Fall of the East

by Exodus9

Co-written by three authors, Exodus9, Talon the Dragon, and Kauzul. Fall of the East follows the story of the last Eastern Dragons who are trying to find their way in the world, which wants them all dead. Along the way they meet new friends and enemies, and their journey will one day take them to face Alto, the destroyer of Aeon and, if he has his way, the world.

7. Chapter 7

Fall of the East: Chapter Seven

Over the next few days, Reya tried her best to start a new life in the quiet town of Ridgewood, using the money they had left, she managed to get a place for them to stay in the inn until they had enough to buy their own place. "We can't steal anymore, it was alright to do that in the city, but here, they will know we did it, and we don't want to draw attention to ourselves, particularly when Crow is in such a delicate state..." said Reya one day, and it was true. While the three of them were out looking for work, Crow's health was not faring very well. He had gone almost catatonic after he had learned that both Rem and Phobius had left him behind and nothing the twins or Reya said could cheer him up. He suffered from a fever, and would make little effort to do anything at all. Lee hardly left his side and tried his best to nurse him back to health, but it all seemed rather bleak, and they were quickly running out of money. At last, after a week, Reya finally found a job working at one of the blacksmiths, while Ty had managed to secure a place for both him and his brother as labourers at the mill near the edge of town. It was tiring work, and every day Reya and one of the twins would come back to their place and crash, exhausted. But the pay was good, particularly for Reya, and with their pooled funds they managed to buy a small flat for themselves in one of the larger buildings. It was noisy and rather small for four growing teens, but it was better than anywhere they had lived before.

One night, after Reya had returned from work, she flopped down onto one of the main cushions in the central room, before looking over towards Ty and Lee, who were eating dinner. "Well, I've done it, Kadar finally made me his apprentice!" she said with a huge grin.

"It's about time! You've been working for him for what? Almost a month now?" laughed Lee as he ripped off a piece of meat from the bone he was chewing on. Reya nodded and sat up "He's going to teach me everything there is to know about blacksmithing, one day, I'll be able to open up my own shop!" she said excitedly, but lowered her voice as Crow began to cough in the other room and all three of them hung their heads slightly. "We've got to do something; he's gotten a lot worse over the past few days" said Ty quietly, gesturing towards the door.

"It's been four weeks... I hate to see him like this, it's like he's wasting away…" and Lee clenched his paw together in anger, none of them could stand seeing Crow so near to deaths door, some days, the young dragon would get up and walk around as if he was fine, but then he would just have a relapse, and things would be worse than they were before. Reya and Ty nodded silently, they hadn't risked taking him to a healers before now, but what choice did they have? "I'll take him." said Ty suddenly and got to his feet. "We've made more than enough money to pay for a healer, Luna would be a good choice, she doesn't ask any questions, and doesn't ask for much." Reya bit her lip and looked over towards the door again. "You don't think that this...illness was caused by...you know…" she whispered, and Lee shook his head firmly "No way, that can't be it, he's endured far worse than that, and pulled through. Remember when he caught the plague in Warfang three months ago? He shook it off without a problem! Most kids die from the plague, but not him. If he can survive that, he can survive anything! He just needs a healer, that's all." he said firmly while Ty collected some coins from their store. Reya got to her feet and walked over towards the window "It's just that...his wound still hasn't healed yet, I keep changing the bandages but nothing seems to work! It's like...like he's cursed or something." she said quietly and Lee got up and walked over to her, placing a paw on her shoulder. "Listen to me" he said quietly and looked into her eyes "We did what we had to do to save him from the Guardians, don't blame yourself for this." he said seriously and after whipping a tear away Reya nodded, but she still felt the guilt within her heart. "Alright, I'm ready to go, Lee, could you give me a hand?" asked Ty as he opened the door to Crow's room. Inside, the curtains had been drawn shut, and Crow lay still on his bed, gazing up towards the ceiling. His breath rasped quietly as Lee and Ty walked over to him "Crow? Are you awake?" asked Lee quietly and smiled slightly as the dragon nodded. "We've decided to take you to a healer, alright? You'll be safe there, don't worry." said Ty encouragingly and the twins helped Crow up. Once he was on his feet, Crow shuddered slightly and had to lean heavily on Lee for help. Together, the twins escorted Crow out into the street below and towards the healer. Luna, an adult Ice Dragon, sat outside smoking a pipe on her front porch, but quickly put it out when she spotted the twins. "Who's this, a traveller?" she asked in a husky voice, her pale blue eyes examining Crow carefully. "No Luna, he's a friend of ours, but he's been ill ever since we arrived here, his condition continues to worsen, and we were hoping you could help." explained Ty and Luna nodded before ushering the twins inside. "Put him down there." said Luna, motioning to one of the beds in the large room. A crackling fire kept the healers home warm and cast a pleasant glow over the varnished wood floors. After gathering a few supplies, Luna approached Crow and started asking him a few questions while Ty waited outside. Lee had to go to the evening shift, but he promised to stop by on his way home. After a while, Luna joined Ty on the porch and took out her pipe again. "Well, how is he?" asked the Anthro-Wolf nervously and Luna sighed, blowing a smoke ring out into the evening light. "He's suffering from blood poisoning, probably from the wound on his shoulder." she said glancing towards Ty, whose expression was pure shock. "That can't be right, we've been-" he was cut off as Luna waved her paw around in exasperation "Whatever you've been doing it obviously hasn't helped!" she said, puffing on her pipe resolutely before continuing "The wound festered shortly after it was inflicted on the boy, probably from some sort of unclean metal. The point is, this is beyond my skill to heal, he needs medicine from Warfang-" It was Ty's turn to interrupt her "WHAT? You can't mean that, are you sure you don't have the supplies to cure him?" asked the wolf, his eyes wide, but Luna shook her head. "You can't stock for an illness as serious as this. He needs magic, a healer from the academy, or from their central hospital will be able to help him, but you need to take him there as soon as possible...if you had gotten him here sooner, I might have been able to do something, but it's too late for that, boy." sighed the Ice Dragon and walked back inside leaving Ty on the porch, staring into space as smoke weaved its way through the air.

The East: Ruins of Aeon

Rem sat in his old, abandoned home as he had done for the past month or so. The fire dragon had returned with the hopes of finding some of his own nationality, but coming up short on his dreams. The destroyed city of Aeon had been completely abandoned by the dragons and Anthro's that used to live there and now was a ghost town, a shadow of its former glory. Rem's head shot up as he suddenly remembered that terrible night. The fires raged around his home and the smoke was thick in the air. He saw his mother run into her room and move a bookshelf to hide something before grabbing him and running out of the house. As he entered the bedroom, he walked over to the charred bookshelf, his foot breaking the glass of a portrait of him and his family. Moving the broken glass aside and setting the picture respectfully atop the charred bed stand, he turned back to the bookshelf and shoved it aside, grunting as he did so. What he found made him gasp aloud; it was single egg, wrapped in linin. Stooping down, Rem picked the egg up and was amazed to feel that it was still warm. Looking around, at a loss, the Fire Dragon debated about what to do with it. Should he just leave it here? No, how could he, this egg held the last of his kind, the last of his family, he would see no harm come to it. But this husk of a city was no place to raise a newborn, even if it was devoid of dragons who wanted to kill him. No…he would have to go somewhere safe, somewhere out of the way…his thoughts drifted back, as they often did, to the West, where he had left Crow behind. Perhaps he could find him again…With that thought in mind, he took to the skies, and flew back over the ocean, the egg tucked safely away in his satchel.

After what seemed like an eternity sailing over the open sea, he came upon a familiar sight, the mountain range that he had become so familiar with during the days he had spent with Phobius, and the young dragon's heart grew heavy at the thought of his mentor. Where was he now? Where was Crow? Slowing his descent, Rem landed besides the ruins of the estate. It was not much different than his home town, a dead husk, a shadow of what once was. Turning away from it, he began his trek north, and after a day, he arrived at a little town called Ridgewood. Before entering the city, he waved his paw over his shoulder to hide his mark with magic, and then began his search, looking left and right for Crow, the Anthro's or Reya. Subconsciously, the fire dragon placed a paw to his cheek where the female had slapped him.

Ridgewood

As soon as his shift was over, Lee threw down the last bag of flour and bolted out the door, dodging various tools as his employer yelled profanities at him for skipping out early. "Sorry Tayla, I'll be sure to send Ty in early tomorrow!" he called over his shoulder with a grin. "Ya damn layabout! Why don't YOU come in early tomorrow?" shouted the adult Anthro wolf from the mills entrance and placed a paw on her hip in fury as Lee rushed away. "What on earth has gotten that boy in such a rush?" she muttered before heading inside to lock up. Meanwhile, Lee was running full out through the village, and practically slammed into a fire dragon on his way to the healers. "Sorry!" he yelled but didn't stop to make a proper apology. As he approached Luna's house, he skidded to a halt as Ty leapt over the railing and ran up to him. "What, what is it? What did Luna find out?" he asked, placing his paw over his chest as he tried to catch his breath. Ty crossed his arms and gave him a look before speaking "It's worse than we thought, Crow has blood poisoning, he needs a healer from the city, no less than a magician from the academy or the main hospital." he said urgently, his voice low. "What?" gasped Lee and the two walked back to the porch together "But, doesn't Luna have anything that could help?" he asked as he peered inside, Luna was bent over Crows shoulder and stitching to wounds together while Ty shook his head. "No, he needs magic, and someone who is very skilled with it. We've got to go back to Warfang, and find him a doctor there...Lee...he's running out of time." he whispered and after a moment's hesitation, Lee nodded. "Alright, we've got to tell Reya then, but don't mention the fact that Crow got blood poisoning from the wound in his shoulder, it would tear Reya apart if she knew he was suffering because of our mistake." said Ty as they two walked off and headed towards the Blacksmiths. "Hello? Kadar?" called Lee as the twins walked into the store, the Adult Fire Dragon looked up from the forge and waved to them in greeting "Reya's out back boys!" he yelled over the sound of pounding metal and the wolves waved back in thanks before heading around the shop, where Reya was forging tools and weaponry. At the sight of the twins, she set down the armour she had been working on and took off her goggles. "What's the news from Luna?" she asked, whipping the soot off her scales. As the twins explained the situation, her eyes narrowed and she nodded. "Alright then, I'll take him." she said, crossing her arms. "Reya, no. You have a job here, I should go, Ty could take my shift in my absence." offered Lee while Ty scowled at the prospect. "No, if Crow is in such a state, he needs to get there as soon as possible, and I can fly him there." Reya insisted and after she made it clear that she wasn't about to budge, the twins gave in. "Fine, alright. But, promise us that you'll be careful. It's been a while, but who knows how dangerous Warfang might be for you, and Crow." said Lee as Reya packed her tools away. "Kadar! Is it alright if I take the next few days off? I need to escort a friend to the hospital in Warfang." explained Reya, and the Fire Dragon nodded after some consideration. "Alright, but be sure to come back as soon as possible, we still need to finish the equipment that Tayla ordered." he said gruffly before getting back to work. "Thank you!" said Reya before walking outside, the twin's right behind her.

Rem huffed as the Anthro wolf crashed into him and rushed to make sure the egg was alright. The fire dragon froze for a moment and turned to see the wolf running off. That is one of them! Rem rushed after the Anthro, but stood back a bit and listened as one of the twins talked about Crow having blood poisoning. After the wolves left, he slowly made his way inside and stood at the door respectfully. Luna looked up from Crow's wound as she finished stitching it and glanced towards him "Shops closed, come back tomorrow." She said gruffly and quickly tied a bandage around the child's shoulder. "I'm not here for that…I wish to speak with that dragon there…" said Rem quietly, his eyes fixed on Crow. He couldn't believe he was seeing him again; it was almost as if the young fear dragon was frozen in time, nothing had changed about his appearance, and Rem slowly approached him and sat down beside him. Luna gave raised an eyebrow at him but then shrugged and went back to her desk, lighting up her pipe and quietly scribbling away in her books. The fire dragon looked down at Crow, who's eyes were staring up to the ceiling, clouded and unseeing, and took his paw, before quietly explaining why he had to leave, not knowing if his friend could hear him or not.

Crow could vaguely determine that someone was nearby; talking to him, but everything seemed to move in a haze, surrounded by horrific creatures that had seemed to swim in the air around him, tormenting him in his dreams, and before his waking eyes. He grimaced and tried to move, but his arms felt like lead. Crow had been trying so hard to fight off this pestilence, but as the days had gone by, his will had weakened significantly. It was strange though, the presence of this dragon seemed somewhat familiar, but he just couldn't place it. "Who are you? And what are you doing here?" snapped Reya as she walked inside and the twins growled ferociously as they spotted the newcomer in the healers home. Luna got up from her desk and held up her paws "Calm down you three, this dragon explained to me that he was a friend of Crows, and I saw no harm in letting him in." she explained and Reya's eyes widened in realization. "Rem?" she said quietly "Is that you?"

Rem nodded slowly before looking over towards her, she had changed, over the month since last he had seen her, no longer the child she had appeared to be when they first met. "What happened to him? I gleaned some information from them earlier but I would like to know the full extent of his condition." He said quietly.

Reya walked carefully over to Crow and placed a paw on his shoulder, her eyes narrowed in suspicion while Ty and Lee stood at the doorway. "The wound that he received in Warfang never fully healed, and he now has blood poisoning. I am going to take him back to the city and get him into a hospital." She said shortly, unwilling to divulge any more information. "But you didn't answer my question before, what are you doing back here? I thought you were going back to the East?"

Warfang

Korasi sat in a tree in a park within the city of Warfang, she has been searching for the past few weeks for the two dragons that Alto wanted but whatever she did or how long she looked she was unable to find them.

She snorted in frustration. How could two dragons that she could have been following for so long just simply disappear? Perhaps they have already been executed; and there was also the possibility that they left the city.

She rolled onto her back and looked up letting a thick arched tree branch supporting her weight. She needed leads, she has heard about 'The Demon' from civilians gossiping but honestly she could not figure out who or what 'The Demon' was. After all, the city had experienced multiple disasters about a month ago, it could mean anything.

Korasi heard some footsteps from a dragon, no, there was two sets of footsteps that could be heard.

"You can't be serious." One of the voices said.

"I'm quite sure it is true." Said another voice "We have been searching the estate for a month now, you even burned it down, there is no clues or traces of where they could have possibly went!"

The more the conversation continued the louder it got, Korasi turned over on her belly once more and she looked down from the tree to see who was approaching and who were discussing such an interesting conversation.

Peeking through the leaves, a white dragon accompanied by a red dragon, obviously elders came into view.

"Oh, it's the guardians." Korasi thought to herself as her eyes tracked onto the passing guardians.

"If the security force claims they can't find anything in that estate after a month, they have the right to call off the investigation…" The white dragon said as they passed the tree.

Unfortunately the two dragons went out of earshot. It did not matter, Korasi had heard enough.

"Estate? Korasi asked herself puzzled. Something like that would probably be located near the outskirts of the city, or somewhere in the high end district…but they had mentioned a forest…just who had been living there? Well, whoever they were, they may have just been harbouring the Eastern dragons, a wealthy, upstanding member of society would arouse less suspicion, and a conveniently placed house outside the city would make the perfect hiding place for a refugee, at least it was worth checking out.

Within the next hour she was flying around the outskirts of Warfang to search for a possible house.

"Ruin." She corrected herself. Korasi was about to give up as the sun began to set but with the last rays of sunlight of the day, she spotted the burnt out estate a few meters away from the tree line.

It smelled like blood, stone and mostly ash. This had to be the place. She touched down on top of a tree a few meters away and scouted to make sure no guard were nearby. She noticed a platoon of creatures moving away from the ruins two hills over.

Confident that no one was there, Korasi leapt from the tree top and landed silently and approached the fallen structure. Concrete has been cracked, wooden shards and planks burnt and scattered and gravity has let everything fall tightly to the ground. The metallic scent of dried blood caught her attention again, blood usually means a trail. Korasi went into the forest and found what she was looking for, a rusted door, hanging off its hinges. Beyond it was a collapsed tunnel, no doubt the refugees escaped from here. In the clearing beyond, her twitching nose confirmed that this was the source of the blood. It had been spilt on the base of a tree, and had almost been washed away, she kneelt down into the grass and spotted tracks, and grinned. They led north.

Korasi stood still and pouted, deciding what to do next. Report back to Alto or follow the trail?

After a fair amount of consideration, she decided to follow the trail north. She has been away from Alto for two weeks now; he can wait a few more days at least.

After a few hours of travelling and tracking, she found herself a several hundred meters away from a village. Smoke and torches showed a working society was indeed functioning. Korasi began to trot the rest of the way; she was thinking of whether she should hide her mark or let it be seen. Warfang wasn't too far away and this civilization might be an ally of the city as well, best to keep it hidden just in case.

She took a scented ink from a saddle satchel she brought with her and rubbed some of the liquid to cover the mark on her left shoulder. She decided to place her Claws in the satchel as well.

The sky was clear and the moon was high in the air. The moonlight gave a generous blue tinged white light as she approached the village's entrance and soon two of those two-legged creatures came out of the nearest house with halberds at the ready.

"Night shift guards, always there to protect their homes at night." Korasi thought to herself.

"Halt!" One of the wolf-like creature exclaimed.

Korasi tried to recall the names of these creatures; she heard it while eavesdropping the small group of thieves once.

"Anthro's was it?" Korasi thought.

"What is your business here?" Asked the second guard when he blocked the dragoness's path.

"I'm here to rest from travelling, I have come because of.. an invitation from some of my friends sent me a few weeks ago." Korasi lied talking in a smooth innocent tone. "I'm not sure if this is the right place however, have you received any new civilians lately?"

The guards became more passive at the voice of Korasi, she had a talent for smooth talking, though she didn't think it was because of her tone but because her explanation seemed fairly reasonable.

"You may rest in a nearby inn but before I may continue let me say that we are on the lookout for a some dragons that are very dangerous as of two months ago, therefore please excuse our aggressiveness." One of the guards told her.

Korasi blinked innocently as she waited for the guard to answer the rest of her questions. She noticed the second guard eyeing and scanning his partner strangely which caused Korasi to assume a thought that she would bring up later.

"As for new civilians of our village, we have a party of four join us a month or so ago. We do not know where they live, so you may need to ask any people around you. Is that all Miss?" The guard concluded.

"Yes, however I like to speak with your partner here for a brief moment in privacy if I may?" Korasi asked.

"Uhh…" The guard said unsure, it was a strange question to ask Korasi admitted. "Sure, I guess?" The guard scratched his head and nodded "Enjoy your stay Miss." Before he retreated into the nearby house.

"You wanted to speak with me in private Miss?" The second guard asked.

"I noticed you looking at your partner." Korasi began.

"Uh. Yes, what about it?" The guard asked nervously.

"You like males." Korasi said.

"You can read my mind!" exclaimed the guard.

"No." Korasi chirped.

"Damn…" The guard said in embarrassment.

Korasi laughed but couldn't help but feel sympathy so she patted him on the shoulder as she walked by. "Good night mister."

She continued to travel into the village and scanned the homes for any activity. Down the path she noticed a door open, two more Anthro's stood in the doorway, but beyond them, Korasi could just make out the figure of two dragons, talking quietly to one another. Her eyes widened when she recognized one of them. It was Rem!

Korasi began to walk a little faster but still pacing herself to approach the building. They did not know her, but maybe she can know them a little better…

"What did you want to talk about in private Rem? About me going back to Warfang?" The dragoness asked when Korasi got into earshot.

"Returning so soon? Interesting…" Korasi thought as she began to approach the two dragons.

Rem sat down and opened his bag slightly and looked around for any eavesdroppers, revealing the egg. "The East is not safe for it. I also returned because there is nothing left. I did not find any other eastern survivors. Alto killed them all, so I came back, for my brother, sister, whatever it may be, and to see Crow again. I didn't get the chance to say goodbye" he said, rather coldly as he placed the cover back over the bag. "And as for you heading to Warfang, I agree with it. But I have to ask of you, please bring him back alive. He is too young to die from a wound like that." he said, fire burning in his eyes, he didn't know who had done such a thing to Crow. The western dragons would often carve out the symbols of the Eastern dragons they killed as trophies during the war, as he had learned from Phobius, and it was considered a great disrespect to the eastern race.

Reya showed no reaction towards his stab at what she had done to Crow, as far as he was concerned, she would take that secret to her grave, and wasn't about to let him goad her into revealing her sins. "You don't have to worry about him anymore, I would lay down my own life to save him, if that's what it took to bring him back alive...there is an inn nearby you could stay, if you are planning to remain in the Ridgewood, but I am leaving with Crow tonight." she said curtly, and led him out to the porch, while motioning to the village inn, The Burning Ember, that rested at the end of the road. However as another dragon approached, she fell silent and walked back inside, nodding to Ty and Lee, who stood guard at the door as Reya helped Crow prepare for their journey.

As Korasi approached the two dragons, the fire dragon looked in her direction. There was no mistake that she was the leader of the thieving group back in Warfang, the one that Rem's friend had become a part of, for a time. But what was she doing in a place like this? Judging from their conversation, she must have helped the Eastern Dragon escape, and decided to remain with him here, in this small blight of a town. She must be fairly devoted to him to sacrifice so much for the Eastern Dragon, it reminded her slightly of when Alto saved her, but she dismissed the thought almost immediately and continued walking leisurely down the road towards the inn the thief was directing Rem towards. She could hear Rem give the dragon a quick word of thanks before heading off towards it, while the dragoness turned around and walked back inside. Smiling slightly, Korasi fell in line behind the black scaled dragon as he walked down the road.

"Give him these, for the pain. It's going to get a lot worse over the next couple of days, if he doesn't die first." said Luna smugly inside the house as she handed Reya a small bag of herbs, the young fire dragoness looked at her seriously and took then before nodding in thanks. "Alright Crow, time to go..." she said quietly and picked him up. Over the past four months, she had grown to the proper size for a dragon her age, not quite as large as Rem, but certainty much larger than Crow, who was still very small and malnourished for his age. She tried hard not to think about the pain he was going through, and left the healers home, where Ty and Lee were waiting for her, a small bag of supplies with them. "We went back to the flat to pick these up for you, it's the money you'll need for a doctor, and some food, for the trip." said Lee in a hushed tone while Ty looked at her and Crow with a worried expression. "Thanks guys, I promise we'll both be back soon." she said with emphasis and Lee nodded slightly, although it was clear he had his doubts. Without another word, Reya strolled out into middle of the street and took off, pumping her wings vigorously until she was high in the air, sailing back towards Warfang. It seemed strange to think that she would ever set eyes upon it again, just yesterday; she had honestly believed that Crow would eventually get better, and they would be able to live in peace in Ridgewood. Soon enough, after passing by the ruins of the estate, the sights and smells of Warfang appeared, and Reya altered her course to head straight for the central Warfang hospital, a large building teaming with the injured and the diseased of the city.

Eventually Rem entered the building that was long in length and had a second floor, a large wooden sign swung back and forth, sporting the picture of a fire and the carved words "The Burning Ember" spiraling around it, while chipped pain flaked away from the image. Korasi let Rem rent a room and go upstairs before she entered the inn herself.

The innkeeper eyed Korasi curiously.

"I'm a friend of his, I only need to talk to him for a moment." Korasi said sweetly to him. The innkeeper nodded silently but he tapped a clock to show that she was being timed. Korasi forced a smile and went upstairs and quickly got a glimpse of the room Rem entered. After waiting a minute before knocking on the door, ready to confront the dragon she wanted to kill the most. However it was at that point she realized she had not equipped her weapons, but it was too late, the door swung open, and Rem stood before her, gazing at her with a mix of curiosity, confusion and suspicion. Korasi was stunned, not because she of her last minute thought but because in the light she could actually see Rem a bit more clearly.

He was a lot more muscular than she originally thought. Strange, she swore he was a lot more skinnier but that did not matter at this point, he could easily kill her if he wanted to. Without her second pair of claws, she would be close to useless, she began to regret refusing Alto's close quarters combat, without weapons, training.

"Hello? Are you all right? You look strange." The male dragon asked her. His tone had stress and frustration in it, obviously not in a good mood which does not help Korasi either.

"Uh. Hi." Korasi squeaked unintentionally. She was even surprised at how strange her response came out. "Oh, I'm fine." Korasi forced a laugh. What was she going to do? Her mind began to rush with options. Fighting him now would be futile, it takes a few seconds to equip her claws and she alone can't fight Him. Perhaps learning more about him and his friends can come in handy in the future. Yes, that was it. She would be a spy. She would need to pretend to be his friend, but how to convince?

She looked at his body once more and noticed an odd shimmer around his right shoulder, Korasi's eyes lit up.

"I need to talk to you. About something serious." Korasi said in her still girlish squeak. She coughed and adjusted her throat a little in hope it would fix her predicament.

"About what?" Rem asked he said curtly.

'Serious guy' Korasi thought.

"May I come in first?" Korasi asked, her voice was beginning to go back to normal but not completely.

He stared at her, his gaze made her feel small, though she was physically shorter than Rem, she still felt useless under his stare.

He waited a few seconds before stepping to the side and letting her through.

"Sure." He responded "Please make it quick though."

Korasi padded into the room sheepishly and immediately started to scan the room, looking for something that would fare well as a weapon. A chair is too weak, the wardrobe and bed is probably too heavy, a waste bin shouldn't even be considered and some torches. Torches could have probably worked, if he wasn't a fire dragon. Nothing in the room was eligible to be a weapon. Guess she did have to take the Spy approach.

"What is it that you wanted to discuss about?" Rem asked as he closed the door.

Korasi looked back, his words snapping her out of her train of thought. The hidden emblem on his shoulder was her key to convince him that she would be a… temporary friend.

"Well, what is it?" Rem asked in impatiently. He paused for a second before he quickly added a question "Are you a-"

"No!" Korasi said insulted knowing what he was about to say. "Nothing like that!"

Rem was a little taken back at her response. "Good because I did not want to purchase any of your fancy visitors products."

Korasi stared in confusion for a brief second. "Uh, No I'm nothing...of that sort. Look I'm here to show you something, but first I need to do something. Please do not move."

Korasi headed towards Rem and reached Rem's shoulder and was about to remove the magic around it but Rem grabbed her foreleg and stopped her from pulling it off. She looked up to see Rem eyeing her fiercely.

Korasi rolled her eyes. "You can trust me." She said as she let arm drop, leaving Rem with a rather confused expression.

Korasi turned around and went to a nearby sink and turned it on.

"Look, please." Korasi asked.

She took some of the cold water and splashed it on her left shoulder and began to rub it furiously until the black ink faded revealing her insignia of the Eastern Dragons and leaving Rem to stare at her shoulder in shock.

"You... you're... from the East?" asked the stunned fire dragon. "Did... did you follow me here from the home lands? I didn't see anyone there and I searched for a month!" A wide smile broke out on his face. So he, Crow and his egg were not the last ones! Suddenly, and odd tapping noise echoed through the room, and Rem stiffened, the egg was hatching! Should he ask this dragoness to leave? Korasi craned her head to see the egg behind him and smiled, which made Rem believe she meant no harm towards it and decided to allow her to remain while he walked over to the egg. After a few moments, a small, delicate white ice dragoness sat in his paw, looking up at him with vibrant blue eyes. The fire dragon held his baby sister close and nuzzled her gently before facing the older female. "How did you escape Alto?"

Korasi hesitated momentarily at the mention of her master. She quickly recovered and made up a lie. "Beneath my home there was an emergency water tunnel that lead to the lake south of the villa, I was told to go through first, I obeyed of course and once I began to head down the tunnel…" Korasi added a pause on purpose to try to convince him "…A cave in occurred and I did not see the rest of my dynasty since." Korasi concluded sadly.

"At this point I'm positive none of the other Eastern Dragons survived until I saw you a moment ago outside." Korasi she told him.

Rem looked to the female eastern with a confused tilt of his head and his eyes gazing suspiciously at hers. "That is one factor that I do not understand. How did you know I was an eastern when I had a spell to cover the markings and change my scale colour?" he asked in a curios tone. His attention was brought down for a second when his baby sister began to nibble on one of his toes and claws, forcing his gaze to soften and nuzzle the young dragon hatchling once more. On his way back from the healers, Rem had purchased some hatchling supplies and took out a small strip of meat. Standing, he carried the hatchling to the sink and prepared her food before walking back and feeding her, waiting for the female's response the whole while.

Korasi watched as the dragon worked with the hatchling, it was fascinating to see the process of a dragon coming out of a shell and especially to see it have a small dot on its shoulder. An Eastern dragoness obviously.

She then remembered she was asked a question.

"Oh, I saw you today, walking around the village." Korasi responded.

Rem stood still for a moment before facing the dragoness. "I can understand that, but I meant how did you recognize me through my spell? It completely changes my scale colour." said the male as he continued to feed his baby sister. Moving over to the nest, Rem curled up and allowed the young dragoness to lean against his leg and drink the milk. In all honesty, he had no clue what he was doing, just going off of what he had seen from other hatchling's mothers and hoping he was doing it right.

Korasi looked at him strangely; he did not seem to change in color at all. If he did cast a spell as he said, then the effects of the spell probably either worn off or she can see through the spell.

"I don't understand, you seem exactly the same, besides the bulk." Korasi responded confused.

Rem gave her a confused look and looked over his body. He still had his spell activated and he could clearly see red scales. His eyes grew wide at a possible explanation. "You wouldn't happen to be a fear dragon would you?" asked the fire dragon as he gave the female a questioning look.

"Of course I am" Korasi responded with a bit of curiosity. Did she not look like a fear dragon to him?

Rem's eyes grew even wider at the dragoness's statement. "But... but Phobius said that Crow and he are the last ones!"

"Well it must be the world's lucky day then." Korasi said smiling.

Rem looked out the balcony to see that the sun was already rising on the horizon, it's orange light stinging his eyes as it shone into the room. "Well it was nice to meet you, but I need to begin searching for some type of job before I end up on the street. I have more than one dragon to take care of now, one who was just born and one who is in critical medical condition." he said as he ushered the dragoness out. "And you might want to hide that again." he said as he tapped on her shoulder marking.

Korasi was rushed out the room. Whatever he was doing, it was probably urgent. He seemed to be surprised at the fact that she was an Eastern Dragon but that didn't stop him from closing the door behind her with a snap. "See you some other time then…" Korasi said to the doorway under her breath before walking away. It had been interesting talking to Rem for once instead of spying on him, and how long it had been since last she saw him. Some new things that she had been able to glean from their conversation were that he had clearly returned from Aeon, their hometown, with that hatchling. Korasi smiled slightly as she recalled the great Eastern city, she miss Aeon dearly, being able to watch the peasants from the hills of the dynasties, the homes of the wealthy families that ruled over country, but it was gone now, burned away.

Suddenly, Korasi stopped. "Wait a second…" she whispered in realization as the words of Rem replayed in her head.

"So how did you escape Alto?"

What did he mean by that? Alto had saved her from the fires, what did he mean by escape? Korasi frowned as she continued to walk down the hall and the wooden stairs. He must have been lying to cover his tracks Korasi decided. There was no way Alto could have destroyed the Aeon, and the East, he was the good guy here, after all. Korasi snorted, it had been foolish to even think that Rem had been telling the truth. She reached the bottom of the stairs and the eyes of the innkeeper watched her carefully, with suspicion as she headed towards the door, but Korasi merely smiled and reached for the handle. But upon opening the door, she found herself face to face with a towering Anthro, armoured and with a sword in hand.