“I thought all the black dragons were dead! Well except those two that is…”

“Hmm….”

A deep sigh rumbled from the mouth of the black dragon which startled Felicia who was still hugging on to Fayde tightly.

“Fayde….”

Fayde was intently observing the black dragon while his thoughts were pounding in his head.

‘Could he be related to Nes and Allein? This is huge! They will be ecstatic to find one of their relatives still alive!’

“The two of you… come closer. Let me see you.”

The dragon was somewhat listless, its voice sounding much like a lazy murmur. It blinked its eyes and smoke billowed from its nose. The dragon looked as if each breath was a struggle. Despite their wariness, Fayde and Felicia walked closer to the enormous dragon unsure of what it would do.

Fayde took a good look around once more but couldn’t find anything of particular interest within the large cavern. The dragon was the only living being within.

“You girl! What are you!?”

Felicia was startled by his question and hid slightly behind Fayde which was funny because even if Fayde wanted to protect her, he couldn’t at that time.

“What do you mean what am I? I am a member of the Tigerkin!”

“Tigerkin?” The dragon’s voice rumbled as he asked curiously.

“Yes! A Tigerkin! Humans call us Demihumans though.”

“Come closer and let me see you clearly. I won’t bite.. I promise.”

Felicia hesitated for a moment but finally moved with the urging of Fayde. The dragon lifted his head slowly and turned to look at Felicia in earnest which caused her to become nervous. He sniffed her with his large nose and eyed her carefully not wanting to miss even the slightest details.

“Strange.. Not human, not shapeshifter. Could it be that?” The dragon mumbled to himself but Fayde and Felicia could clearly hear his words.

“What is it?” Asked Fayde curiously.

“Tell me Human, why do you have the aura of the Void upon you? And this girl… no, let me get to the bottom of your identity first!”

“So you can sense the Void? Then it must be. You must be one of the Dragonkin, a relative of Nes and Allein!”

“What did you say!? How do you know the names of my younger brother and sister!?”

The dragon was shocked and his voice rumbled even louder than before. There was even a bit more life in his eyes and actions. It was almost as if hearing his siblings names had given him new life.

Fayde scratched his head and gave the dragon a wry smile, “Shit, how do I explain this. It’s a long story.”

“Hmph, all I have had here is time... endless time. Speak.”

“Well… I guess I should get this out of the way first. Uhhhh…. You see, Allein is sort of my wife and that would make you my brother-in-law.”

“WHAT!?”

The ground suddenly quaked as the dragon exclaimed in surprise, moving its body forcefully. This movement caused the dragon to abruptly cough which only caused the cavern to quiver more.

“Wait.. let me explain!”

Fayde relayed the entire story as best he could while skipping many of the unimportant details. He summed up his experiences so far in as brief a summary as he could. The dragon was shocked several times throughout and when Fayde was done explaining the dragon quieted and considered Fayde’s story carefully.

“Unbelievable.” He finally uttered after several moments of awkward silence.

“I can’t believe it.. What did my father do? I would never have thought that my siblings would be nothing more than pieces to be moved around at the will of the Void. I knew that my younger brother and sister had been left behind but I was only told that they would be placed somewhere safe. However, I never made it back in order to see what happened to them or what happened to our world. Well… I can imagine what happened based on the reality we have faced here…”

“Where exactly is here? And why are you so curious about Felicia?”

“Felicia…” The name rolled off the tongue of the black dragon as he contemplated his words.

“It’s also a long story but I will try to be brief for I do not have much longer yet to live. But with you here, I finally see some hope! I don’t know how much time has passed since then, but in those days we fought against the Humans. You called me Dragonkin, and this girl Tigerkin, but these names did not exist then. We were simply… shapeshifters. We were both Human… and not. There were many new creatures that came into existence once the Void was unleashed on our world. My father lived before the cataclysmic event and so he knew what life was like before and he lived through the events after. He never told us everything, but we were privy to some of the truth. The Void began to change people and by the time Humans became aware of this, it was already too late. Monstrosities out of fantasy, monsters out of nightmare, were birthed from the power of the Void. Not only that, but the planet itself was greatly damaged and many died from the initial wave of energy which enveloped the entire world turning people into rampaging monsters that killed their loved ones and everyone else. Initially, the various nations at the time were able to seemingly control this disaster but with time things got worse. The Void also created beings like us, shapeshifters. We were able to avoid the initial purges because we could take Human shape but it was eventually found out that we too were contaminated. This led to a war between the shapeshifters and the Humans. A war that eventually culminated in the Void almost breaking loose into our reality and the shattering of the planet. This here is a lost fragment of the Planet we once called Earth.”

Fayde abruptly cut off the dragon and shouted, “Wait! Earth? You mean that Earth? Like… Earth!?”

The dragon nodded solemnly, “Yes. It is exactly what you are thinking. You said you were created by the Void from a person who existed on the planet Earth. Most likely, the Void was somehow able to traverse time or perhaps it was something else, something it caught while coming into existence within our reality. Either way, you yourself are not truly Human and are more a consciousness that was placed into a Human like body created by the Void to house its own consciousness. The crystal within you is most likely meant to facilitate this process. As for these so called Demihumans, they are most likely the product of the intermingling of species or perhaps some type of evolution of shapeshifters. We shapeshifters are most likely the ancestors of the Demihumans.”

Fayde was speechless when he heard the words of the dragon and for a long time he couldn’t think of what to say. Felicia beside him was equally speechless but she couldn’t quite comprehend everything the dragon was saying and kept annoying Aleks to explain things to her more simply.

“I don’t get it!! FAYDE, EXPLAIN IT TO ME! What is this dragon saying? What about us being shapeshifters!?”

She kept nagging him but Fayde’s brain was going into overdrive as he considered the dragon’s words. He took a step back and fell backwards, not even realizing he fell.

“The Void is an unparalleled lifeform that none of us can understand. Its schemes, its plots, are simply incomprehensible. My father ended up as a mere tool to be used and thrown away at its convenience. It has toyed with our entire family and look at the state we are in? We can’t allow the Void to succeed! It must be stopped in whatever it is trying to do. You Fayde are the key, I know it!”

The dragon seemed ever more certain as it spoke and with determination it turned to Fayde.

“Fayde.. You must save my brethren, my comrades. Please.”

Fayde had finally calmed his mind but the words of the dragon didn’t set him at ease.

“What do you mean? How can I save anyone? I’m stuck here just like you and I can’t even use my power.”

“Hmmmm.. That would be the suppression of this fragment. Currently, I control this fragment and I have been using what little is left of my life to keep my people here alive and safe. I don’t even know how long we have been here but my life will soon end. When that happens, this fragment will collapse and everyone will die. That is why I joined hands with Mystra despite despising her and her kind from the bottom of my core. She promised to save my comrades if we helped her in her battle against the other divinity and also to kill you. I didn’t know why then, but now I know. Mystra can not be trusted. I should have never have agreed to her plan but this also gives me an opportunity. Your powers are suppressed now, but it will only be a matter of time before they return. Also, I will give you the rest of my power and with that you should be able to return from where you came and even take my people with you. While the two divinities are fighting against each other, that will be our opportunity. Wait until Mystra defeats her opponent and then defeat Mystra general here using your power combined with mine. At that moment, I will send you all I have. If you can defeat her general then by the rules of their own competition, her forces will be forced out and you can take over the fragment returning it back to the original world.”

Noticing Fayde’s gloomy expression the dragon stopped and asked, “Is there something wrong with my plan? Or do you not trust me?”

Fayde shook his head and said, “No, it’s not that. It’s just, is there no way to save you too?”

“I thank you for your concern Fayde, but there is nothing that can be done to save me.”

“But Nes and Allein will be heartbroken.”

“It’s better you don’t tell them. Let them remember me as I was.”

Felicia continued to eye the two back and forth as they spoke but she didn’t interrupt them even though she didn’t fully understand their conversation.

Fayde paced back and forth for a bit before finally asking, “There is one thing I don’t understand. Why didn’t Allein or Nes tell me any of this? I mean, they told me some of the events of the past but their knowledge seems very limited or were they withholding information from me?”

The dragon’s expression grew concerned at his words and he snorted violently with smoke coming out of his nostrils.

“It is most likely that the Void tampered with their memories. Not only that, but it could be that either the divinities or the Void are intentionally suppressing information about the past. Well, you say your fragment has very little knowledge about the past in general but you mentioned a country called the Empire which are devout followers of the divinities. It could be through Mystra’s influence that these things have come to pass as well.”

“I see. Let’s assume your plan works, will your comrades even be willing to follow me? They seem to have a strong hatred towards Humans. It is even stronger than the hatred that Demihumans show towards them.”

“This…. Is a concern. We were once all Humans to begin with but the events that happened are difficult to overcome. I will command them to follow your lead and they will do so. This much I can promise, after that, it’s up to you. It certainly helps that you are married to my sister but I don’t want her to know about my fate. I will instruct the others about this as well. Please take care of all of them, especially my siblings. They are the last of my blood after all.”

“Alright, so tell me what I have to do.”