eyes closed, a flicker of unidentifiable emotion crossing his face, "my mother, Kereska..."

Kereska hummed gently to the nest of nine half-sleeping hatchlings. By the standards of dragon kind she was beautiful with a hide of soft blue-silver. Her eyes were like orbs of pure silver and they glowed, radiating power and wisdom. She was the dragon goddess of magic, once a neutral deity, but now, she smiled, she had nine reasons to cross over to her mate's side.

Her mate was entering the room now, his heads lowered and his tail dragging on the jewelled floor of his lair.

The war was taking its toll on Tiamet. Once the beauty of the treasure that made up his palace would have only been outshone by the lustre of the dragon god's jewel-like eyes and metallic scales. Now his armoured skin was covered in blood and scratches and his eyes were dull and lifeless.

"Lendys is dead," the god sighed and lay on the nearest mound of coins, placing his central head on his paws.

"I felt his death," Kereska looked down sadly, the dragon god of balance and justice had been a strong ally, "Tiamat did it?"

"She did. Lendys wanted revenge for his lover's death, so he went to Tiamat's realm. Tamara's death drove him mad in the end I fear," he growled, "That bitch has grown so much stronger lately, she shouldn't have been able to defeat Lendys so quickly. He was worth ten of her!" Lendys was an old friend of Tiamet and his death made rage build deep within his chest.

"We should be thankful that there are not ten of her," when her humour failed to bring light to the other deity's eyes Kereska looked down into the hatchling's nest.

Tiamet joined her and his eyes shone with parental pride as he looked at his hatchlings, six sons and three daughters. One opened his eyes briefly, just showing a slit of blue-green before closing both orbs.

"I fear for them, my love."

"That they should be hatched in this era of war," Tiamet wrapped a wing protectively around his mate, "It does not seem fair."

Time passed.

Kereska was once again sitting in Tiamet's lair, her hatchlings roaming around the room and amongst the treasure in play. Her mate was busy, calming a power struggle within his church on Troil.

A heavy footstep sounded outside the room and she looked up to see a five-headed shadow fall across the floor. Happy that her mate had returned she leisurely stood and turned to greet him.

Massive spars of ice hit her, piercing a wing and a foot, driving deep into her flesh. She screamed, melting the ice with a single word. She looked up to see something so alike her mate but so different.

Five heads writhed in the air, each whispering snatches of words or hissing steadily. Venom and drool dripped from each mouth. The blood of many deities stained her claws and horns. A multitude of barbs and hooks decorated her formidable armour. A wyvern spike was on the end of her tail. This was Tiamat, sister and enemy of Tiamet.

Kereska immediently spoke her own spell. Huge arrows, seemingly made of light arced away from her and into Tiamat's body. The evil deity, however was seemingly not effected by the spell and pounced.

The two goddesses bit and clawed at each other. Though Tiamat was the stronger, Kereska fought to protect her hatchlings and nothing was more dangerous than a mother dragon.

As Kereska bit down into the flesh of the other dragoness she caught a sight of a tiny face peering out from behind a golden statue.

"Run!" she screamed, and as one her children began fleeing for the open door... which slammed closed before them.

Kereska was flung over the other deity, heedless of the flesh that she tore from Tiamat's body in the process. Magic pinned here limbs and head to the wall, holding her fast.

The evil deity made another gesture and one of the hatchlings was dragged to her feet, the little dragon digging his claws into the floor, trying to delay the inevitable. Tiamat took the tiny thing in her claws, bringing her face close and cooing in a parody of a loving mother. The goddess of magic struggled violently against her bonds, trying to reach her child.

"Don't do that little goddess," Tiamat swayed, rocking eerily on her heels, "We have plenty of time. There are more of them after all."

The screams of a deity and of hatchlings echoed across Mercuria.

But nothing was so terrible as what was happening one of the dark shadowy corners of the lair. Thrown there was a tiny body, bleeding through the huge wound in his back. Though a wound like that would have killed a godling, some spark kept the little heart beating, kept the little hatchling living.

However, he heard everything. The deaths of his mother and siblings were neither quick nor painless and he could not block out the sights or the sounds.

For hours, lying broken and bleeding on the floor, he watched it, unable to move or turn away.

Even after Tiamat left the grisly and bloody scene the images and sounds kept moving through his head. The young and fragile mind of Chelevva Pendragon was broken.