Five hundred years ago Kal N'Dar received a communication from General Long. It was late at night. Kal N'Dar was sleeping. He had a fun time last night and hadn't recovered. Now, General Long needed something. It must be important. The General was on the emergency wave.

"General," Kal N'Dar said bleary-eyed.

"Kal, I really need your help buddy," the General said in a strained voice.

"What can I do for you General?" Kal asked.

"The twins disappeared!" the General said.

As soon as the words came out of his mouth Kal had a bad feeling he knew what this was about.

"Give me the details so I can find those little troublemakers!" Kal said in an angry voice. He knew he made a mistake a few months ago. The twins were dissatisfied with being baby dragons. They didn't see how much use they would be to the young lord. How could they get cultivation techniques when they were too young to get into the Imperial Academy?

Kal made an off-hand remark all they needed to find was access to a universe with time disfasia and they could grow up quicker. Kal said it because so far, he hadn't found such a thing. However, Kal had a feeling these uber twins found it somehow. Maybe this was part of their special gift? He wasn't sure as they never told him what little extra they got as a result of being dragon twins.

"The twins were going site seeing with their guardians. They made a trip near the Puskan rift. Three days into the tour they disappeared," The General said.

"What did the guardians say?" Kal asked.

"They said they had no idea what happened," General long responded.

"See, General, I hate to say I told you so, but this is why you've got to stop putting amateurs with those little troublemakers!" Kal said.

The General merely looked down and didn't say anything. He knew Kal was right. However, he was pressured by the Clan. This was the last time this would happen with these two kids. From now on Kal would be the only person he’d trust when it came to those two.

"How long have they been missing?" Kal asked.

"Over a month." General Long said. As soon as he finished speaking he winced. He knew what was coming.

"Over a month! What the shig Long! How can you wait over a month to contact me?!" Kal shouted. It was situations like this where the General wondered who worked for whom.

"Listen Kal, I'm as upset as you are. I just found out myself. Five minutes before I called you I was informed by the Clan. Now, they're trying to blame me for this mess when they strong-armed me into agreeing to use these two guardians," the General said.

"Well don't let them strong arm you! You're the General a man who dines with the Emperor himself! How dare they presume to tell you what to do!" Kal yelled again. The irony Kal was telling the General what to do and even reprimanding him wasn't lost on General Long. Kal was someone, though, who could yell at him.

The man came through for them too many times. He was almost infallibly right. Even the Emperor took notice of this Imperial owned smuggler. The General wanted to bring him into the military officially but Kal claimed his effectiveness was due to his freedom. Besides he could never take orders from others.

"The Guardians are dragons I suppose," Kal said.

"Yes, they're both Four-Clawed Gold Dragons," The General said.

"They're idiots, " Kal said. The General didn't bother responding, what would be the point?

"Send me all the data you have. I'll start investigating. Hopefully, the trail isn’t cold yet," Kal said to the General as he turned off the communication apparatus.

For the last five hundred years, Kal kept his Samsara pod in his soul. After some research, BS42 found a material native to this universe that could block soul and Qi scans. Kal had his Warbox, Benton, forge armor with the scan blocking materials. Kal no longer feared to carry his Samsara pod with him.

Kal sent his soul spectral image into the Samsara pod. He found Benton and they set up a secure link with BS42 through the ship's QS-Com.

"Kal, usually when you contact me it's either to tell me you finished a mission or to ask for help. I don't have you on a mission presently, so it must be you need help," BS42 said.

"The Dragon Clan let the twins go on an adventure with a couple of stupid dragons and now the twins are missing," Kal said.

"Why don't they just have you stay with those two?" BS42 asked.

"I've asked them several times. I bet if they get the twins back after this, they'll probably be my permanent charges," Kal said in an exasperated voice.

"Ok, send me the details you have about their last known location and I'll activate the trackers to see if we can pinpoint their location," BS42 said.

Kal did as instructed and waited to hear back from BS42. Kal would never yell at BS42 or show him impatience like he did with General Long. BS42 aside from having his finger near Kal's soul destruct button was also Prince Heken, brother of the Emperor. If he ever wanted his freedom back, he had to make BS42 happy.

While he was waiting for BS42, Kal looked through the data as thoroughly as possible. He even made some interesting discoveries.

After several hours of waiting, BS42 finally contacted Kal with the tracking results.

"Kal, the results aren't good." BS42 began.

"Not good, how?" Kal asked.

"Their track ends near the Qwyvar rift," BS42 said.

"The Qwyvar rift?! They were supposedly last seen near the Peskan rift," Kal said.

"It seems they were trying to throw everyone off the trail," BS42 said.

"Those little twitches, when I get my hands on them they won't have any skin left on their backsides!" Kal said.

"You know what this means Kal?" BS42 asked.

"Yes, sir. I'll bring them back. If I survive..." Kal began but didn't finish his thoughts.

"Trying to make conditions, Kal?" BS42 asked coldly.

"N..No, sir! I just hoped if I survived I could send a letter home," Kal said.

"Not possible while you're a prisoner. However, if you are successful, I'll open the prison for you after the dragon mission is over," BS42 said.

"Really?!" Kal was extremely excited and happy.

"However, I'll need the Samsara pod back and if you die afterward where your soul goes is none of our concern," BS42 told him.

"Of course, sir, thank you," Kal said from the bottom of his heart. BS42 was tough but he was fair. He knew Kal was risking everything in trying to get those kids back. Big rewards come with big risks.

After he discontinued his communication with BS42, Kal returned to his body and contacted General Long.

"General, I found their last location," Kal said.

"That's great, where are they?" The General asked expectantly.

"Their trail goes cold at the Qwyvar rift," Kal said.

"The Qwyvar rift?! The Qwyvar rift?! Why the kos would they go there?

"They're looking for an access point to a time disfasia universe. I'll send you the supporting data for that," Kal said.

"But, but, but, why would they want to go to a universe with time disfasia?" the General asked.

"It's not hard to figure out, what's the one thing all children want more than anything?" Kal asked.

"To grow up," The General said as all color left his face.

"My suspicion is the reason they started at the Peskan rift was to throw us off their trail. However, I'm sure they convinced their guardians the Peskan rift led to a universe with time disfasia and they were just "curious" about it," Kal said.

"What's your point Kal? Just say it." The General asked.

"I think those two guardians were convinced the twins were right and took them there in the hope of getting credit for finding a new universe. They got played by the twins because of their greed," Kal said.

"Why do you say that?" The General was clearly seething. He was already sure Kal was right.

"Why else would they wait a month to tell you? They think the twins snuck away and went into the riff. They were hoping they could find the safe opening to the riff so they could go in and save the twins. Then their rewards would double. Found a new universe and saved the Golden twins. Once again, the culprit is their greed. You might want to have a chat with them. I'm sure you could persuade them to admit their faults," Kal said.

"Don't you worry, I'll talk to them," The General said.

"While they're being cooperative you should also ask which of the elders signed off on this little adventure. I doubt those kids would have been let out if there wasn't an equally greedy Dragon Clan Elder making their exit from the clan possible." Kal said.

"You're right! I'm going to scarn them so bad their closest relatives won't recognize them. I'm going to make an example of these people to let everyone else know the price of their greed!" General Long swore. The General was beyond mad. He was feeling murderous.

Dragons were typically long-suffering, patient, and caring creatures, but once you ticked one off good luck with not getting burned to ash.

"What do you plan to do Kal?" General Long asked.

"What can I do, I'm going into the Qwyver rift to try and save those kids if they're still alive," Kal said.

"Kal, you'll probably die if you go in there!" General Long said.

"What do you want me to do? Let you tell the Emperor the two most precious dragon babies born in the last several thousand years are lost to the Dragon Clan because you wouldn't send your man in to find them?" Kal asked bemusedly.

"No, but...look, Kal, if you survive this..." The General began.

"You'll owe me big time. Don't worry I already have my prize picked out," Kal smirked.

"Really?" The General said curiously. "What's that?" he asked.

"Your daughter," Kal said.

"Xiānnǚ?" General Long asked.

"No, the other one. The one who's always quietly sitting off to the side. I can't get her out of my head." Kal said.

"Zhìhuì?" General Long asked.

"Yes, her!" Kal said.

"Why would you want to marry her? She never talks," the general said.

"That's because everyone around her isn't worth speaking with," Kal smirked.

"And you are?" The General asked.

"Absolutely, she's just lacking a little excitement. She'll make a great first wife. I'll make her into the universe's Smuggler Queen!" Kal said.

"You'll what?! She would never do that." The General said.

"Oh yea, ask her, I'll even make a bet with you," Kal said.

"What kind of bet," The General asked.

"If I'm right you'll send me two of those XG-Fighters. One for me and the other will be my wedding present to your daughter. If I'm wrong, I'll give you the location of the Thelian mine I found" Kal said.

"Deal. But you have to come back alive!" The General said. What a fine son-in-law this Kal would make. Sure, he wasn't a dragon, but no one was perfect.

"Deal. See you soon," Kal cut communications immediately.

The entire time he was talking to the general he was heading towards the Qwyvar rift. Kal took in a deep breath before plunging into the rift where he thought the twins probably entered.

"Here we go," Kal said nervously.

The ship dipped into the rift and immediately disappeared.