Above the Academy entrance...

All seemed like a normal day on the streets of RhyDin. The shadow of a sixty foot long dragon appeared above carrying one rider upon its back. The sun glistened off his dark purplish base with reddish scales and an opalescent silvery hue to the tips. The people in the streets below seemed mildly curious but the children were the ones running to get a better view. A handful of them were on their way to classes at the Ravensheart Academy. Some darted through the school's portal to tell others and then back again to see the dragon. Classes were letting out in the Academy and so the crowd of children gathered quickly at the gates watching the spectacle in the air above RhyDin.

And then he suddenly shifted his tail, turned his wings spreading them far and wide and opened his body to a backwards move that had them arcing upward and round swiftly until they were flying upside down for a moment or so before the circle slowly came round as they descended, speed increasing while they finished the wide arc circle in the air. The ground came rushing up with the buildings merely twenty feet below them. A gush of air followed in their wake, buzzing those in the trail below them with a strong wind. Papers flew, dresses and hats were swirling, twirling in the air but the wind was not enough to knock anyone down. A few birds cursed as they floundered in the wake, rolling round in the air before righting themselves to fly again.

?You still on back there?? smiling, he glanced back to his passenger while leveling off their altitude just a mere forty or fifty feet above the buildings while shifting gently to come back towards the Academy for a landing?.

Meanwhile below them, the children scurried closer to the portal as the wind rushed by. Some darted back inside the academy affected by the fear of their first glance at a real dragon. Others stood their ground though they were all ready to dart inside. They had all heard stories about the terrible things dragons could do, some remembered Sha'uri and the terrible things she'd done. They also knew that not all were like that and that sometimes things happened that were out of people's control. Some of their other teachers were dragons too. They all trusted in the Headmaster's ability to protect them, and so they huddled close to that portal.

The portal began to shimmer and instead of seeing the vast expanses of the Academy, a well apportioned and large office came into view. An elf, dressed in fine scholarly robes stepped through.

"Due to the company you keep good Lady Read, an announcement is hardly necessary. However, considering the situation, an introduction is in order. I am Briarius, Headmaster of Ravensheart Academy. I am afraid you have me at a disadvantage as I do not know fully your purpose in being here."

Mary bowed her head respectfully when Briarius introduced himself but let Alex take the lead in conversation. His indication to hold by placing his hand on her shoulder was noted, she appreciated it. She stood in silence and stillness, nodding to back up his words as to their intent.

In her heart there were many things the ravens may see... She left her mental guards down for the now so any could see the purpose behind her eyes and know there to be no deception. Yet, she was readying herself for a fight, not with them but for one who was one of their own. Cadence.

She had made note of the inscription, she'd appreciate the wisdom of the words later though. Right now her focus was on the Headmaster, Briarius. She came in humility, hoping he was the one who could help them get through to Cadence.

But she also brought much to the table with her and she was ready to use it all. Mary came in respect and out of love, prepared for whatever must be done to restore her lost sister to this world.

As if on cue, that little portal opened up somewhere far above overhead. Down came a shower of vipers. By the time it hit the ground, the pile of snakes had spread to about a twenty yard diameter. It hit bulls-eye dead on over the landing pad near to the school's portal. Needless to say, none of the snakes survived but at least they didn't hit anyone.

He closed his eyes for a moment.

"All communication methods will now be allowed into my domain."

He looked up augmented with his magicks. He knew he wouldn't be able to see her, but there was always hope...and the possibility of him seeing something that would only be seen with magickally augmented senses.

The Headmaster spoke to himself,
"You seem to have made your little pocket domain into quite the weapon, Little One..."

He looked back at the visitors.

"Please...once inside my domain, we will be completely safe."

He said it and meant it. Anything inside his domain existed at his whim. He would exercise those rights...even against those he loved, if they proved to be too great a threat.

The Headmaster would wait patiently for them to pass and then would close the realm behind them.

"Are these episodes mystic in nature or otherwise?"

He crossed his arms in thought. He knew the answer before it was even said, but he still liked hearing it. It validated him...and gave him something to listen to that wasn't in his head.

"Perhaps we could forge a trap of some sort?"

"I would surmise that Miss Maycom is watching particular portions of time and space in order to keep apprised of current events. I would also surmise that her powers draw largely from chaos energy. There is a school of magick that uses chaos energy to weave their spells. Basically using the energy as the raw building material they put structure to. This is different than a Chaos Mage who tends to just take advantage of the random nature o-"

He looked at the bored/puzzled faces of those he was speaking to.

"Basically, for brevity's sake, we set a spell that saps away the chaos energy when she appears and then use our own powers to trap her as her energy will be gone. It will have a small chance of success and probably won't keep her for long, but maybe long enough to get some information."

"My thought is to force her to open her realm in the same point again. I will have the chaos spells woven surreptitiously. Then we will launch a full scale 'investigation' of the last opening. We will get too close..."

In RhyDin, ravens flew from one of the abandoned Ravensheart Academy buildings and flew through the open space above the landing pad. Some of them broke formation and circled here and there. The flock of ravens eventually winged their way towards The Marketplace. Anyone paying really really close attention to the normal flock of birds and had extensive arcane training and active arcane senses would see that the ravens were an extension of a caster and they served as the somatic components to a complex ritual.

One wouldn't get too much of a chance to ponder this as the gateway from the RhyDin Academy opened and Briarius walked out from Noledor.

"If you think it will help your investigation of the findings, I will reactivate the mystical portions of the Exodii portal. However, I personally think it will not help."

The archmage cast a very complex spell which hid the completion cues from the spell the ravens began. Now not only was the portal to Exodii ready to be open mystically, but chaos magick traps circled the sky above the landing pad.

"My part of this is done, you will have to handle the technological potion."

The Headmaster hoped that Alex would pick up on the ruse.

He prepared some more of his magicks that could deal with chaos energy appropriately.

Briarius simply asked.

"Do you want the chaos magick siphons moved?"

With a small flick of his wrist, Briarius summoned his ravens who flew through the areas of chaos magick siphons and then the murder split and flew in two different directions.

"Now only a few siphons exist in all of the areas. It won't be enough to incapacitate, but perhaps enough to stun."

Everything was set and ready. The ravens were dispatched, chaos hung in the air. He could feel its vibrations in his skin. It was time. Time was tugging in random pulses over various points of his body. Something was about to happen.

Perhaps it was an odd thing but he suddenly envisioned his mother strapped to the devices holding her in place at the moonbased prison. The blanket of darkness consuming her body, which was only visible by a faint glow from a security light down the hall shining in the small window along the wall. Her sapphire gaze lifted as if sensing something, as if sensing him looking at her. Thick lashes flashed open wide gazing now beyond him with a perplexed expression, almost with fear. Her lips mouthed the word "How?" just as a bright red light suddenly illuminated her features and a wind whipped through the room sending her hair at first back only to suddenly be shifted forward over her face, as if the air was suddenly pulled towards something... something pulled her towards it.

His gaze flashed open wide as something compelled him, some sense of urgency spurred him on. It shifted once again to Mary while speaking into the communicator.

"Mark!"

?Mark!? Alex had given the order.

He looked to Mary to give Briarius the gem she brought so that he could possibly enhance his magick for Cadence but she wasn't moving. Mary just stood there. He was about to say something to her when the sound of the realms ripping open exploded in the air.

The hole formed and a vortex ripped across the sky sending tendrils in many directions. Lightning zapped to many points along the ground but the biggest one hit the landing pad before them all. Something rolled out of the smoke it caused. It took Alex only a split moment to realize it wasn't something, it was someone. It wasn't so much of a surprise that someone came out of there as it was the who.

The tattered orange clothing and black hair was a give away in an instant that this was a prisoner of RhyDin. She was covered in cuts, burn marks and scrapes. It was almost hard to recognize her but Alex sensed clearly it was his mother.

She crawled away from the pad, not able to get up on her own. Tears streamed unchecked down her cheeks. She was beat and not too far from death. Desperation and worry filled her continence as she looked between Alex and Bri. There was only a name that came from her lips. ?Cadence!?

?Sir! Come in sir! You're not going to believe what we just found!? came the voice from Alex' combadge. It seemed the connection had some interference but the words came across clear enough.

Alex just stared at his mother, not sure what to expect from her but what he was seeing was clearly not what he expected. His gaze remained on her as he touched the badge to speak through it. ?Go ahead. Can't be any more unbelievable then what I'm seeing right now.?

?Say again??
?Nevermind. What's happened??
?We've encountered by some strange vortex. It's nearly shot several systems including the gate system. It also left something. We have a woman that has just been transported through some vortex that just opened up in your war room.?
?Say again?? Alex' brow rose with surprise and disbelief.
?The vortex is gone. She says her name is Cadence but she does not match with previously known descriptions.?

Alex went silent, shock on his features. He looked at his mother. She was barely holding herself up but her features softened with less worry. Only a nod of her head indicated that it was probably her. A glance to the headmaster and back to his mother. He knew in his heart what was more important to him in this moment. He felt something for that little fae.

?Beam me there now!?

Before he took his next breath, he was gone. Moments later and through one transport to another, he was in his war room on Exodii staring at the most gorgeous woman he'd ever seen. What was more amazing to him was that he could sense in every way that it was really Cadence. Two steps brought him to her side. He drew her to him, wrapping arms around her and holding her close to him. It was a rare occasion that a couple of tears formed and trailed down his cheeks, Confused only for a moment, Cadence warmed to his embrace, returning it in kind. She too formed tears that spilled down her cheeks. For the first time in a long time she felt at peace in her heart. It was like she had finally found a real home. In that moment she did not want to go anywhere ever again not even to her little room... At least not for a long time.. not after the experience she'd just been through.

"Just hold me Alex." she said.
And he did.