Kalarn could see the temple up ahead. It's door was chained, although this never stopped him. The cathedral had been desecrated for honoring the Dragon Lords. He had made short work out of the perpetrator. He entered through the wooden doors and saw the chained statue.

The chains were wrapped around the statue of a giant dagon, its obsidion surface scratched by the chains. Although he had wanted to take the chains off, it was a reminder of the history of Kalrazon. Besides, the chan were bolted to the marble. It was done by the maker of the cathedral, who was murdered by an angry man.

He growled when he saw what had recently been done to the statue of a man, raising his hands in prayer, in front of the dragon. This man was the first and last dragon rider. He was the only one who had been trusted by the dragons. He was murdered in his sleep, and his dragon was doomed to search for him in the Realm of Shadows.

The man's name was Kalaranz. His name was revered among dragons. He was a defendor of all that was draconic. His statue was cut clean in half. Kalarn started to right the statue, when he heard a noise.

A new set of ruins had been rumored to be some where in a remote area of the Dragonspine mountain. It was a dangerous area, but that simply made it more likely that it was indeed some new discovery and less likely to have ravaged by looters and adventurers. After a great deal of searching the area in question, Ace's efforts finally brought him to a forlorn temple. Time had apparently not been kind to it, though it seemed structurally sound. Broken chains were on the ground by the doors of the cathedral. He wondered how recent they had been broken, but had no good way of finding out.

He walked around the cathedral once and noted that this was indeed the only entrance. Slowly the half-dragon pushed the door open, but despite his best efforts the door squeaked. Ace hoped that it hadn't awoken any nasty beast that had made this place their home. He didn't have any idea what he would be dealing with and preffered not finding out the hard way.

Drawing his wings around him, Ace pressed on foward into the temple of some forgotten faith. He wondered if it had been home to one of the previous gods of imythess. Ace stopped when he caught sight of someone inside. It appeared to a half-dragon, yet unlike Ace appeared much more dragon than human. Ace couldn't quite tell what sort of dragon the person was half of, though the same would undoubtably be true of Ace, provided the creature managed to note Ace as half-dragon.

"Hello," Ace called out hoping the half-dragon spoke common.

Hearing the door creak, Kalarn swore loudy and spun around. All he could see was a, human? He lifted the top half of the statue of Kalaranz onto the bottom section, and grabbed aa torch to meld it back together. He knew the person was watching him, although he didn't much care.

Once it was done, he turned to the man and shouted, "Who is your ancestor?"He waved his wings and growled, remembering the people who had cut his wings so long ago. His ancestry was of Aphelion, the Black Dragon Lord.

Kalarn looked and saw red wings. "Ah, so it is Parsec. A good dragon, very brave." Didn't do him much good. he thought. He walked over and said, "What brings you to the shrine of Kalrazon? Do you wish to honor him?" He ignored any answer he might of said and grabbed a staff that someone had taken from the statue and put it into the hands of Kalaranz.

(A torch isn't hot enough to meld a statue :confused: )

The darkscaled half-dragon appeared to be attempting to repair the statue. He assumed that this was the person who had broken the chains on the door and was now seeking to repair the shirne. At first Ace had wondered if he was heard or understood for half-dragon continued about his work without offering any reply for quite some time. When he did speak, the Half-dragon asked the queer question of who was his ancestor. Ace was lost as to what exactly was meant by that.

Wasting no time waiting on a reply, the half-dragon found what ever answer he sought, though the name did seem familiar. Parsec, dragon god of fire or something like that. He wasn't quite sure what source he had pulled that from, but he was sure it was quite old. The half-dragon also spoke of Kalrazon, a name he was wholely unfamilar with. He was sure he'd never heard it before at least note in anything worthy of a shrine. While prehaps inadvertingly providing the answer to what this place was, the half-dragon opened the door to many questions and seemed more intent on asking and his work than answering even his own question.

"I believe Parsec is no ancestor of mine, yet I must ask what you know of him, for I have heard few tales of him," Ace stated as he came in more to get a bette view of the entire shrine. He was half prismatic dragon, though with his element presently bent towards fire, he seemed more like half red dragon.

"I also can not claim I knew of this place's name beofre you told. What's more I've never heard of Kalrazon by word of mouth or any manuscript," Ace answered though it seemed that the half-dragon still was not that intent on listening.

(technically, it isn't really a statue, but more of a spirit guide, understand? I don't expect you to, i don't much either :P )

Kalarn could hear his doubt, so he went back over to him and said, "There is a way to find the ansectry of a half-dragon. We use crystals and the one that lights up will say your ancestor. We use that as the lords can like to breed with different colored dragons, and then the child grows infatuated with a human, and that child, a mix breed, as humans say, mutts, creates a child with the same color scales, wings, etcetera. So we use the crystals."

He passed his hands over his cloak and growled as he realized it was not there. He put his hand up in front of Ace's face to wait and Kalarn flew over the cathedral, getting a bird's eye view of the whole place. He spotted a glint of bronze and flew down to grab it. It deifiance, the key flew around. Kalarn grumbled, "Damn, his enchantment is still here, I thought I got rid of it all."

He swooped in and back out in an attempt to catch it, but to no avail. The key led Kalarn in and almost unending dance, when the key slammed full speed into the dragon. Kalarn gasped and flew down to grab it as it fell. The key slightly vibrated as he held it.

Kalarn held up the key, triumphant, when the walls started to moan. Kalarn tried to shout over the wailing of the walls, and managed to say, "Always does this...spell..not fixed!" Finally, the walls quieted down and Kalarn strode over to a inconspicuous bump on the wall.

Kalarn smiled and passed his hand over the bump, the one holding the key. The bump slid off and Klarn put the key in the keyhole that apeared and twisted. And with the agility of someone who had been doig this for a long time, he spun left as the key shot out of the keyhole, smashing into the wall and falling onto the stone floor.

(you said it was a statue in your first post and I don't even spirit guides can be mended in such a mundane way. Remeber if you can't properly understand something, it is doubtful others will and if no one understand it it is not a good thing to put in the post)

Ace was quite annoyed and mildly frustrated. The half-dragon appeared to have a wealth of knowledge on this temple and similar old and lost details, yet didn't even pay any mind to any of his question. He only presented more questions to be asked such as what the crystals actually were and why one's acestory mattered so much. Ace had no care to find out which of the Dragon lords or Dragon Gods was his ancestor, it meant nothing to him, he was having enough trouble trying to track down his mother and his twisted father. There was hope of some answers when the half-dragon looked for something on his cloak, yet what ever he sought was not there and Ace assumed that half-dragon wanted him to wait until he could retrieve what ever item it was.

Attempting to get some idea of what the black half-dragon was up to he silently cast a spell after the half-dragon left and became invisible. He followed Kalarn and it was not long before he discerned a faint magic aura in the air. It seemed to be a small key that flew about and later swiftly evaded most of Kalarn's attempts to catch it. After Kalarn had caught the key, Ace head back inside and dispelled his enchantment before Kalarn got back and the walls been to moan for some arcane reason. Old magic emanated from them, but then faded as the walls grew silent and still. After unlocked whatever mechanism it was meant for fell to the floor from crashing against the wall, Ace tried to get the Half-dragons. "What do you know of the Dragon Lords?" Ace asked trying to be a little more direct.

(Technically, you didn't ask ANY questions :evilgrin:)

Kalarn grabbed open the door and a wave of light was his answer. The wave continued and flowed like a heartbeat, a new wave with every pulse. Kalarn smiled as his eyes adjusted to the light.

Kalarn could see the crystal, he was basking in its splendor. Then, he remembered why he had flown in and out of the rafters to catch the key. He gently picked up the crystal as it might break any second, which it could.

He brought it over to Ace and set it down on the floor. "Now put your hands on it and it will tell you your ancestry." Then he seemed to her Ace's question which had quite litterally hung on the air. "I knows all there is about the Dragon Lords. Some consider me an expert, although I am a generalist, knowing slightly less about ech individual Lord than a real expert would, so I know a bit about all."

Strong anceint magic emanated from the crystal, seemigly draconic in nature if he was right in his studies of dragon magic. It was however strange that it was so small. It was probably broken off of a much larger crystal or prehaps one large crystal had been broken into many as the half-dragon had mentioned others. He half wanted take this and study it further, yet he was sure that the half-dragon would very much mind such a defiling act on this holy ground. Thankfully there was more hope of getting answer from him than from the crystal.

Getting answers from him, however; appeared to be a slow process. He had hoped that half-dragon would tell more of these Dragon lords and at least name them all yet Ace would have to prompt that imformation with another question.

"Who were these Dragon Lords, how did they come to be, and why do you find it so important to find which is my ancestor?" Ace asked as he knelt down to the crystal. Slowly brought his hands tentatively to the crystal and gently touched it, curious as to how excatly this crystal was going to tell which was his ancestor. He knew for sure it was not the Dragon lord of Fire. If he recalled correctly there was a dragon lord of Light, that would likely be the most fitting. Prismatic dragons were creatures of the light more than anything else. He wondered if they were also a mix of the other elements or if Clawd's meddling with life might confuse the crystal into thinking all the dragon lords were his ancestor.

"The dragon lords are the divine protecters of Tottaus, or the cosmic order. They are Parsec, the Red Dragon Lord. Parsec is lord of fire. Kalark, Blue Dragon Lord, he is lord of water, ice etcetera. Tarad, Brown Dragon Lord. He is lord of earth, rock, also etcetera. Ceiphied, White Dragon Lord. He is lord of wind and storms. Aphelion, Black Drragon Lord. He is lord of darkness, shadows, the moon, stars, etcetera."

"And the most powerful of all, the only one who is awake, Quasar, Gold Dragon Lord. He is lord of the sun, light etcetera. He and Aphelion are always fighting for control, and the control passes in eras. If I am right, it is the Era of Light right now."

"Let's see, they were created when the universe was, and was overthrown by the now existing gods, basically. The reason I must now who yours is..is...because! That is why I must now! Because of the Laws of Draconic!" Kalarn passed his hand over the crystal and it flashed several diferent colors, before a long crack started on its surface. The crack became a shape of a shield, before another crack went through the shape.

The Dragon gods... he remembered he had read these names from some text as such. It didn't fit with most of draconic lore, though the there was also the fact that it was mildly difficult to get ones hands on Draconic lore. Paticulalrly when many dragons were either being hunted by dragonslayers or hiding out with thier massive hordes. The valididty of this was highly unlikely, yet this shrine or this half-dragon might hold the secrets that needed to be unveiled to make it a plausible theory. Most likely they were a powerful group of dragons had slowly edged into a god-like status as they faded into myth and legend. The half-dragon's answer as to why he held such intrest was truly suspect. Just because certainly wasn't a reason and he doubted their were any laws draconic providing any better answer. Still he didn't wish to upset the the half-dragon by pointing out the ridiculousness of his beliefs or claims. "What are the Laws of Draconic? I haven't heard of these either," Ace asked politlely, wondering how trust worthy the answer would be.

Ace was curious as to why the crystal had done nothing as of yet. But it seem to be doing something after tha other half-dragon waved his had over it. More cracks split through the sheild until it was divided into to six seperate sections, Ace assumed there was one for each dragon lord. After the design was made the crystal's light dimmed and one one the sections glew a bright white. As soon as Ace almost assumed that this was a sign that Quasar was indeed his lord another section gave off a bright red light, and in increasing speed the other colors quickly filled the other sections until all sections were filled with the color of one of the dragon lords. After this display, all of the crystal resumed it's normal glow with the exception of the sheild that was split into six sections. Ace had the strangest feeling that only one of those was supposed to light up. "So how exactly is that supposed to be interpreted?" Ace asked with his eyes still locked on the puzzling crystal.

Kalarn watched, with worse results after each aditional color. At the addition of red, he got woozy. After blue, he had to use the sword he held to stand up. After the brown, he was sagging onto the hilt of the sword and considered a cane. After the addition of white, Ceiphied's color, Kalarn started to sink lower. Then black, Aphelion's color. At this point, Kalarn was finding a place to sit down. When the gold section filled in, he fainted in the chair.

After an hour or so, Kalarn revived himself, and walked over to the crystal. Almost immediantly, the black section, and the brown section dimmed to nothing. Then, he watched as the blue section dimmed. Kalarn straightened up, gripping the crystal, and set it on a pedestal. Immediantly, all lights dimmed. He passed his hand over it once more, and nothing happened. Kalaarn turned to Ace, dread in his eyes. "According to this, your ancesters are Quasar, Parsec, and Ciephied."

He went back to the seat, his head in his hands. "This is not possible, this can not be happenning. History is repeating itself too quickly. Next, the wars will reign. The wars over the dalean will return..."

Ace was curious as to why he had no answer all form the half-dragon, though several minutes passed before Ace could tear his eyes away form the crystal too find out what had happed to him. The half-dragon seemed to have been completely knocked out. He wondered if this was one of those trance-like states that allowed interpertation of the results. If only the Half-dragon had given a warning of this before hand. While Ace was waiting he soon reliazed that he hadn't ever gotten the answer on the Laws of Draconic, yet it was possible that Kalarn had not a chance to reply before falling into trance. Still it was odd, most trances were moreso peaceful meditation, where the half-dragon sounded and looked like he was sleeping.

Ace decided to inscpet more of the ruins while he waited on the half dragon. Prehaps he would find some familiar markings somewhere or prehaps some markings he could try to make use of in the Academy. He found a few which he noted before returning to inspect the crystal. He attempted to look it over without disturbinging it. He his search proved fruitless though. There were no markings on the sides from what he could see. Though he was able to note that the crystal was clearly a cut one.

Ace watched the black half-dragon as he finally came to. The results did not seem to please him at all, in fact they seemed to frighten him. Surely this had something to do with his father. Ace pondered the three lords and was not surprised that they reflected his elemental alignment at the moment. He seriously doubted that this meant that Reyna was of some fire and wind dragons, as while dragons occsionaly mated with other races, they hardly ever of that dragons mated with different types of dragons. Still that wasn't enough to make sense of all that the half-dragon was speaking of afterwards.

"Slow down. How is history repeating itself, what prophecy have I fufilled and what are the dalean?" Ace almost demanded.

Kalarn only just heard the question, as his hands were covering his ears.
"Slow down. How is history repeating itself, what prophecy have I fufilled and what are the dalean?" Kalarn turned to him and replied, "We do not know. It should not be possible. But, all the signs are pointing to the repitition of histories ills." Kalarn looked at the statue of the dragon. Obsidian, a true blocker of magical energy.

"What would you say if I told you that the most powerful weapons in the world, were lost, and hidden from all. Weapons, with the power second to only the Dragon Lords. Weapons that would cause a war so dangrous, all of nature would choose a side."Kalarn stood, his back to Ace, facing the statue of the dragon.

"What would you say, if I said I knew where one of them was. If I said, I was the guardian of one. The crystal should only shine brightly in a color. It should not crack. At all. To even think of it, was insane. Yet it has happened. Twice." Kalarn turned back to Ace, his cape billowing in an unknown wind.

"I can not tell you exactly what dalean are, only that they should never of been made. The inscriptions have been worn away by the sand and wind. Which you should of seen."

Ace was getting frustrated with the half-dragon again. He'd seemed to manage to get an answer for every question except the one he wanted answered most, How was history repeapting it self. He had stated what should not happen that had, but had certainly not tied it to these dalean. The dalean seemed to be the powerful weapons that he had spoken of, yet it doubtless that they were blown out of proportions just like the dragon lords. They were however probably powerful artifact... if they existed at all.

"You failed to tell me how exactly history is repeating. You only told things that shouldn't have happened, how does this connect to the Dalean? Is the cracking on the crystal a side that they are coming out of hiding? What exactly happened in the past that you fear is being repeated?" Ace asked before holding his tongue. He had many more questions but he didn't want to overwhelm the half-dragon and/or get the more important of his questions side-steped as the half-dragon had done before.

Ace took some releif by the black half-dragon not mentioning some elaborate prophecy that Ace had managed to fufill. For now it just seemed that the half-dragon was either hiding the peices of the puzzle which would have let it all make sense or he was simply freaking out about things not being the way he was told they were supposed to be.

"You failed to tell me how exactly history is repeating. You only told things that shouldn't have happened, how does this connect to the Dalean? Is the cracking on the crystal a side that they are coming out of hiding? What exactly happened in the past that you fear is being repeated?"

Kalarn looked at him and gave a small little smile. "Long ago the world was at peace. All the races worked together to achieve a common goal. Then, a man, a stranger in Imythess, came, and created the first dalean. The first one was in the shape of a greatsword and held the power of Quasar, Lord of Light. Naturally, Quasar was pleased, and came in human form to receive this gift."

"The man demanded one thing for this. He wanted to be able to switch between dragon form and human. Disgruntled, Quasar gave him this, and in turn recieved the blade. The man was not finished there. Oh no, he made a second one, a mighty war axe, impregnated with the power of Parsec, Lord of Fire."

"Parsec gave him a longer life span in exchange for it, and the man made a flail, embedded with the power of Tarad, Lord of Earth. He gave him limited control over the earth for it, so he could create a bridge of stone to cross a river or chasm. The lords could not see he was using them for his own selfish reasons."

"He made a spear for Kalark, as you know, embedded with the power of water. Kalark gave him the ability to breath under water, and took the spear, not for its power, but for a status symbol. The man, whose name was Draken, was growing powerful, powerful enough to decimate an army."

"He made a bow for Ceiphied, and a kris for Aphelion. Both stole the item from him as he slept, and strip him, taking his power, and his ability to make magic weapons and items, making him a pathetic human. He was angry, and sacrificed himself to a rival of the Dragon Lords, a demon who calls himself Asesino."

The weapons became known as the dalean, and a war was waged over them. The war was started after a boy, much like you, found the Spear of Water, hidden in a temple. That is how history is repeating."

The half-dragon's tale became even more far fetched with the almighty dragon gods accepting human weapons from a powerful human capable of creating the most powerful weapons known to all of the world. Ace didn't interrupt despite his feelings, after all there was a chance that this twisted legend had some truth to it. Ace would wait until the end to throw out his questions. The first to come to mind was why the weapons were hidden rather than within the care of the dragon lords? Certainly they would guard these treasures which they claimed as their own. The second question was about the boy, was he also of multiple ancestors? And what did this boy do once he found the the spear? Surley there had to be more to this arms race than just the Spear of water being found. And certainly these weapons were certainly nothing that would cause all of nature to choose sides as the half-dragon had overexaggerated. Ace was of course quite displeased that it was indeed him within this repeat of a legend, yet there wasn't neccesarily enough ceonnection between now and then for it to be truly distressing, after all he may have found the spear's keeper but he certainly had not found any of the weapons, unless his blade of Order was indeed the long hidden weapon of Quasar in disguise, but that was quite unlikely.

Ace shifted his weight to one leg and let his tail slowly flick from side to side as he pondered on the information and his questions. "Fear not, though I may have found the weapon's keeper, I have not found this weapon. Yet, how was this Boy like me? Was he also of multiple ancestors? And why aren't these Dalean in the care of the Dragon Lords? I doubt they would tire of the weapons so easily," Ace asked before he took a breif moment to unfurl his wings. He streched them out abit before wrapping them around himself again.

"Fear not, though I may have found the weapon's keeper, I have not found this weapon. Yet, how was this Boy like me? Was he also of multiple ancestors? And why aren't these Dalean in the care of the Dragon Lords? I doubt they would tire of the weapons so easily."

Kalarn cocked his head, listening to a nonexistant, at least, nonexistant to Ace, sound. Kalarn frowned deeply and turned his head, looking at a large shade-iron door that was not in existance before. He frowned more deeply, and said, in a grim voice, "I will answer your questions, but I will only answer those. I will not answer any more than those you have asked."

"You think you have found the weapon's keeper, but you are wrong. I have never seen the Spear of Flowing Water. Each guardian is only permitted to see the dalean they have been entrusted with." Kalarn smiled. He thought it was obvious what dalean he was guardian of.

"The boy was like you in many ways. He was a draconian, although called drakomme in his homeland. He had hair, always changing, although because of a spell. Yours has changed colors at least twice since you came." Kalarn smiled and then his smile vanished.

"We do not know his ancestry, only that he managed to crack the crystal, albiet not as strongly as you. We believe he was of several ancestries because of an infatuation between Quasar and a blue dragon, and the child of them, with a brown dragon. That child dragon, who had three separate breath weapons he could switch at will, became infatuated with a human, and the boy was born."

"And as for your last question, the Draconic Lords knew the dangers of them, some having been blinded by greed. They all agreed to seal them for 7 draconic cycles, seven times the cycle of dragon lords has repeated. The seals were unvieled halfway through."

Frustrating. It was hard enough to get good answers out of the half-dragon, but now it appeared he wasn't going to get any more. Quite annoying, indeed, but prehaps there was some way of making him change his mind.

While there was plenty of magic about, there wasn't really any elemental magic around to offset Ace's elemental alignment. The large windows let in the warm day's sunlight and kept him from cooling off enough for his elemental alignment to shift. It was however possible that there was a small change amoung hues of red, yet they wouldn't be too greatly noticable or often for that matter. Maybe the half-dragon had noticed a change, or imagined one, after he had been knocked out cold for about an hour, but that was the one instance Ace thought the half-dragon could possibly use.

"I was not reffering to the Spear of Flowing water, after all it would be most likely that one of Aphelion would gaurd the Kris. Also my hair may change color, but it does not always do so. Moreso, I do not think it has not changed color all the while I have been here, let alone done so twice," Ace said before lookin at his still red wings which confirmed his elemental alignment had not shifted yet.

"In any case, I do beleive we've been so consumed with questions, the past and ancestory that we have not quite made any sort of introduction. I am Master Ace, Archmage Training Master and Magister at the Academy of Magic," Ace said before turning around to look at the curious thing behing Ace that seemed to hold the half-dragon's gaze. He was quite sure that door hadn't been there before, though he had noted a curious aura of magic from that area in paticular.

"I was not reffering to the Spear of Flowing water, after all it would be most likely that one of Aphelion would gaurd the Kris. Also my hair may change color, but it does not always do so. Moreso, I do not think it has not changed color all the while I have been here, let alone done so twice,"

Kalarn gave a small litle laugh, and replied, "One of Aphelion would not wish to defile the house of Aphelion, so to speak. It is like your magnets. North to South, South to North, that sort of thing. No, I have never seen the Kris of Whispering Shadows, or, I may be lying. I may have seen all of them. I may be the head guardian. You'll never know."

"And, if your hair and wings do not change color, than perhaps it is a spell, hmmm? A spell that makes it change from red to black and black to red? Remember. You are in the Cathedral of Aphelion. Made by her, with her own magyck. Remember that always."

The metal door was stedialy opening, and a small figure came, trying to sneak up on them. The figure lept, and Kalarn simply reached out and grabbed it in the face, pressing his fingers in. The figure smiled, and drew out a slip of paper. Kalarn dropped the thing, and took the paper from it. Studying it, Kalarn looked up, looked back at the statue, and drew a line on it, muttering, "Faerie Fire."

Once in the light, the figure was a small gnome, nearly covered by a worn, tattered cloak that he drew up around his face. "Who is that, master?" The goblin asked, obviously talking of Ace.

Ace was quite annoyed the half-dragon latest answer was clearly bogus. He wondered if the half-dragon was even in his right sane mind. Even if the temple had been made with magic of the dark dragon, it was not neccesarily dark magic and if it was then it was appaerntly too weak now to effect Ace's elemental alignment. Of course the Half-dragon could be just babbling in respect to that as well.

While Ace had introduced himself, Kalarn either shared no interest in doing so or was quite distracted by the gnome's entrance. The gnome had apperently tried to sneak from the strange iron door, though it didn't appear to do the creature much good both of them were looking at it. Ace was quite surprise to see a smile on the gobin's face even after the half-dragon caught the goblin's face with his clawed hands before dropping the gnome. Things became even more questionable when the goblin reffered to the half-dragon as his master. Hopefully the goblin would eventually help make things clearer, but presently it just made things worse. Ultimately there was one good way of assuring the reliablity of the half-dragon's information yet, Ace did not feel like casting the spell. Wouldn't be good if he casted it and found out the half-dragon was indeed completely bonkers.

Ace crossed his and tooked from the goblin to the half-dragon. Maybe now he would get an introduction or maybe the Half-dragon would prove he had hardly been paying any attention to Ace and ask Ace to introduce himself again.

Kalarn turned to the gnome, and said, "Do not call me master. Or I will call Ishrantu here. Anyway, this is Ace." He carefully tried to avoid saying anything to build up his ego. He turned to the door, and waved torwards it, whispering, "Tapfer, come."

A black cat jumped out, and meowed at Ace. Kalarn bekoned him close, and petted him between the ears. The cat purred, and Kalarn picked him up, and said to Ace, "Would you like to discuss matters with Ishrantu?"

((Sorry its short, but garbage in, garbage out))