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"Your time is approaching, Lazlo." Morgan said arm draped lazily over a high backed chair. "Are you nervous?"

"Nervous, no. Well prepared, yes, to meet a goddess so that I can become a god." Lazlo sat across from her, looking at the empty chairs around them, "Who else is coming?"

"Just Arumaga and possibly Tennant." Morgan replied.

"Arumaga? The great white dragon. I have been looking forward to meeting him. I am wondering how he has been blocking his mind from me."

"He blocks his mind from you?" Morgan leaned across the table.

"Always. I assumed it had something to do with his god abilities that he has gained." Lazlo replied.

"Arumaga has never stated that he has gained much from the death of the gods. He does like to keep secrets, that one.

"We have been keeping Tennant under a close eye but maybe Arumaga needed that eye instead. I don't like that. Plus his questionable tactics in Madrid. Makes me wonder about him. I am still angry about that. My Obould gone from me."

"Yes, her pet orc, Lazlo." Arumaga said, moving swiftly into the room. He nodded to Morgan, "I see that your front gate and doors have been remodeled, Morgan. What's the period, early castastrophe?"

"Shut your mouth! I will not be talked to this way!" Morgan shouted at Arumaga.

"You forget your place, Morgan. I am not Louis." Arumaga stared hard at her, "Besides, you are angry at me for the loss of Obould, but it was you that gave him command of all those armies. Don't send someone out there that is valuable to you, unless you want to deal with the consequences of him being killed or captured. If I had a secret that big, I wouldn't let it out of my sight."

"You were supposed to keep him safe." Morgan sat back down.

"I was supposed to stop the gold dragons. There were none to fight, and Obould had a 2 to 1 advantage. I withdrew as I told you I would. Had I known that you were going to send Zenthryki assassins, I would have stayed. But you had them kill the drow and then they got captured. You are the one that gave them those exploding arrows. Then your own weapons got turned against you. 54 fireballs launched into an army, no matter what army, it's going to be decimated. His capture is your fault, not mine."

Morgan seethed but said nothing.

Arumaga stared at her, solid white eyes unnerving. "Are you going to tell me who redecorated, or do you want to make it a surprise?"

"Teryl. The one Nikodemus is hunting. She is manifesting and I think that she blames the council for her troubles. She ripped apart the gates and the door with her mind, bending them and ripping them like straw in a tornado."

"You have her, then?" Lazlo interjected.

"No. She flung the guards all about, then tried to batter my protection spells. Nearly got through before she ran out of steam. I thought we could capture her, but she disappeared somehow. Nikodemus went after her, thought she was heading toward Arnljot in Madrid. So he left. I contacted him this afternoon and he said he couldn't find her but that he had captured a bigger prize. We will see what he means." Morgan fell silent for a moment, "What of Gaius and the cloak?"

Arumaga stood. "He will be here on the appropriate day for you to bring him into our hands. Then we will learn all the gate secrets and there will be no place for them to hide. He doesn't like us much that I can tell, but he does know where the power will reside soon enough and he likes to win. He will stand with us."

A silence passed through the room as they absorbed the words that were spoken. Lazlo broke the silence with, "So why is Nikodemus not back already? Madrid gate to Versailles gate would only take him a few minutes."

"Nikodemus has a few eccentricities, Lazlo. One, he doesn't like to use the gates for travel. His second oddity is a result of a childhood trauma, that Strawberon affected on him. Though I don't see how that would come into play here."

"Where is Tennant?" Morgan interrupted.

Arumaga lifted one eyebrow and then answered, "He is resting. He battled a god, in case you forgot. He will return in a few days time to listen to your shrieking voice. Don't worry."

Morgan's face turned a shade redder in anger and was about to retort.

Lazlo turned the conversation again. "What next?" And then he paused. "Callas, it is very impolite to listen."

You are tossed into a realm of flame, they lick your skin, seeking to devour you. It hurts, pain racks, doubling you over. Your clothes catch fire and you watch it burn some of your hair. Blackness starts to rush in on you, death coming close behind.

You awaken to Dream in Human form hovering over you. It's someplace cool, snow, you see snow lying around you. You realize that you are lying down on it and Dream is rubbing it all over you. You wrinkle your hands and they hurt. You are a bit scared to look at them fearing they will be blackened or blistered.

"I am sorry, Callas. I didn't realize he had gotten so powerful. I thought I could sneak around him and show you some glimpses of things. He shunted you to an abyss realm and tried to hide you from me. I found you as fast as I could but not before you got..." He trailed off.

You summoned the courage to look down at your hands. They were red but otherwise unharmed.

Dream looked so sad, you thought you should try to comfort him by saying something. You started to, but your throat was so dry and raw that you could only cough. Dream fed you a mouthful of snow, which felt good running down the back of your throat. "Its ok, Dream, no harm done. Is there?"

"No, the dream realm is great for that, had you awoken it would have been far worse. You would have carried the image of your burned body back into reality and your body would have reformed in its new image. But you fell unconscious and stayed in the dream realm, the damage done repaired itself as your self image rewrote what it thought you should look like. We will spend a little more time here, letting you heal yourself, and then you can go home."

"Where is this place, Dream?"

"The Alps in Switzerland."

"It's very quiet and beautiful. I wish our world was quiet."

"That's what you are fighting for, Callas. Peace and quiet. Just some peace and quiet."

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