„And you really use those to fly through the sky? Astonishing!"

"Over the clouds. Some of them even fly into space if you really want to know it."

"Pah, don't make me laugh! No human would ever be smart enough to make up something that hasn't been invented by Asura yet."

I sighed and shifted my weight on the table. Zojja had bolstered the top after my last accident so it would be able to easily hold my weight now, and thus it could remain my favorite place whenever I got to visit Zojja in her lab. Even though it injured my pride a bit that even a stone slab had succumbed to my weight… I really had to have heavy bones for Asura standards. Yes, that had to be the reason. There was no other explanation, was it?

At least Zojja had put away the destroyer body parts, and now they could happily swim around inside their preservative glasses, in a separate stock so I didn't have to watch them all the time.

I thought about the technique back in my home with nostalgia. Air-conditioned cars, mobile phones, music wherever I wanted… "Oh, aunty. I wish I could take you home with me. You would like it there, I'm sure of it! And you would be surprised what humans can be capable of."

Zojja turned her eyes from the monitor skeptically and eyed me from head to toes as if I had gone mad and had just escaped the asylum. "Of course."

Without pausing, her fingers flew over the display, arranged data and formulated calculations, but I had long stopped trying to understand her work. I let my legs dangle instead and admired her dexterity.

"Let's assume you could be right in the slightest to a low percentage with what you said. Why would you give such a genius invention a primitive title like Air Plane? I'm sure even a second year old will find more creative terms for an airship! And you want to make me believe that your humans can create machines that can advance into space? Obviously you've hit your head harder than I originally assumed."

"Well. You'll probably never find out the truth… How do you manage to talk to me and still don't lose your train of thought after all with what you do there?"

For a short moment I could see the corners of her mouth turn up so I was almost sure she was smiling. "I'm a genius of Multitasking. Your own words."

Suddenly my body went hot and cold simultaneously. I stared at Zojja with open mouth, causing her to pause her work for a moment and probably considering how she could get me out of her lab best if I was about to lose my mind.

"Zojja… where do you know that word from? Multitasking?"

Now she definitely had to think I was insane. With a quick move, Zojja paused the programs on her monitor and faced me, her arms rested on her hips. "My dear, a genius like me should be able to have all existing terms in their vocabulary that a small-brain like you can use, don't you think?"

I shook my head, overwhelmed by the thoughts that were suddenly running through my head.

"No! I mean, yeah… of course, yes. But still you know its meaning! Where from?"

"Take a deep breath. I can't use one more hyperventilating Asura inside my lab. It's almost a shame to admit that I got it from a Charr who has crossed my ways before. I'm more surprised that you have such a well-marked vocabulary."

The weird feeling inside my stomach got stronger and I wildly brandished my arms in front of my face while I tried to explain it to Zojja.

"No, no! You don't understand, Zojja. You should be the one who shouldn't be able to know the meaning of this term at all!"

Anger started to spread on Zojjas face. I could as well have just called her dumb, and her mouth was already opening, most likely to instantly throw me out of the lab, but I didn't let that happen.

"I didn't mean it like that. You shouldn't know this term because it is a term that shouldn't be known on this continent at all, because it originates from a language that doesn't even exist in this world! Do you understand now what I'm talking about? This is my language. From my world!"

Zojja stood before me with disbelief and I could almost hear her brain working on maximum power. "You mean… that means… and you're really sure about that?"

I nodded impatiently. "Zojja. Please tell me that you can remember who that Charr was! Please! If it's really what I think it is, then they're like me. Maybe they know a way to get back! Maybe they can help me!"

A weird kind of emotion returned to her eyes again. "You honestly don't expect from me that I remember every oh so petty face that has ever crossed my way in my entire life! But you're lucky this time, because I do remember this Charr. Maybe it's because he would've tried to eat me if I didn't stuff his stinking mouth with my scepter beforehand."

She scratched her ear and shook her head. "Honestly, if this Charr is supposed to be a human from your world, then I actually can't understand why in Snaff's name you want to return to that place." With a feint sound she reactivated the display of her console and returned to sort her data with quick movements.

"Don't judge a world only after meeting two single inhabitants of it."

"It is a world full of humans and with no magic. I don't need any more specimen to get an idea of how it is."

I took a deep breath. The conversation was starting to get demanding, but at least I was about to get a seizable hint of how I could possibly return home. "Okay, well. We all are dumb humans on an even more dumb planet and everything without magic sucks. Understood. Still, could you finally tell me the name of this oh so stupid Charr please?"

"Asckar Ironclaw. You'll find him in the Black Citadel if you're lucky. But don't raise too many hopes… This huge cat didn't seem to be the most intelligent creature for sue. And I don't believe that someone like that is able to open a portal into another world… Besides the whole incident happened five years ago, thus I can't guarantee for anything. Maybe he's long dead, started to eat himself or something like that…" Or he has long returned to the place he came from.

Zojja didn't say it out loud, but even though she thought it to be unlikely, it still was a possibility. If it really was true and this Charr, Asckar, had come to Tyria some years ago… My hopes almost crumbled to dust at this thought, but for now it wasn't lost completely. I still had a chance.

"Thank you, Zojja. Let's hope for the best."

"You can hope. I will return to a more useful work until then. Report back as soon as you could convince yourself of what I have already told you."

She said her goodbye with a short wave without looking at me, and I jumped down from the table and hurried towards the portal to Rata Sum while bumping into multiple lab assistants who only followed me with vicious eyes. I had to go to the Black Citadel immediately. Every heartbeat that passed by let my hopes vanish, and countless different worst case scenarios rushed through my mind.

Asckar called himself Ironclaw, what meant that he had joined a warband. Of course, after such a long time you had to build some kind of base to live a proper life. But what if he didn't want to go back at all? What if he had accepted his fate already and accommodated to this world? Or if he really was long dead?

No matter what, there were no doubts that Asckar had went through the same as I. And even if I couldn't find this Charr, it still meant that there could definitely be more people like me here! I just had to find them. And someone would be amongst them for sure who was willing to bring me back.

I was deep lost inside my minds so I only recognized Kekk as I heedlessly ran into him head first, tearing us both almost to the ground.

"Hey, long-ear, calm down! Where are you with your thoughts? I was already searching for you because I couldn't find you in the dorms…" Kekk chattered happily while helping me up on my feet again.

I shook my head slightly dazed and stared right into Kekk's expecting different-colored eyes. And then I remembered of course that he had planned to introduce myself to his Krewe today, because of the prototype which basic idea was still inside my head. Restlessly tapping from one foot to another, I glanced over my shoulder again and again towards the portal to Lion's Arch, as if it could disappear any time now if I didn't step through immediately.

"Kekk, I'm sorry, I… I don't have time right now. I urgently have to travel to the Black Citadel, you know? I'd enjoy talking as soon as I'm back, but now-"

Kekk took his hands off my shoulders with surprise. "Oh, what could suddenly be more important? The prototype could change our lives! You could get rich over night and become one of the greatest geniuses in Rata Sum, don't you care about that at all?"

"Right now? I don't. I'm sure my absence won't last long, and yes, that matter in the Citadel is friggin' important for me now! You can still become the greatest genius in Rata Sum tomorrow, but I have the chance to change my life right here and now, do you understand?"

He moved a step aside to make way for me. "Sorry. Didn't want to bother you then; you can say hi when you're back. Can't change your life quickly enough, eh?" He gave me his typical grin and I hurried past him towards the portal. The procedure of waiting and being controlled seemed to be longer than usual to me, and one or another sweat bead was running down my forehead as I finally stepped through the portal to Lion's Arch. Without noticing the charm of the city I bolted directly towards the portal that would lead to Ascalon, but the portal guard – fat and reeking of sweat – stopped me.

"Where to?" He grunted seemingly bored and chewed on something that didn't look delicious and smelled even more bad.

"Black Citadel, obviously." I rolled my eyes impatiently and held my hand with the tag in it out towards the Charr. Why couldn't he just let me through?

"Why?"

I almost wished I'd have taken my hammer with me so I could clobber it down on this Charr's head. But I had left in such a hurry without taking a last look into my room and now had to pay the price.

"To… visit someone. Can I pass now, please?"

This answer seemed to be pleasing enough, and way too slow the Charr examined my tag and waved me through the portal. Finally.

I had never been to Ascalon before, not to mention the capital city of the Charr, and thus I was slightly overwhelmed while descending the ramp. The air was hot, sticky and filled with the scents of metal and way too many cats on one spot. It was dirty and loud, and besides there was the fact that I just felt tiny in between so many Charr. Even their cubs were taller than me already, and there was more than one curious look pointed towards me as I made my way over the bridge towards the Citadel.

Slowly I realized how imprudent my plan had been. I was searching for a Charr of whom I knew nothing but his name, on a place that was completely foreign and disgusting to me. How should I proceed? Just ask random people if they knew someone called Asckar Ironclaw?

There was no better idea coming to my mind. I'd have to search for the Iron-Warband first, and as soon as I managed to do that, the rest should be easy. At least I hoped.

As a result I found myself running through the metal buildings where rattling and cracking noises came from every corner, passing Charr that were training each other or testing new kinds of weapons that could have been able to blow away a whole village, and had a hard time trying not to get trampled on. The dirt in the air stuck on my sweating skin and strands of hair loosened themselves from the braid all the time, causing me to get more and more restless.

I had talked to multiple Charr already, but none of them had been able to help me. Most of them had only growled and ignored me, and some few had been willing to help, but none of them knew where the Iron-Warband was stationed at this time or who else belonged to it. Just at the moment I had taken seat on one of the walls to catch my breath as someone behind me called my name. I recognized the voice without seeing the face that belonged to it – and immediately wished I had never come here. Because this scratching, cold voice causing shudders to roll over my back again, belonged to no one else but Aidan's scary Charr-friend Arrhakesh.

Slowly I turned my head and watched how Kesh heavily sat down on the wall next to me. She wore black trousers and a plain shirt today as well, though there was no creepy bone-decoration this time. Her hair was braided into multiple braids and hung loosely down the left side of her face so they hid most parts of the scarred flesh.

With every tiny movement, beads dangled in her braids as she eyed me with curiosity and while her split tongue wandered from one corner of the mouth to the other.

"What do you say, it's the small rat that belongs to Baersson! What does the mousie have to do inside the Citadel? Did it get lost?"

Nondescript as possibly I shifted a bit away from her. Maybe it wasn't that bad at all that I met Arrhakesh here now, since I had hopes she would be more willing to help me than the other Charr.

"Not quite. I wanted… to take a look at the other main cities, that's all."

Arrhakesh leaned back and sniffed the air with obvious joy. "Wonderful here, isn't it? The Citadel is a masterpiece for all your senses! Only the scents of it!"

I sneered with disbelief. "Right. Only the scents."

The Charr laughed and shook her mane. "So, little rat. What is the real reason you're here?"

Was it really that easy to look inside my mind? As if she had read my thoughts, Kesh continued: "Come on, please. Such a tiny frightened mouse will never leave its safe nest if it doesn't have to. And city tours through the Citadel are definitely no favorite activities of you rats. You don't even know how to value all this art."

"Maybe you should learn that rats and mice aren't the same." I murmured and regretted it already as the words left my mouth. It would be easy for her to eat me with just a few nibbles if she wanted to, and no one would bother to stop her. It seemed like I truly was the helpless little mouse – and Arrhakesh was the hungry cat when it came to the worst case.

But to my surprise, Kesh shook herself with laughter and gave me a huge grin, without any signs of bloodlust. "Do you think I don't know that, little rat? But it's all part of the same family, so it's okay."

"Actually, Asura are rather related to…"

"Well, well, well! Don't you try to distract from the topic! Why are you here?"

I sighed. Arrhakesh wouldn't let me go before I gave her a somehow satisfying answer, and I could use that for my own advantage as well.

"Alright. I'm searching for someone. But I don't know where to start because the only thing I know about him is his name. Nothing else. You don't know the Iron Warband by chance?"

Arrhakeshs eyes grew big with surprise. "Of course. Who exactly are you searching for?"

"Asckar Ironclaw."

"Asckar…" She shook her head. "It's Asckar Ironclaw you want? You chose your own death, little rat."

I swallowed heavily. It sounded way more threatening coming from Kesh's mouth, but at least that meant Asckar was still alive – and still in Tyria.

"What… what exactly do you mean?"

A dry and rattling laughter escaped Kesh's throat. "There's nobody I know who dislikes you rats more than Asckar. Most Charr already have problems with him, but such a tiny mouse like you? I bet three platinum bars that he has eaten you before you can say a single word."

And there I had assumed Asckar had only tried to eat Zojja because of her annoying personality. Guess I had been wrong with that…

"But you seem to get along with him quite good, right?" Kesh nodded.

"How comes that if he has such a problematic personality?"

She snorted. "Why do you rats always have so many questions… I'm not quite normal too if you haven't noticed already. Asckar gets along better with those who are likely weird and outcasts like him."

The only difference being that you are just an insane necromancer, while he comes from a completely different world. What do you call alike here? At that point I had developed a good idea of what to say out loud and what not, and this was definitely something I would keep for myself.

I took a deep breath and scraped my feet over the stone we sat on. Then I looked Kesh deep in the eyes and ignored the shudders running down my spine.

"There is no other way. I need to talk to this Asckar – alone."

Arrhakesh exhaled a long sigh and got up from the wall. "Alright then, mousie. It was nice to meet you, and I mean it. I can get you to him, but I won't dispose your corpse afterwards. Unless…" she paused for a moment and I saw her eyes gleam. "Unless you allow me to experiment a little… As soon as Asckar is done with you?"

"Of course not!" I panted in disgust and shook myself at the thought of Kesh abusing me for one of those ugly and terrifying bone minions as soon as I was dead. Why did I still stick around that Charr at all?

"What a pity. Follow me then."

I didn't watch my surroundings that much while I followed Arrhakesh through the streets of the Black Citadel, though I kept my security distance. The thoughts about what was to come didn't make me feel comfortable at all, and as Kesh eventually lead me into the ruins of Rin, the dull feeling inside my stomach didn't get better. But what had I expected in the first place? That a sociopathic Charr from a different world would reside in the cleanest bars of Tyria and not in some abandoned and dark place?

Kesh purposefully lead me to a bigger ruin that seemed to once have been a huge and famous temple of the humans, but now there was only a group of murky Charr sitting around a fire pit and roasting something over the flames that I hoped was nothing more than overgrown rabbits.

Turning on my heels and running away as long as I was back safe in Rata Sum was the only thing I wanted right now, but my body froze to ice as soon as seven grimly glowing pairs of eyes suddenly focused on me. Like back then in Sparkfly Fen when the Krait had attacked the lab, but this time I would do better. I took a deep breath and looked into the eyes of every single one, and no one had to speak it out loud that visitors were not welcomed here – me fewest of all.

"What do you want?" Growled a Charr with gray flecked fur whose body showed more scars than healthy skin.

Kesh pushed me towards them as if she wanted to say, look, I brought you food. Help yourselves!

"This little rat wants to speak with Asckar."

A murmur went through them all and the looks that still focused me got even sharper. One of the Charr got up and crossed his arms. He had deep black fur with lighter stripes and revealed a very beefy body as he wore nothing but a leathery loincloth. His face was way too wide and his dirty grin gave sight onto a row of disheveled teeth. His horns were twisted in all directions and his likewise black mane towered upon his face in a greasy and matted clump. The only color came from a pair of yellow glowing eyes that faced me with such bloodlust that I already settled my affairs.

But I had come so far, I wouldn't back down now. Thus I took another step towards him, forced my leaden feet to move and stubbornly returned the gaze to the Charr who seemed to be Asckar.

"Hrrrr. The rat shall speak." He snarled and caused the other Charr to repeat his dirty laugh.

I shook my head. "No. Not here. I have to talk to you alone, in private." My voice sounded way more confident than I felt inside, and I was thankful for it.

Asckar rose completely and snarled again, this time louder and more threatening.

"I don't have to do anything, you stinking sewer rat! But I will eat you with pleasure if you don't disappear out of my view right now, and we don't have to be in private for that, I can promise you!"

Swallowing heavily, I stood my ground. No one had to tell me that Asckar would act on his threats if I didn't find a way to arouse his interest soon, and not only the interest of his gustatory nerves. There was only one possibility, and if I had been wrong in the end and Asckar didn't come from my world, I wouldn't survive the next dawn. But I had to try it.

"Google."

Eight completely confused pairs of eyes stared at me now, but if I read Asckars face right, I had completely hit the bull's eye. I could almost see the rattling and heavy working inside of Asckar's head until his eyes finally widened in a moment of recognition.

Everyone else would have found a more fitting term for sure to describe my home, but even though it definitely was a silly thing to do, it had worked. Asckar shifted his weight to all fours and made a jump towards me so I could feel his hot and stinking breath on my skin.

"Follow me. Now." He snarled and ran towards a group of ruins, not seeming to care at all if I followed him or not. I exhaled a long sigh, relieved to not have been eaten immediately, and threw a last look at Kesh before following Asckar's shadow almost disappearing between the ruins.

Split feelings filled me as he finally came to a stand, as we definitely were far away enough from the others to talk in private, but on the other side that meant no one was there to help me if anything went wrong.

As inconspicuous as possible I hid my shaking hands behind my back and leant against the cold stone of the debris to get some footing.

Asckar was running up and down in front of me, throwing evil glances towards me now and then. Now or never.

"You're exactly like me, aren't you?"

Asckar paused and rose. "What do you want from me!?"

"How long have you been here?"

He growled. "Way too long. Years. And just as I seem to accept my inevitable fate, there comes a measly rat and brings it all back! You better have a damn good reason to do that, pest!"

"Do you know why you got here?"

"Do you?"

I shook my head. "No clue. I've come here two weeks ago, and I thought you might have a plan how to get back…"

The Charr let out a scream and suddenly swooped down on me before I could even react. Faster than I could realize, Asckar had pinned me high onto the wall with his claw and held me that way so I had difficulties to breathe. I struggled helplessly with my feet and tried to open the grip of his talons, but in vain.

"Two weeks! Two damned weeks! You pathetic pest, do you even have the slightest idea what it means to be stuck in here for several years!? To suddenly wake up inside the body of a stinking huge cat in a shitty world like this, without any clue how things stand here!? It took me years to get used to it, to understand all this and to find a somewhat good place for me! Do you really think I would still be here if I knew a way to get back? Damn it, I would kill! I would exterminate the whole friggin world if it would bring me back. And now you are here, you little pest, without any idea of what it means to be stuck in here for so long, and you dare to bring it all back into my mind. Do you know how they treat Charr that have fallen on their head so hard that they don't even remember what Tyria is? What Charr are? No? Then let me tell you, the answer is not nice at all. And believe me one thing. If I ever find a way back, then I will kill every single one who ever dared to kick my ass before I leave. Starting with you!"

The rotten smell coming from Asckar's mouth almost suffocated me and there was no air left through the tight grip of his claws, and slowly driven by panic I borrowed my nails into his fur, though it didn't seem to bother him at all. My sight blurred slowly and the noises around me merged to a loud rush. I had raised all the long buried memories inside Asckar back to the surface and now he was making good on his threat to kill me. If only I had been smart enough to listen to all the warnings, but of course I hadn't done that. Now I was going to pay the price for it.

Shortly before it all went black around me, the grip suddenly loosened and I slowly slid down on the stone wall, gasping for air. My lungs burnt like fire and with tears blocking my sight I could make out Kesh who stood in front of me with crossed arms and said something to Asckar, but the noise in my ear made it impossible for me to understand.

But whatever she said, it had let Asckar to leave me alive. He snarled one last thing though I only understood "… you will be first, sewer rat!", then turned around and scurried past Kesh on his fours so fast he almost tore her down to the ground.

Unimpressed from his move, Kesh bent down before me and examined me closely. I blinked a few times and wiped away the tears from my eyes when a hard coughing attack shook my whole body. What would I have given for a tiny bit of water in that moment.

"Huh, you really made that one angry for sure! Told you it wasn't a good idea. But hey, at least you're still breathing. Halfway."

I leant my head against the stone and closed my eyes. Every breath was nothing but pain, my throat hurt and I had managed to get my first deadly foe after nothing more than two weeks. Good job, really.

"Thank you, I guess. If you hadn't been there in time…"

"I have been watching you the whole time, to be honest. Didn't trust you two being alone…. So I followed you. Asckars nose has to be really bad if he didn't sense me from that distance."

"Wait… you have been there the whole time!? Why didn't you help me sooner?"

Arrhakesh scratched the fur behind her ears nervously. "I, well… I was stuck inside a moral dilemma, you know? Do I save you, or do I wait and get what's left from you before it's too late and use it for experimental purposes…"

I shook myself, though I couldn't tell if it was because of disgust or anger. "You're unbelievable! I almost died just mere seconds ago and you had nothing better to do than to ponder if my life is worth less than my dead remains? I really can't understand what Aidan sees in you. That's just disgusting."

Another coughing attack shook me and my eyes filled with tears again. I really should keep my distance from Charr in the future.

Arrhakesh seemed to be honestly hurt now. "That's just the nature of necromancers. We're fascinated by death and it makes us strong. But maybe you're right; friends have way more use when they're still alive… Though I can't learn anything from your body this way. I'm sorry."

She got up and tapped the dust off her fur. But with all the dust hanging in the air here it wouldn't last long until all of Ascalon's dirt would lie down on it again.

"Wait a minute… friends!?" She mentioned eating me and playing around with my soul, and that was what she called friendship?

"Eh, Kesh, I'm not entirely sure if…"

She interrupted me with a wink of her hand. "It's okay. I'm not the best when it comes to things like that, I know." She sighed, stretched out a paw to help me up and grinned. "I hope you're not too disappointed about how it turned out with Asckar in the end."

I rubbed my still aching throat with a chuckle. For a short moment I had really believed that Asckar would end my life now just because I had been too stubborn to listen to others – but here I was, still alive and with new hopes growing.

"No, not at all! It might not have been what I had expected, but I got some answers indeed." And that wasn't even a lie. I now knew for sure that Asckar had gone through the same as I, just a few years ahead of me. And even though he wouldn't be of any help, it still meant that there were others out there, humans just like us. I only had to find and recognize them and call their attention, and then there would be a way to finally go home.

We walked back to the city together. On our way we passed the camp of Asckar's gang, but it was empty by now and the fire was slowly dying. Asckar and his people had probably moved to another place to make some trouble and to eat the rabbits (which hopefully were nothing but rabbits). It was noon already, and I couldn't show up at Elynnja's as dirty and full of sweat as I was. Therefore and because I didn't want to spend a single minute more in this place, I declined Arrhakesh's invitation to stay at her home for a little chat. But Kesh at least insisted to accompany me to the portal, and on her way I finally asked her the question that had come into my mind earlier.

"Kesh?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you a member of a Warband?"

She laughed her dry and rattling laugh. "I have been, not that long ago. But they threw me out because I used the dead bodies of our comrades to call my minions."

"Ouch."

She shuffled along next to me, shrugging her shoulders. "What am I supposed to say… we needed minions to win the fight. And there were no other materials available. But most of the Charr seem to dislike the fact that they're nothing more than materials when they're dead."

"That's not only a Charr-thing, believe me. But I would have assumed if someone was ruthless, than it had to be the Charr…. I mean, your main city, built on top of the ruins of a once quite important human kingdom? I call that a lovely statement."

And the Charr bragged around after all with the fact that they now ruled over the land that had once been inhabited by humans. I wondered if the conflicts between Charr and humans would ever be put down if they went on like this.

"Pah! Humans smell bad and they're weak. You Asura are similar, but at least you have something inside of your heads. Aidan doesn't have much brain, but he's strong. Humans don't have anything of that. They're just worth filling your stomach. Or to rot, depending on whom you get. Hey, now that we talk about it… How many times would an Asura be able to eat from a human until the body is completely eaten up – or rotten?"

I quickly shooed the image out of my mind that had been caused by her words. Wouldn't that make a cannibal out of me, eating a human?

"Gross! Can we please change the subject?"

"I'm sorry. But you understand what I'm pointing at? Norn are strong. Asura are smart. Charr are the best. And humans are just weak."

Thank you very much.

Though she was not wrong with everything she said if I was honest. Norn were known for their strength and Asura for their knowledge. Charr were rather known for their ruthlessness, though I would never say that out loud next to Arrhakesh. Humans had nothing of that. There were smart ones, there were strong ones, but I couldn't find a feature that applied to the whole race no matter how hard I tried. Not even their exquisite taste that Kesh seemed to find in them.

"What about Sylvari? You didn't pay any attention to them on your list."

Arrhakesh weirdly looked at me. "Those plants are strange. Can't really estimate them yet, but until some years ago there was one who seemed to apprentice to Asagai. I didn't see her that often, but I'm sure she is not completely sound. She disappeared at some point, and I never heard from her again."

Again there was the bad feeling inside of me that I had already felt back in the Grove as I had talked to Nahraija about a similar topic. It had been the same Sylvari we had talked about, I knew that.

"Scarlet…" The name appeared out of nothing, without any context. It had something to do with that Sylvari, I knew that, but as soon as I tried to think more about it, the memories fled into impalpable distance.

Kesh shook her head. "No… no, I don't think this was her name."

But I knew it better. Ceara… Scarlet… The same person. She was dangerous. But why? It had something to do with the jungle dragon. I saw a blurred picture of Trahearne, shackled in tendrils, but as soon as I tried to dig deeper into the memory, an infernal pain blasted my skull and I held my head with a moan until the pain died down a bit.

"Everything alright with you?" Kesh had stopped some feet away and had realized I wasn't following her any longer. She bent down to me with worry and laid her paw upon my shoulder. Why was there such an invisible wall whenever I tried to remember?

The thought didn't leave me be, not even as I laid back into my hammock after taking a shower and changing the clothes. I let the day pass by again while I slowly let the hammock rock from side to side.

How did I know that Mordremoth was the next dragon to rise? Where did the bad feeling come from whenever someone was talking about Scarlet?

It was as if someone or something didn't want me to remember. Should I resign or should I fight against it and get back the memories that were denied from me?

I didn't know the answer, but one thing was sure. While Zhaitan had been slain, Tyria was long from getting its well deserved rest.