1 Red Twilight Demon of the Flower chapter 1

Prolog *Commissioned by Rei Havens

Chapter 1 After Eden

Chapter 2 Marooned part 1* By Ashley Fox

Chapter 3 Marooned part 2* By Ashley Fox

Chapter 4 Marooned part 3* By Ashley Fox

Chapter 5 Marooned part 4* By Ashley Fox

Chapter 6 Runaway

Chapter 7 Shadows Over Life part 1* Commission by Keys Spider Queen

Chapter 8 Shadows Over Life part 2* Commission by Keys Spider Queen

Chapter 9 Shadows Over Life part 3* Commission by Keys Spider Queen

Chapter 10 Shadows Over Life Part 4* Commission by Keys Spider Queen

Chapter 11 Battle the Zzuragg part 1* Commissioned by Rogueybear

Chapter 12 Battle the Zzuragg part 2** Commissioned by Rogueybear

Chapter 13 Battle the Zzuragg part 3** Commissioned by Rogueybear

Chapter 14 Battle the Zzuragg part 4** Commissioned by Rogueybear

Chapter 15 Battle the Zzuragg part 5** Commissioned by Rogueybear

Chapter 16 Battle the Zzuragg part 6** Commissioned by Rogueybear

Chapter 17 Biting Wind part 1* Commissioned by Kooskia

Chapter 18 Biting Wind part 2* Commissioned by Kooskia

Chapter 19 Biting wind part 3* Commissioned by Kooskia

Chapter 20 Biting wind part 4* Commissioned by Kooskia

Chapter 21 Parlay

Chapter 22 Fractured Memories part 1* Commissioned by Dodish

Chapter 23 Fractured Memories part 2* Commissioned by Dodish

Chapter 24 Fractured Memories part 3* Commissioned by Dodish

Chapter 25 Fractured Memories part 4* Commissioned by Dodish

Chapter 26 Fractured Memories part 5* Commissioned by Dodish

Chapter 27 Fractured Memories part 6* Commissioned by Dodish

Chapter 28 Ghost Dog

Chapter 29 Evil Book part 1 * Commissioned by night_spore426

Chapter 30 Evil Book part 2 * Commissioned by night_spore426

Chapter 31 Evil Book part 3 * Commissioned by night_spore426

Chapter 32 Evil Book part 4 * Commissioned by night_spore426

Chapter 33 Evil Book part 5 * Commissioned by night_spore426

Chapter 34 Evil Book part 6 * Commissioned by night_spore426

Chapter 35 Evil Book Part 7 * Commissioned by night_spore426

Chapter 36 First, Therefor, Because

Chapter 37 Siege part 1

Chapter 38 Siege part 2

Chapter 39 Siege part 3

Chapter 40 Afterlife * By Ashley Fox

Chapter 41 She Whom Eats the Moon

Chapter 42 The Light at the End of the World

Chapter 43 Alone in Heaven

Prolog

Realm: Drakolus

Place: Library of Agora

Chrono Sphere: 20-02

The ceiling in the Library is 150 feet overhead, even for the mighty dragons, the keepers of the tomes. In and amongst the grate and ancient wurms the tiny mouse that is Jessica the Weaver is a strange looking thing. The aged mouse mother walks briskly down the halls whispering the titles of books as she passes them. For much of the last several years she has traveled to every kingdom she knows in search of the oldest and wisest sages. But time and time again where she hopes to find wise-men she stumbled on the feet of wise-guys.

The mighty Jessica the Weaver is in need of ancient power and forgotten lure not empty platitudes. She has traveled from Nimh to Asgard, to Avalon, to the Steel Rose and now here Drakolus. She has been led to believe that here she will find the eternal dragon that had trained the elder druid Kemen Ter'lord, and Scuala Al'mother.

If Jessica is to find a wizard of the highest caliber a dragon born of the lineage of Soles-Chaos should do nicely. The worldwalkers, baptized in dragon blood, now it is time to see what a true born dragon has to offer.

A voice call over from a well-lit table and there he is, a young and beautiful dragon sits up on his back legs, he waves the mouse over "You must be the traveler Jessica LaMarcus." The cute dragon smiles to the mouse. Jessica walks over and places her hands on the sides of the chair before her. The chair is over ten feet tall and takes her a few seconds to nestle into; the dragon slides a hand under Jessica's rump to help her into the set.

Jessica explains "I have gone by that name before."

The dragon brings a hand up to his chin thinking "LaMarcus, isn't that also the name of the Avalon, moon king?"

Jessica pulls her pendant out from under her cloak and lets it rest between her breast "Indeed it is, it is Princes Walker Selina LaMarcus that sits on the throne today. It is with his blessing that I use his name as I am in this land." She points to her pendant. A bronze medallion with a ruby heart stone and a ring of eight gem slivers outlining the heart stone like the corona of a sun "it was also he that gave me this trinket."

The dragon slides a finger under the necklace to bring it close as he searches it for markings, the dragon admirers the beauty of the stone. "it is outstanding. Only Moonfolk cut stones so slender."

Jessica locks eyes with the dragon; her nose lowers softly as she blushes, "storm clouds rumble in your eyes, it is enchanting."

The dragon lets go of the chain "then that means that you can see arcana floating in the air. You see Jessica, I have trained in the art of silent casting. I can summon magic without the need for; bangles, or songs, and dance. I can imagine casting a spell then the spell tack shape in this world. I bet you are a talented wizard yourself."

"you will need to forgive me, master dragon, it seems I have forgotten your name."

"Rhaegal will do. My full name is difficult to say if you do not speak Draconic, Trogg, or Fay." The dragon folds his arms under his torso and leans forward onto the table offering the mouse a hungry grin. "my aid tells me that you came here looking for an exorcist. Is that true?"

"it is." Jessica nods girlishly

"Are you aware the 'The Guardian of Avalon' his blessed with anti-possession magic?" Rhaegal names the pendant around Jessica's neck.

"And yet the beast invades my dreams. I can feel him behind my eyes watching my movements, and I hear him whispering in my ear…"

Rhaegal clarifies "he whispers to you but does not try to control you?"

"he has tried, but I have fought him off, mostly," Jessica adds

"what does mostly mean?" Rhaegal slides a finger under Jessica's head making her look up at him.

"once, he asked me to hurt one of my friends. I could not fight him that day."

"Did you have the pendant on at the time?" Rheagal stretches his neck looking around the mouse body sizing her up.

"I had it on already the day the monster first came to me." Jessica lowers her head shyly

"where did you meet the beast?" the dragon probes for more information

"Nihm, Graywall Keep."

"what shape did the monster take?" the dragon thinks he knows what is going on. 'This is easy; a banshee or a wight attacked her, it is not a demon the mouse is struggling with, it is enchantery.' He has all the tools he needs to cure the mouse right here and now.

"Kari had many shapes, first a man named Adam Crow, thin as a bird named Baba-Yung, a spider called Scala, and he could also appear as wind, fire, gold dust, a great fanged beast and as a mouth in the sky. But not one of these is him; these are only the shape he could take that I could understand and interact with."

Rhaegal looks nerves, something in that description has rubbed his scales up the wrong way, this sounds much larger then he was expecting. Jessica's nose wiggles as does one ear, she can taste the dragon's blood in the air, she can smell his emotions. Jessica can tell Rhaegal is about to stand up and say 'This job isn't right for me,' and 'let me send you to one of my friends.' Jessica has played this back and forth with other wizards after having their ego put on the line.

Jessica needs to do something to keep the dragon's attention, Jessica pulls her legs under her body sitting on her knees in the chair, she places a hand on Rhaegal's claw and the other hand she slides under her chin cutely, her tail runs up her back, she sways side to side hypnotically. "someone told me that you are part Tamriel, is that true?" Jessica plays at Rhaegal's vanity.

"If every dragon that thought they were Tamriel were we would all be siblings." Rhaegal acts modest for a moment" 'There is something off about this mouse.' Rhaegal thinks. The mouse eyes draw him in, the sway of her tail gets his heart to flutter, her scent makes him salivate. Jessica's femininity teases at the dragon fatherly needs. Rhaegal discards his apprehension. "Alright, let me take a good look at you and see what is what."

Rhaegal leans forward getting nose to nose with Jessica looking into her eyes. The monster within Jessica's soul starts to feed Rhaegal a fantasy.

Intoxicating black storm clouds brighten the sky, low hanging storms bring a heated cold to the dragon's skin, thunder summons music to his ears. The coppery aroma of fresh hot love fills the dragon with lust. A valley outreaches before Rhaegal's eyes, the Thunderdance, the dragon's spring festival. Rhaegal has been her before. As the storm rages the dragons dance, Music and love are the order of the day. Rhaegal feels himself filling with hunger as his eyes feast on beautiful young flesh. It has been some time since Rhaegal has gotten to dance, he misses it so.

When it comes to dragons and the Thunderdance, any onlooker would describe the way the dragons act as reckless and irresponsible. There is much love being passed around during these events with little attention given to age, gender or familial bonds. During your average dance any dragon looking for love will enjoy ten or so partners, and once the dance is dune, everyone goes home. No thoughts is given to consequence until months later, eggs having already been laid. It as at this time that some of the more unique qualities of dragon civilization come into play.

You see, in the case of a dragon, there is no such thing as a reckless relationship. Every dragon knows what is going to happen at a Thunderdances, every dragon knows that if they share their love with others eggs could become involved, and dragons are uniquely aware of each waking moment of their life. When a dragon hibernates, they get to relive every memory they have. Dragon memory is incorruptible. If a dragon girl lays an egg after the Thunderdance she will sniff out her partners from that day and approach them in the order they had approached her during the festival. After all the first dragon to have laid with her in the evening is the one that was most likely to have given her the eggs. She would then offer to surrender ownership of the eggs to her partners. It is only at this point that dragons talk about the possibility of a long-term relationship.

It was on a night much like this that Rhaegal was given his Threehorn, in Rhaegal's family all girls are called Threehorns, it is a practicality. This may not be true of all dragons everywhere but in the land where Rhaegal was born the most natural sexually dimorphic trait to see is one's horns. Males always have an even number of horns, with there dominant par growing out from their crown and often hooking around their ear-scales or fins, females, on the other hand, have an odd number of horns, still having the horns that line their fins but then with on extra, it sits at the center of their crown and slumps forward drawing a line between their eyes and following the arc of their nose. No small number of antsy dragon boys could tell you, one poke to the ribs with that third horn will teach you to respect your lovers.

It was also on a night just like this that Rhaegal lost his beloved Threehorn. It is a tradition that the guardian parent of a child, male or female is irrelevant, stay by their side during a Thunderdance and do everything that their child does, just in case some older and sneaky dragon wants to try to take advantage of a first-timer, lie to them and steal from them in any way.

After their first dance together, Rhaegal had the honor of watching his Threehorn lay her first egg, but she would not get to see the egg hatch, and he would never dance again with his daughter or grandchild. The year after their dance together an event called 'the Dying' ravaged the land some fungal infection swept the countryside. Any dragon that came in contact with this fungus had the scales on their paws and tail rot and brake away exposing their pink underskin, and in the case of the very young and the ancient the scales would not grow back, and they would be disabled or killed by any number of infections that followed.

The eldritch thing living in Jessica's mind demonstrates that it knows all of this and so much more. The sky turns to violet; a whale sings shattering all other sounds. The sky is consumed by hooking teeth; the ground is sundered by fangs more massive than mountains, cracking out from the deep of the earth. As the strange song is sung, the world changes shape.

That which is old becomes vigor. That which is beautiful becomes innocent. That which is refined becomes wild. Then all turns to water. The furnace of space bathes the world in its embers as time runs backward. All things turn simpler, more rudimentary. All things grow together, slipping every more into a single shape that is like nothing alive today but contains all the building blocks to be whatever it wants to be.

The sky unfolds the tonsil-like flaps of its mouth showing off a chasm the twist into the depths of eternity and burns with a pink life-giving light, looking into the lights gives the feeling of looking out the birth channel. The light draws Rhaegal in showing him life before life, a time before time. Space outside space. This thing inside Jessica's body is a thing that can not be. A monster forged in some form of superspace outside of tangible reality that can seemingly give birth to a universe.

Rhaegal gasp and pulls his hands away from Jessica, he had only been scrying her for a few moments, but he felt the passage of time on a scale he could not describe, the words, the mathematical language to express what he saw doesn't exist yet.

Jessica still has her eyes locked on the dragon boy "what did you see?" the question is authentic Jessica houses the monster but is only faintly aware of it most of the time and cant possible know how large and powerful this thing is.

Rhaegal is half in a panic. "I need a moment; I need to look over my books. I may take some time; if you need to step out, I will send a walking monk to fetch you." He climbs to his feet shaking as his mind struggles to sort the cosmic data dump he encountered during his trip into Jessica's soul. The beast wasn't trying to harm Rhaegal, it was trying to tell him something but it was almost like his mind and body could not recover the information all at once.

Jessica nudges her head upwards, she points to a statue made of a green scaly metal "is that a Cilverant statue?" she asks.

Rhaegal looks back then looks at the mouse again, he nods as he swallows hard trying to force his heart rate down with autogenic breaths. "Yes."

Jessica jumps down from her chair, her glasses sparkle as she too is feed revelation "I need to travel to Silk Valley, summon Him to help you in your research. I will return as soon as I can…"

***

Realm: The Never

Place: Steel Rose

Chrono sphere: 20-02

Floating through the mist between worlds the satellite that is known as the Steel Rose rest, orbited by seven moons. At the center of the Rose rest the soul of spacecraft, the courthouse. The builder of the space station, Cilverant the Architect of Peace, the four-faced iron giant, sets at the judge's podium Xia, the Rat Samurai, stands by his side as the orderly. The court is in session, a closed-door meeting. There are no jurors today; they will not be needed.

The defendant stands to await the words of the judge. Her name is Seeker, she is from the realm of Esper, her planet forged from living metal, and she is no different, even if she has enhanced her body and walks around looking like a human living in a cybernetic skin. She has long blond hair; her chest is hollow showing of the spinning gyro that is her heart, her shell is a deep blue. Her exasperation, enigmatic.

Cilverant digs his fingers into the chair before him. "Sister, you stand before me, a member of this cabal. Seeker of Eternity, forged from the body of Seeker of Esper. You have been accused of Void Worship. This act is a crime on every free world within the known cosmos. Do you understand this?"

Seeker is to the point; she always is "This information has been made available to me."

Cilverant continues "you have been fingered by your fellow cultist Vestel. How do you plead?"

Seeker expresses "I have knowingly and willingly participated in rituals alongside the Worldwalker called Vestel."

Cilverant clarifies "you have just pleaded guilty?"

Seeker confirms "I did."

Xia becomes uneasy; she has a foggy memory of this conversation taking place once already. As Cilverant leans in to continue the grilling. Xia reaches into a pouch on the side of her belt pulling out a hand full of bird bones; she drops the bones on the table alongside her examining them. One hand finds the hilt of her sword slowly tipping it forward; she can see already that this is going to end just like last time.

Cilverant moves his hands together folding them over "why?"

Seeker is deadpan in her delivery "I have looked into the minds of one thousand of my other selves from across the cosmos. We live in a deterministic universe. In every universe, we live side by side, one of us must kill the other. There is no other way this ends."

Cilverant leans back in his chair "I have no intention of harming you."

Seeker explains "in this universe; I have already killed you. Liquid steel has poisoned the brain in a jar under your feet, and my code has corrupted the plug you are drawing power from. You are being erased as we speak. In only a few more moments I will overwrite you and take control of the Steel Rose for myself. Our fate is sealed, I have no choice."

The light empties from Cilverant's eyes, then the lights in the courtroom flicker. Xia Draws her sword. Seeker turns to look at Xia "you are not going to attack me. You can remember your past life and that it is not you that is meant to fight me. You are going to run to the control room now; you will fire a flare. Tell the other Worldwalker's that Cilverant is offline, and I am now in control."

***

Chapter 1 After Eden

Realm: Asgard

Place: Ice Ocean

Chrono Sphere: 20-02

The wind is howling outside, the temperature is -70*, to be outdoors right now would be a death sentence to all but the strongest of animals. Three wolves gather in a catacomb deep under the ice. The glow of embers lights the hole. The first wolf is a female; she has white fur and red spirals painted onto her, she is called Ami. The second wolf is a male, he has a flower tattooed on his nose with the stem wraps around one eye and runs down his back, he is Hetatsubachi. The third wolf is both male and female; she is called Loki.

Loki picks up a bottle in her moth uncorking it. She sticks her muzzle into the jar to withdraw a bird beak from inside. She then adds the mandible to a boiling pot on the fire. "the crooked beak of a Wonderbird. that was shockingly hard to get ahold of." Loki turns to face Ami "Are you ready to get started?"

Ami turns her head folding her body nearly in half as she sniffs at her tail. She then looks back to Loki with a nod "I think we are still on schedule."

Loki opens another jar and pulls out a hard slug to add to the soup. "that is good, I don't have the time or money to set this up again if we mess up."

Hetatsubachi joins the conversation "how long did it take to set this up?"

Loki walks over to Ami; she sets down a cup next to her. "I need three drops of blood from you." Loki then addresses Hetatsubachi "two hundred years to gather the spell components, four hundred to manipulate the blood of the Skoll family to prepare them to receive the blessing."

Tatsu lowers his head, his eyes shut in contemplation "Loki, do you remember the battle at Eden?"

Loki places her paws on the spoon in the caldron "I was not present at the battle. But I remember the events leading up to the battle."

Tatsu locks eyes with his host "when did that battle take place."

Loki almost can't stop her giggling at the remark "in our presentation of time-space it happens three weeks from today."

Tatsu becomes excited "then I didn't imagine it! Something has altered time-space. Loki, what powers in the cosmos has the power to alter the rules of reality like this?"

Loki smiles "the Chrono Sphere is easily disrupted. Any child of Chaos could bend time-space; you, me, the Belmond. But if it was any of us, there would be a fundamental different then what you are experiencing right now. When you are I bend space, it is only you and I that can see the bend. When who did it this time did all of the Worldwalkers saw it."

Tatsu stands, his blood boiling as the will to hunt fights its way to the surface "I went to Eden hunting a monster. Is the hunt still on?"

Loki stops for a moment offering her full attention to Tatsu "How did the hunt end last time?"

Tatsu's smile melts as he drops into a sitting position "I don't remember."

Loki walks over to Tatsu; she rubs her head under his lifting his head, she slides alongside him to whisper "Tatsu, take my advice, stop hunting. Once we are done here jump through the Never, find some world somewhere out there blanketed in flowers and do what Chaos wants us to do. Eat hardy and spread your seed. This fight isn't for the likes of you and me; this is a fight between Tamriel. Let them do the fighting and the bleeding." Loki turns her head offering Hetatsubachi a kiss.

Ami interrupts "soup is boiling."

Quickly Loki runs back to the stew. Tatsu, finds himself lost in thought for a moment "Loki, what will you and Ami do after we finish this ritual?"

"I will take Ami to the Realm of Nihm; I will need to keep her hidden for five months. She cannot be touched for at least five months after the spell is complete. After that, I am going to follow Jloose example and find some cute alien to shack up with for a few decades." Loki starts spooning the soup into cups. "Ami, Tatsu, take these cups in your muzzles, tip your head back and swallow. You must finish the soup in three swallows or less."

The male and female wolf do as instructed. They both drink and await their next instruction. Loki stands between them. Loki places a cup with a leaf and a needle on the ground; she watches for a moment waiting for the leaf to stop spinning. "Ami, the chalice of the holy blood, turn to face north. Curl your tail around your left leg and lower your breast. Hold your womanhood high."

Ami becomes dizzy as the potion takes effect, she looks at the needle then turns to face north, she lowers her head and hooks her tail around her leg.

Loki looks at Tatsu, "lower your head to the ground, offer your prayers to the goddess of creation. With your eyes shut follow your nose, lift your head to Ami's underside, with the tip of your tongue lick the blood from her backside."

Tasu follows instructions as his will is suppressed by the magic, not that he wouldn't happily lick Ami anyway. Loki takes a bow "With this next instruction my part in this ritual will be complete, and it will be up to the two of you to finish without me. Hetatsubachi, with the taste of Ami's blood in your mouth you may consummate your relationship. Do so by placing a paw on her stomach, the other reach around her body and place it in her mouth, hold her still. See to it that you remain facing north until the spirts have left you. Ami, you will accept Hetatsubachi into your body, you will bite him. You will hold him still. Your body alone will work. Once the spirits wills it, you will both climax. I will now leave you."

Magic fills the blood of the two wolves. The pleasure of the energy is exhausting. For much of the evening, the two of them remain stuck together by Loki's spell. Once the spirit boiling in Tatsu's body is released into Ami they both howl. Tatsu faints. Only moments later Ami falls onto her stomach falling asleep also.

***

With Tatsu's part played Loki pulls the two apart, Ami is teleported to the safe room in which she will live for the better part of the year. Loki pays respect to Tatsu for his role in this heathenistic spell by waiting for him to awaken.

The two gather outside; the sun is rising as is the temperature. Tatsu watches the sun rising "Loki, this is where we part ways isn't it?" there is a hint of sadness in his words.

Loki nods "It is."

Tatsu turns to face his friend "it is shameful. I should like to stay with the two of you."

"And that is why things must be this way. Don't love people, don't trust them, you will be happier that way." Loki turns to sand vanishing. Tatsu sighs lowering his head, Tatsu brakes apart into a flock of butterflies. The two of them flee Asgard with only the hope that one day the three of them will be together again.