Dreaming of Dragons

Note: This chapter's sort of like an interlude. So it'll be shorter than an actual one shot. I'm just establishing a mystery here that will be "revealed" in the next one-shot.

AUTOBOT OUTPOST OMEGA ONE
TWENTY MILES OUTSIDE JASPER, NEVADA
TIME: 2:00 A.M.

He hadn't the fainest idea where he was. He was in a void, standing on an invisible yet solid surface in a black void dotted with shimmering clouds faintly illuminated as if by some internal source. The ground below, if there was indeed any ground, which he felt there was, was shrouded by more of the strange glowing clouds. Above glittered a vast star-studded sky that eerily resembled Earth's own night sky but unpolluted by the drowning lights of civilization. He could see for some distance but there was nothing that could be readily discerned – aside from what vaguely resembled a floating fortress enshrouded by far more clouds, a fortress that shone with light.

Where was he? He knew this was nothing more than a dream, but it felt...it felt so very real. Was this a vision of sorts, then?

He looked back up. Humans had often used the stars for navigation, to determine where they were. Perhaps he could, too. The method was sound, and navigators in the Golden Age had had a similar albeit far more accurate method they used for exploration. Many of the constellations he recognized from his many years on their planet, along with many of the brightest stars. The lore behind many of them was fascinating, but that was another matter. If he could just manage to locate Polaris, he could find out which way was north. For some reason his navigation systems did not work here in this realistic dream-like vision. Intentional on the part of the vision-giver, perhaps? He did not know. This was unlike anything he had experienced before.

As he scanned the skies, something began to happen with one of the constellations – something that fixated his gaze. He forgot navigation entirely.

The stars of Orion the Hunter began to pulse wildly, and the one's in the Hunter's signature belt flared as if undergoing supernovae. To his astonishment, the belt stars reared up from their places to act as the second eyes of three heads of a beast as nebulae coalesced around them in a vague but very distinctive reptilian shape. The other brightest stars joined them to finish the three sets of eyes and formed the rest of the body, along with a pair of massive arcing wings that lacked any sort of feathers or membrane in the areas where those two substances should be – the wings were simply massive arcs. The nebulae, too, were slowly gaining color. Slowly the shape turned from dark blues, purples, and greens to vibrant golds, scintillating silvers, brilliant neon blue accents, and dark blue heads. The heads of the shape opened their three maws and loosed a deafening yet musical three-toned roar as the astral creature became more distinct.

He had seen something much like this in reading old Greek and English lore, and in the Hall. A dragon – yes, that is what the beast was, and it was truly massive, easily the size of a merged combiner team. When it reared back on its hind feet, he approximated it to be about forty or fifty feet in height – a titan even by his kind's standards. And unless it was merely his mind trying to make sense of what he was seeing, the shape looked distinctly...mechanical. Its body was angular and sharp but smooth at the same time. One of its front limbs resembled a great sword, while the other resembled a cannon.

Its star eyes focused on him then. He felt he was being surmised in a rather computeristic fashion. He could do naught but stare, wide-eyed and open-mouthed, as the belt stars split off from their stellar host entirely, and he could do nothing as the great nebulous beast surged at him, weaponized limbs aimed directly at him, its three maws open to devour him whole...

Optimus awoke with a start, jolting up from where he'd dozed off at the desk in his quarters. He barely took note of the semi-completed reports before him. His air cycles, previously steady from power down, were now fast and deep – the former from fright and the latter an effort to calm himself. He put a hand to his helm as the last dregs of the dream-vision faded. He could still see the beast lunging at him even now...

What had that been?

At any other point in his long life he might have dismissed it as nothing more than a dream. Typical dreams were often very symbolic in nature he knew, and a dragon had many meanings: a lingering, great fear, primordial power, and clear sight to name but a few. But this one had had three heads and it had tried to kill him. On Earth, three heads were associated with the mythical hell-hound Cerberus, a guardian of the dead lands of the Greek. On Cybertron, a motif of three was often associated with the Firstforged Predacon, Onyx. Both were powerful – and both held connections with death. He had been rather on edge lately...

Try as he might however, he could not dismiss it so easily, not after his squadron's encounter with the Order of the Kaijudo Duel Masters in California roughly three weeks ago. The dragon – perhaps it was a Kaiju? But then why would he receive a vision of one now and not at any point before? Was it a warning of sorts, a portent of things to come? Or had it been something else entirely?

He checked his chronometer absent-mindedly to discover it was very early in the pre-dawn hours. No one was likely to be up at this time. A stroll around the base might help ease his mind, tease it onto another subject. That...whatever it was he had just experienced had unsettled him in a way very few things had. Normally visions granted by the Matrix were less symbolic and more concrete, flashes of the past to help in his judgement. No. This symbolic vision was not from the Matrix. That had not been a past experience, but something that did feel akin to a warning in hindsight. But then who or what had given it to him? And why?

With a faint creaking of War-worn joints he rose and made to leave his quarters. Just before he crossed the threshold he paused, spun round, and took one of the data pads. He wanted to distract himself. He might as well be productive about it. These reports were not going to file themselves after all.

He did not realize until after he had exited into one of the silo's many corridors that the reports he had been filing were debriefing reports he had to pass to Fowler for clearance. Parallel dimensions, magic, martial arts, and fantastical creatures – incredible as it was, it did bring new dangers to the table, dangers their liaison needed to be made aware of. He personally found it all very interesting himself, dangers aside. On learning of the Order's ancient origins that day, it left him wondering if any of the old Masters had ever encountered a Cybertronian. Evidence and records seemed to suggest their kind had been here for quite some time in a somewhat on-and-off fashion, though why exactly his kind had been here he did not wholly understand, especially that far back. There was no distinct timeline for how long exactly Kaijudo had been around, as much of it pre-dated recorded history, but their civil war had been going on for millenia – so had the Cybertronians who had come here in that time span been soldiers or simply refugees? He would probably never know.

Intrigued as he was, the Prime was not looking forward to explaining this whole Kaijudo situation to the man. If he told him they had gotten into a secondary war without consulting him beforehand or immediately afterwards, he might just suffer a stroke. But...sometimes it was better to ask forgiveness than permission. They needed the additional firepower and numbers Kaijudo offered, and the Masters needed help in deciphering the Choten's plans. In the end, the alliance was beneficial to both sides – so long as the Decepticons were kept out of the frame.

Knowing their odds though, that was probably nothing more than wishful thinking...

The Prime turned out to be wrong in his assumption that no one else was awake. When he looked up from the data pad as he entered the command center, he was somewhat surprised to see Ratchet busy with a chemical analyzer and microscope, muttering to himself all the while. On a clear slide beneath the latter instrument was a globule of a strange pale yellow liquid. Something about it made his mesh crawl against his will. The Matrix did not like the substance either, letting out a low pulse of anxiety only he could feel.

"Ratchet?" he asked quietly, tiredly, but with interest. What was the strange substance?

He saw the old healer jolt imperceptibly at his voice. Ratchet turned to face him, confusion and a bit of stern disapproval in his expression.

"What are you doing up at this hour? Last I checked you were soundly in power down. Frankly, you need it."

Optimus remained silent, instead focusing his tired gaze on the strange substance sitting on the slide. He would answer Ratchet's question after his was answered. The old medic caught on with another stern look:

"Oh. This. Master Lobachevsky promised me that the instant they managed to acquire a sample of this so-called 'evolution serum' she would send me a sample so I could analyze it. As you can plainly see, she managed – and she sent it to me approximately two hours ago through a Veil breach with the aid of her creature, Rusalka. Which, interestingly enough, exposed me to the creature's power: telepathy. It relayed her thoughts directly to me, such as routes of study she had already gone down and what she herself has discovered – which unfortunately isn't very much. This is only the second sample she has ever gotten her hands on, and it evaporates if exposed to air for too long."

The Prime's crystal blue optics widened a little. Telepathy? That was intriguing. Was this talent unique to certain creatures, or natural for certain civilizations like Water? Gabriel had mentioned for the report that Water creatures were highly intelligent techno-organics.

Ratchet refocused on him, his stern look replacing the one of scientific intrigue that had slowly been forming.

"Now, you tell me: what are you doing up?"

He let out a sigh. Then, in bits and pieces, he explained what exactly had woken him.

Ratchet did not look in confused, though there was some mild alarm in his optics. His expression was of a mech who had had a suspicion cleared.

"That's to be expected, I suppose. Raiden kindly informed me that some individuals possess a sort of...resonance with the Veil. He possesses such a resonance himself for reasons no one yet understands. You might have it for a more obvious reason: the Matrix. It is sensitive to outside energies. I can only assume being exposed to the high concentrations of mana in the Temple agitated the Matrix enough to result in an acquired resonance – and thus, the vision. But I rather doubt it is being much help in interpretation, is it?"

The Prime shook his helm. "No. Frankly, I wish it were of more help. I do not believe it knows what to make of the information, nor do I. I am unsure if it is warning me of something or merely informing me. If information was its intent I rather think it failed in that regard. I may take this to one of the Masters or Raiden and his allies. I assume they might be of help in interpretation. I have reason to suspect the beast was a Kaiju. Some variety of artificial construct."

Which reminded him: he still had the reports to finish. And when morning came around at last, Fowler would be wanting his three-week reports.

Inwardly the Prime sighed as he walked off. He was not anticipating that in the slightest. He'd inform Fowler first to get it out of the way. There was still some days to wait until the gauntlets were complete. Toji needed time to puzzle out how to craft theirs, not to mention more materials. His one week estimate had increased to two. Even with that estimate he had seemed hesitant.

SAN CAMPION, CALIFORNIA
FIVE PATHS MARTIAL ARTS STUDIO
TEMPLE OF THE KAIJUDO DUEL MASTERS
TIME: 8:00 A.M.

Allie didn't enjoy cleaning the creature pens. That was the standard punishment for her and her friends whenever they did something "against the rules" or something that could easily be labeled as downright crazy. Their most recent escapade they were working off was the insanity that had happened about a week ago where Ray had gotten a random civilian and himself transported to the Fire Realm with Bob. Technically the blame was on Bob for starting the whole incident after he and Ray had followed Carny and Bob had threatened his father. One good thing had come out of that though: it had been discovered Carny's dad was a supporter of the Choten.

Yeah. Just another day with her weird-ass friends and their social lives getting involved in a magical cross dimensional war, adding one more baddie to the ever-growing list. Just another day of their particular brand of crazy.

The girl shook her head. That had to be the strangest sentence she'd ever thought. Crazy wasn't even coming close. A whole new word needed to be made up for how crazy their lives were.

She returned her focus to the little Skullcutter at her feet, stroking its bony head and earning a strange sort of growling purr. She may not like the chores but she did love caring for the creatures. So did Ray. A lot of the poor guys in the pens suffered from injuries thanks to the Choten, the Solar Enforcer bearing the worst scars. They had all been tended to by the Masters regularly ever since they'd been brought to the Temple, but the scars weren't just physical – they were mental as well. So not only were she and her friends doing chores, they were also acting the parts of temporary psychologists and veterinarians to the creatures. That made it more bearable in Allie's mind. She'd always wanted to be a vet when she'd been younger, and here she was tending to animals from another dimension. Man. Too bad she couldn't put that on her resume, like, ever...

She turned to see Ray in the stall of Kenina the Igniter, letting the teensy Fire Bird perch on his hand as it preened its blazing feathers. Gabe was in one of the adjoining stalls caring for the Solar Enforcer. Gargle's odd chittering noises and text talk met her ears every so often as the two talked amongst themselves about repairs and tech-geek stuff. From the sounds of things he was trying to convince the Light creature to let him have a look, but the Enforcer seemed...scared of the little spit cup. Like, legit scared.

Gabe eventually seemed to figure out he needed an expert, asking: "Uh, Ray? Little help here?"

Ray didn't seem to hear.

"Yo, Earth to Ray? Einstein needs a hand!" Allie reiterated.

Ray jolted. "Hm? Wha? Sorry."

Gabe looked at him oddly as he came over to him. Ray was sometimes prone to drifting off into his own mind, but never this badly. Right then he might as well have been lost in a daydream.

"You okay, Ray? You seem...a little distracted this morning. And tired. Something up?"

"Nothing, Gabe. Just a nightmare."

"Uh, 'scuse me?" Allie retorted sharply, "It's never 'just a nightmare' with you, Ray. What was it?"

Ray didn't answer right away, busy as he was calming the scared Solar Enforcer and convincing it that Gargle was just going to run a basic diagnostic and see what was in need of mending. Eventually the Light creature calmed enough at Ray's soft words and gentle touch that it let the Reef Prince and his human duelist approach and begin their diagnostics and medical tinkering. And so, satisfied his friends were handling things now, he explained what it was he'd experienced last night:

"I...it was...weird. On either side of me were these two ginormous dragons duking it out with each other. One's golden, mechanized, and has three heads – Light creature if I ever saw one. The other was this big black behemoth of a dragon, all spiny and evil looking, darkness rolling off it in waves. Like I said, they were going at each other like nobody's business, clawing and biting and pounding each other with blasts. To me they seemed pretty evenly matched. Neither was really gaining the upper hand. But then the black one got some kinda power boost, its whole body igniting with this weird purple light? I don't know what it was, but it let it make this huge blast that tore through the Light dragon's chest, ripping it open. It toppled over on top of me, screaming in pain...and I woke up in a cold sweat. I looked at my alarm clock and saw it was three in the morning. Couldn't go back to sleep after that. Too spooked."

Gabe and Allie stared at him for a moment in silence. Gargle seemed oblivious to his story, chittering to himself as he worked on the Enforcer. Skullcutter emitted a soft little growling noise and snuggled against Ray's leg. Ray seemed thankful for the effort, returning the nuzzle with a grateful pat on its head.

"Hm. Maybe on our way out we can stop by the Archives and look into what kinds of dragons they were? All your evidence points to the possibility of a Celestial Dragon from the Light Realm and a Terror Dragon from Darkness. I read they have a long-standing rivalry. Maybe Master Nadia can help us narrow it down as to which ones were fighting? That might help us interpret whether or not it really was a nightmare or one of your visions. If we find matches, then it's probably a vision. If not, it may just be your brain manifesting some of your fears in a means it can interpret."

"Maybe," Ray admitted. "I'm kind of hoping it was just a nightmare though..."

AREA FIFTY-ONE COMMAND BUILDING
TWENTY-SEVEN MILES OUTSIDE RACHEL, NEVADA
TIME: 9:45 A.M

Fowler was just sitting back to enjoy his morning coffee when his monitor blinked to life of its own accord. It was a transmission from Omega One. He snorted with a smirk and opened it. Prime always was punctual with his reports. He'd never missed one.

"Mornin', boyscout. Got anything interesting for me or my bosses? 'Cons? MECH? Anything?"

"Agent Fowler...we need to talk."

The sheer hesitation and weight in the alien's voice set him on edge. Optimus was not looking forward to whatever it was he was going to discuss with him. That was unlike him. He was usually pretty talkative.

"Go on. Tell me. What is it? Your scout get himself on a conspiracy site again?"

"No. Bumblebee has been more careful of late. This does not concern our kind; not...not completely. It concerns your world – and some insights that have been kept secret from my species and yours as a whole."

Fowler's mouth dried. He didn't like where this was going. The whole Unicron thing was no secret among the government agents who worked with the aliens, though they had been warned not to share the information with geologists or scientists. If the eggheads uncovered anything concerning a robotic Chaos God being stuck inside their planet, things could get pretty darned tricky very fast. That was one pretty big secret that both species had been unaware of for some time. But there were other secrets, too – highly classified, ones he had only inferred or heard whispered by other special agents on site.

"What then? What's the problem?"

"...What do you know of the Veil? Of the Kaiju?"

Fowler put his hands over the computer's speakers in an effort to hush him.

"Prime," he said quietly, "that's not my field of expertise. I work with aliens, not the supernatural antics that go on behind everyone's backs. That's also Level Ten classified information. How the hell'd you get your iron mits on it? If I find out you've had Raf go snooping into classified government databases...Five stars don't normally jail twelve year olds, but they might make an exception. Level Ten information is stuff not even the President knows."

"No. I admit Rafael had a part in obtaining this information, but I assure you how it was acquired was entirely innocent. If you would permit me to explain, I will clarify the circumstances surrounding this."

"Not over this line. Have the doc spin up one of his 'bridges and I'll get the info from you at headquarters. Be warned though: I'm bringing company with me. Since you guys got involved in this, DEDA will have to get involved as well – Division for Extra-Dimensional Affairs. That's their thing. They handle the Veil insanity. And let me just say they don't like you guys very much, and they don't like me either. I'll try and find one who's at least polite."

"Very well. Is it permissible to have my squadron present for this?"

"Um...I don't suppose there's any harm if they know about this. I'm thinking they already do. Kids can come, too. DEDA's gonna want a word with Raf."

"...If they harm him in any way –" Optimus rumbled, an obvious warning in his tone. He could almost see the Prime's optics narrow, could feel them harden.

"They won't. I promise. They'll just want to see how much you guys know. Same with me. Not my fault they're xenophobes. I'm only sending one agent, not a whole battalion."

"I will see you shortly, then."

The line went dead. Fowler gusted a sigh and leaned back in his chair, massaging his temples. "Dammit, kid. Why you gotta be so curious?"

He'd been hoping – hell, praying – that Prime wouldn't find out about this secret problem. It was far too complicated for the Autobots to go getting involved in, and DEDA wasn't exactly predisposed in their favor to start with. They never had been. And yet here they were. They'd found out, and now he was about to call up an agent of the Division, bring them to the Autobot's hidden desert base, and have the agent debrief them. The fed stifled a groan. He was not looking forward to thais meeting. Considering Bulkhead and Ratchet's personalities, they might become a bit tetchy on picking up on the DEDA agent's xenophobic hostility. He'd have to find one who didn't have it as badly...and that'd be a challenge in itself.

Everyone's lives were about to get much more complicated than they'd been before...all because Raf had simply been doing his task of keeping the poor 'Bots undercover via the web and had somehow stumbled across something related to the Veil. He inferred it had spiraled from there.

Ray, Allie, and Gabe made their way into the Temple Archives a bit shyly. On approaching the main desk, Rusalka swam by through the air, gave them a curious look, and continued on. Seeing the Aqua Chaser roaming the isles and chambers was nothing new. Master Nadia would sometimes summon him to act as a sentry or assistant in her studies. It was his on-and-off task to keep overly curious neophytes from getting into isles containing creatures too dangerous or too powerful to summon.

Rusalka's presence alone seemed to indicate the Water Master was here. Where was she though?

"Master Nadia? Are you here? We need some help!" Ray called out. His voice echoed around the main chamber.

Rusalka slithered by them again, pausing to look a them. Each felt the Aqua Chaser reach into their minds to find out what exactly they wanted, informing them in the process that his Master was busy with experiments and was not to be disturbed. Ray told him that perhaps he could be of similar help. He knew the Archives, right? Knew them just as well as Master Nadia?

'Request. Inquiry?' Rusalka's voice was soft, well-enunciated, but had a distinctly computeristic undertone like many Water creatures. Gabe thought it sounded rather like a Turian from the Mass Effect series. There was a distinct flanging effect his voice had, making it sound like a higher pitched voice and a lower pitched voice were speaking in unison.

"We need some help finding some creatures going off appearances alone," said Gabe. "Take a look. I think the images are still pretty fresh in Ray's memory. He had a nightmare last night about them. Two dragons fighting."

The Aqua Chaser bobbed his head with a soft hiss and reached into the other boy's mind, quickly gathering the data. Once done, he seemed to consider for a moment before swimming off towards the Light isles first. He knew of one of these creatures quite well he told them, since Light and Water were allies and had been for many thousands of years. Granted he had only heard stories of the Light dragon in the boy's dream. The Darkness dragon though...he admitted he did not recognize that one despite Water's symbiotic relation with Darkness. That would take a more thorough search algorithm.

On noting the three younglings were not following, he flicked his tail in a "follow me" gesture. They started following, Rusalka leading them up some stairs to the second floor where the more powerful creature tablets were stored. He paused near one isle, yellow eyes scanning the shelves. On locating the one he wanted, he reached forward and plucked it out of the shelf with his mouth and handed it to Ray.

'Match: 99.999%. Class: Celestial Dragon. Designation: Orion, Radiant Fury.'

Ray looked over the tablet, absorbing all he could from it. He could practically feel the creature's sheer might through the name alone, and the golden tablet radiated with mana. The information detailed the Light dragon as a defender, a guardian of the Light realm – and not one any sane creature would want to tangle with. Celestial Dragons were no joke in the power department it seemed. This three-headed behemoth required an enormous amount of mana to summon. But the image on the front bore an eerie match to one seen in his dream.

"Wow. Look at that bad boy! Sheesh! This guy could probably take out an army!" Allie exclaimed.

"Yeah. This is the one I saw," Ray confirmed at last, "What about the other dragon, Rusalka? Do you know anything about that one? Does Master Nadia know anything about it?"

'Negative. Darkness dragon is not in my database nor that of Master Nadia. She knows every tablet in these Archives. No matches.'

"Weird..." Allie muttered.

"Not entirely. The Archives are expansive, true, but there are some creatures that have yet to be documented by us. Remember, humans don't make a habit of crossing the Veil due to how dangerous it is. Or...or maybe this Darkness dragon is not one that should be known about for one reason or another?" Gabe hazarded.

Rusalka eyed them each in turn. He suspected a hint of truth in the boy's words. Some creatures were so dangerous, or so evil, that their own Civilizations had locked them away from the realm of knowing. Sometimes they were even locked away physically – imprisoned. But...ah, Tritonus drown them. He was curious now, too. He wanted to know the designation of the shadow beast as much as they did. Not even his link to the cyber-viruses and their Mother had revealed anything about the beast. But, like Gabriel had said, that may be due to the beast's very existence being wiped from their databases.

'Unknown. Too many possible theories. Advisement: seek out Darkness Master. Designation: Jaha?'

Allie perked up in an instant.

"Right! If anyone knows this freaky Dark dragon, I bet Master J does! She has tons of connects with Darkness creatures. Thanks, Rusalka!"

The Aqua Chaser bobbed his head once in return before slithering off.

Optimus and Fowler's debriefing with the DEDA representative was been going rather well all things considered.

The female agent sent was, while cold and unbending, at the very least pleasant-tempered, enabling civil conversation to be held. She'd been quite polite with Rafael and even the rest of the Prime's allies, human and alien. Like Fowler had told him, she had simply wanted to know the circumstances of the secret's discovery, what they knew, and how involved they were with Veil-related activity. The answers given seemed to satisfy her, a wry but still cold little smile forming. She seemed happy they were not deeply involved and that their alliance was more indirect. On being told they were allied with the Kaijudo Masters of San Campion, she'd actually unbent a little. The conversation had become much warmer, more genuine. How was Hector doing? Nigel? Jaha? Had they met the little trio of unorthodox naturals – Raiden, Gabriel, and Allison? Ah, they had? They'd been the ones to discover them in the woods outside the city? Ha! Of course they would have. They couldn't seem to keep out of trouble. Still, they were good at Kaijudo from the reports she got. They were even teaching the Masters a thing or two.

"Right. Well, I got what I needed to know from you guys, so I'll need to check in with my boss and tell him. Thank you for cooperating," she said, a bit of her cold, formal demeanor returning, Just try to keep this on the down low from the 'Cons, alright? If they find out, and if they find out how to use it, things might get messier than they already are for both sides." She glanced up. "And kid?"

Rafael looked at her a bit nervously from his perch on the catwalks with Miko and Jack.

"Try to keep the Veil stuff to a minimum on the internet, alright? We don't want your 'Cons finding out about this too soon. You find anything – delete it."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Right. Keep out of trouble, 'Bots."

She opened a Veil breach and disappeared into it, the dimensional rend closing behind her from the other side.

Ray, Gabe, and Allie carefully made their way down the spiraling stairs into Master Jaha's alcove of darkness. Gabriel shivered in place, Ray and Allie glancing around in an effort to locate Jaha. He didn't like this place. It gave him the creeps, especially since whenever he was dragged down here alongside his friends it felt like eyes were watching him. And not necessarily friendly eyes.

"Ah? And what brings you three down here today, hm?"

The little elderly Darkness Master waddled out of the shadows with her bizarre cane. One slender black eyebrow was arched quizzically.

They quickly explained in turns.

"So Rusalka pointed us to you," Allie said in conclusion, "You know all about the Darkness Civ and the creatures in it. Think you could help us figure out who or what the big dark dragon in Ray's dream way? There was nothing in the Archives. Gabe thinks if we can nail an ID we can figure out if it was just a dream or one of his freaky vision things."

"Well, I am no telepath like Rusalka," admitted Jaha with some dry humor, "But Raiden, you are an artist. Do you think you could provide a sketch for me? That may help in identification. Perhaps my Ghost Spies have spotted it at some point. There are many things they know that are not in the Archives."

She gestured openly to the dark wood and stone table. Ray nodded and went over. He sat down, grabbed a pen from his pocket, and began to sketch in almost feverish haste. Gabe, Jaha, and Allie came over to look. Within the hour, a spiny dragon covered in battered grey and purple armor came into being on the paper. Any bits of flesh beneath the armor were rotted. Massive tattered wings surrounded its body like a cage, their upper arches covered in bronze armor, blades protruding from the tips. Red eyes burned like embers. By the time he was done, Allie's eyes were round in shock. So were Gabe's. Jaha's eyes were wide from what looked like shock – shock...and horror. The hand at her side was shaking. Her cane kept the other steady, but only barely.

"It can't be..." she murmured.

"You know this thing, then? You've heard of it – seen it?" Allie demanded eagerly.

"Heard of him, yes. Seen him? None have for thousands of years. Queen Kalima herself sealed this dragon away long before the Kaiju Wars, and our predecessors after the War sealed away his sole summoning tablet so none could call him to battle. Only the Dragon Scrolls mention him now, and they are guarded by the Archangel Knowledge Keepers. This dragon, Baelgor the Accursed, is one of the ancient Condemned Dragons, the powerful forerunners to the Terror Dragons you know today. They were wiped from history and knowledge to protect us and the Kaiju themselves, each imprisoned in the deepest recesses of the world. When the Veil was created, they went with the others, their prisons becoming the deepest pits and chasms in Darkness. Not even the Dark Lords remember them today."

"Sooo...what's the big deal other than their being obviously, y'know, evil with a capital evil?" Allie wondered in a bit of a deadpanning manner. Really, though, she was fascinated to no end. And frightened. And a little confused as to why Master Jaha was telling them such secret info.

"These creatures had powerful curses placed on them and their special summoning tablets long before recorded history. No one knows who cursed them or even why. The 'big deal' as you say is that anyone who summons a Condemned Dragon is exposed to their curse, and it only grows worse with each successive summons. Each is unique, but Baelgor's..." She paused, shook her head. "Anyone foolish enough to summon him eventually goes mad. Not even the Choten would be insane enough to try to summon him. And you said you saw Baelgor battling with a Celestial Dragon, and it lost the battle?"

"Orion, Radiant Fury. Yeah, Rusalka helped ID him," Ray confirmed. His head tilted to the side. "Why?"

"Rusalka did not inform you, as it is not common knowledge to anyone bar the Knowledge Keepers, that Celestial Dragons were created by the Light monarch to combat the threat of the Condemned Dragons, though today they now handle the Terror Dragons. Each was built to fight one specific target beast, forged from the very essence of the stars. Baelgor is Orion's old nemesis. Orion defeated him in the distant past, after he razed a dozen settlements and then set his sights on one of Light's citadels; he earned his title 'Radiant Fury' for his heroic retribution. That he lost in your dream is troubling. It could be a portent of catastrophe. It might even signal that Baelgor may have escaped or will yet do so. I will need to investigate this. If Baelgor escapes the Chasm, or if someone has uncovered his summoning tablet or will in the future...both sides of the Veil will suffer."

Though the alcove was not cold, Ray shivered, feeling as if a cold darkness had settled in his soul. His heart beat faster for a minute until he managed to slow it with some techniques his grandfather had shown him.

'So it wasn't a nightmare. It was a vision...and not a good one. It's some kind of warning...'

Author's Note: Yeah. Short. Busy with other stuff at the moment. But hey - least this means this'll go on for a bit longer. :)