"Far as im taking this thing" said the trucker to the hitch hiker he had picked up, who was drifting off in the seat next to him "Hey!" The trucker reached over and shook Mikkish to wake up "This gas stations the last closest place on my route to where you're going. You might wanna get out."

Mikkish walked out of the truck and was met with thick fog as he now stood in front of a run down gas station.

"Must be a New England thing." He said, not bothering to walk into the gas station, but walking past it to the right and into the woods. He knew exactly where he was going...sort of. This was just another cult he was going to take out, believed to be in a cave somewhere in this general area.

No, but this was different. Otherwise, he wouldn't have come alone. Mikkish felt challenged by something, and he could never turn away from a challenge.

So, Mikkish stormed through the woods, walking further and further from that gas station on the side of the road in middle of nowhere Massachusetts. As he walked, the fog grew thicker, the trees taller, the world seemed to be changing all around him as he walked, but he didn't think once to turn back, didn't even consider it an option.

Suddenly, Mikkish came to a clearing, and as he did, like a light switch, day turned to night, and the fog vanished. A full moon now hung above, lighting the ground below, but there was another source of light, coming from behind Mikkish.

He immediately turned to see the source of light was...a massive building. It was a mansion, in the middle of the woods, no roads leading to it, no roads even near it.

A metal gate with a few stone post encircled it, and within the gate, in front of the mansion was a working fountain, with a tiny angel statue at the top.

And the strangest part was that it wasn't there a second ago. Mikkish had just walked from that direction.

It didn't disturb or negatively effect him in any way, however, as this had become the norm for him and he friends back west. And to top it all off, maybe this mage cult he was looking for was inside the mansion.

Immediately, he walked through the open gates, and up to the door, grabbing for the handle and finding it was

Unlocked.

Price and Juno find themselves waking up in a forest and separated from each other. Price stood up and looked around. Where am I and where is Juno? He wondered to himself. He started walking.

Juno found himself in a different part of the forest and wondered how he ended up here and where Price was. He went into cat form and began walking.

---

Ky woke up in the middle of a forest and didn't see Lilly but figured she went looking for some fruit. He began walking through the forest while wondering where he was and how he got here.

There were no trails or paths in this forest flooded with moonlight and drenched in mystery. In spite of all this, travelers there would feel...guided. In spite of no obvious road, the trees appeared tilted apart before Price, Juno and Ky in spite of their position in the woods. This created a convincing illusion of a path which did not really exist, and through the trees so charitably placed to allow, a mansion was visible.

As he was walking, Price decided to use his telepathy to hopefully reach Juno and communicate with him that way for a little while. While he was waiting for a response from him, he looked ahead and he saw a mansion in the distance which he thought was weird. Are you seeing what I'm seeing? He began approaching the mansion.

Still in cat form and hoping to find his vampire friend, Juno looked into the distance as soon as he received Price's message and indeed saw the mansion too. Juno sent a telepathic message back to him. Yep.

---

As Ky was walking, Lilly returned to him and was flying above his shoulder. Ky looked into the distance and saw a mansion. He mentally communicated with her about it and decided they weren't sure if they wanted to walk towards it yet so they just stayed where they were.

A chorus of howls echoed through the forest as Juno stepped forward. In the shadows eyes were visible as they shined in the moonlight. Before Juno a wolf; seemingly bigger than a wolf should be, blocked his path. Then four other leaped from the shadows, surrounding him.

Saliva dripped from their ravenous fangs as they bared them. The circle of wolves closed gradually as they approached for a late night snack.

Standing at the mansion, Mikkish turned around as a simple check nobody was stalking him. His experiences with corrupt officials, petty criminals and even the supernatural underground had made him mildly paranoid, but it had served him in the past. In this case he saw someone approaching. It was a vampire. Vampires weren't apparent to everyone who saw them, but Mikkish could tell simply from experience.

"This your place?" He called out

Juno jumped at the sound of howls and arched his back as soon they revealed themselves. He hissed at the wolves but then decided to surprise them by shifting into his human form with his cat ears and tail still out. Then he went into a karate stance, but then looked at the situation he was in and decided against it. He then started running.

Once he arrived at the mansion, someone asked him a question. Price looked over at the dude and shook his head. "No." He replied. As he awaited a response, he decided to take a good look at the dude.

Ky began walking towards the mansion, but then saw someone running from a pack of wolves. He looked at Lilly for a minute and then decided to help. He concentrated for a good while and formed a globe of lightning in his hand and then careful not to hurt the cat-like person, he threw it at one of the wolves.

Finally, he was getting to go home. After five years of training with the Dragon Riders, helping with raids, rebuilding, and keeping the peace, he was going home to see the celebrations of Ellesmera once more. Wind whipped past his face as he sat back on the saddle that Dwerva wore, crafted by his own hand. His legs were strapped to the saddle, so that his dragon was free to fly as she saw fit. And fly she did, darting in and out of the clouds above them, scales glistening with the water from the inside of the clouds.

Aranel couldn't even be mad at her for getting them both soaked. Not when the heat from the summer sun would dry them off, or the wind would whip off the moisture from their eyes.

Alright back there, little one? Dwerva asked him, through their shared mental link, and he scowled playfully at her, reaching up to pat one of the spikes on her back. "Seems to me that I need to be asking those questions, what with you flying so slow." He challenged, and she laughed, in that sort of broken growling he had become accustomed to.

And then, she shot off, over the sea, the sun reflecting their presence for the world to see. Land passed under them as they flew over Alagaësia, Dwerva making their presence known by the common way. Roaring.
They had left their ship at the halfway point between the two continents of Alagaësia and where the Riders had come to call home, deciding to cross the sea by flight and hopefully find themselves home earlier.

Finally seing the treeline in the distance seemed to fuel the exhilaration that trickled between their shared mental link. Whooping, he allowed his consciousness to slip into Dwerva's, so that he could see better with her eyes. That was Ellesmera, no doubt. The trees were tall and ancient, and he could feel their singing from here. "Faster, Dwerva!" He called as he slipped back into his own body, leaning down and against her back to reduce their drag. Shooting over the trees, with his head down, he hardly noticed the change in the air, nor how the scenery suddenly changed, until the daylight vanished from the corners of his eyes. Dwerva stopped, shocked, and flapped her wings in the air, confused, and Aranel's reaction was no better. "...Where is Ellesmera?" He asked, frowning, as he looked around. 'It was just daytime. The work of a shade?'He asked himself, and Dwerva shook her head slowly. 'No, young one. I cannot sense a shade here, and there are only a few other people nearby.' Aranel growled slightly, and expanded his senses, his eyes falling shut. "Dwerva, let us land. We'll go on foot from here, and find these people. And some answers." He said, as he finally was able to pull up the signatures from their energies, picking them out amongst the trees and other living organisms. They seemed..strange. Different, somehow.

Howls mixed with agonized whimpers called out into the night as the lightning struck three of the wolves, scrambling their insides but, as if for the purpose of overkill, lighting their fur on fire. The other wolves scampered away, tails tucked between legs. Now it was just Ky, Juno, the smell of cooking wolves, and the mansion looming ominously in the distance.

Mikkish saw the vampire staring at him, and Mikkish stared right back. There was supposed to be a cult here, but it was a mage cult and Mikkish, as understood where Mikkish was from, vampires couldn't perform magic at all.

"Who are you, and what do you know about the cult?" He said "Vampire."

"I'm Price and I don't know about any cult." Price replied in all honesty and wasn't sure what else to say. He just decided to stare away from him this time with the idea his staring might've bothered him.

---

After the wolves were gone, Ky asked Juno if he was okay and received a nod from the Neko. Then the two started chatting and getting to know each other. They shared what their powers were and also talked about what that liked or didn't like.

Dwerva landed in the most open space she could find, trying to make her landing as gentle as possible. Reaching up to pat the side of her neck, he then leaned down, his hands unlatching his legs from where they had been securely fastened to the saddle. Dwerva looked back at him, one large, purple orb focusing on him as she shook her head. 'I wish you would stay on my back, little one.' She stated, and he slid from the saddle, walking around to her front. "It will be fine, Dwerva. We would both be more useless on the ground if I was still in that saddle." He said, tightening the leather strip which held back his hair.

They began moving through the forest, taking care not to disturb a great many of the trees. Focused on the presences as he was, he could see that by now the wolves had taken off. That was a relief. He would have to hunt them sometime with Dwerva. Not for him, but for the thrill of it. And his dragon needed food. When he reached them, appearing from the underbrush of the forest, he took a moment. These people didn't seem entirely human, not from their energy, but one seemed more like a magician. The other seemed to be a Werecat in their human form, based on the ears and tail. Dwerva approached from behind him, and he raised a hand, speaking a greeting. "Atra--" coughing into his hand, he switched languages, knowing they probably wouldn't understand the elvish greetings. Not many had been into his homeland yet. "Hello. Where am I?"

Mikkish was sure that Price was part of the cult (he was still after them) but figured asking Price directly would be fruitless, so he opened the door to the mansion. In contrast with how dark and creepy it looked on the outside, the inside was well lit and looked like as luxurious as a mansion could be. In spite of his caution regarding the cult, Mikkish couldn't help but feel at home the minute he walked in.

"Good evening, sir, we have been expecting you." Said a butler who was standing right in front of the entrance, as if he was literally waiting right there before Mikkish opened the door.

"Oh, the cult has been expecting me? I guess I'm becoming famous." Mikkish was powering himself up for an ambush

"I believe you are mistaken. The cult you were recently hunting is completely absent from this location." The butler said, extending a hand "Here is a key to your room, sir. Now I apologize to be so brief but I have other matters to attend." He said, walking away into the labyrinth of the house.

Price approached the mansion and decided to take one good look at it. While he did that, he decided to bring out his guitar. He sure hoped this place was a fan of music. He began to strum his fingers on his guitar as quietly as possible.

---

Ky and Juno turned to someone asking a question. Juno decided to speak up mentally. Some strange forest that I guess doesn't like me for some odd reason? He shrugged at that. I'm Juno, by the way. Ky was talking to his bat, Lilly, but stopped mid-sentence to introduce himself as well. "Ky." He said as he gave a wave.

Mikkish jumped at the sound of the music. He was on edge about the whole cult situation (even though there really was no cult).

"Whats that music, part of some ritual? Damn cultists." He said to himself, remembering mages using music to summon blizzards and even fire tornadoes...firenadoes...pyradoes.

Meanwhile, right outside...

"Excuse me sir." The voice of a butler came behind Price, but if Price sniffed, he would smell no blood "We here at the mansion appreciate your melodies, but if you wouldn't mind playing your music inside, we have prepared accommodations for you." He said in the voice of a butler you might see in cartoons on television. This butler had no walked passed Mikkish, he seemed to have just...appeared right behind Price.

"We are expecting more guests who might also find your songs pleasing."

Price looked behind to see the butler asking him to go inside the mansion and play. "Alright then." He went inside the mansion and looked to see what accommodations have been prepared for him.

---

Juno wanted to get back to his friend, but turned to face the mansion with caution. He could only hope Price was okay for now. He decided to wait for Ky and this other dude.

---

Ky was talking to his bat, Lilly once more and as much as he didn't ditch this new guy, he turned around to approach the mansion. Maybe the guy would follow? Who knew. He continued approaching the mansion.

When Ky and Juno introduced themselves, he rolled his shoulders back, and dipped his head respectfully. "Well, to Werecats, I would imagine that Wolves do not like them simply because they're like Canines." He said to Juno, and to Ky, he gave a light nod. Ky had a strange companion, but he could hardly blame him when he had a dragon for his friend and trusted companion. "I am known as.." Oh. Perhaps he was speaking too slowly. Instead, when they turned, he turned and bounded back to Dwerva. She raised a leg, slightly amused by the demeanor the two people had shown, and he leapt up it, swinging into the saddle atop Dwerva's back. Nonetheless, he followed from up there, Dwerva's steps light along the ground, despite her enormous size.