The sky was bright and sunny, stripped blue and white.


No - it was beyond sunny.


Temperatures had begun to rise by several folds. Fort Ouph began to feel the increase in heat steadily, accumulating the complaints from its human occupants.

The only one that did not seem at all exhausted by the increasing heat was the the True Dragon as it rampaged in its cage. Even though the cage had been built through magical means and made the dragon almost entirely harmless to them, no one dared to approach it.

The heat stroke did not discriminate. The players who had been warped into the area soon began to feel its toll on their stamina as well.

Then, an unprecedented effect took place because of the unnatural heat. Some of the players suddenly met with status effects!

[Reign is burned!]

[Kitsune is burned!]

[Douken is burned!]

[Rawrda is slowed!]

[Zash is slowed!]

Aether recognized the threat brought down by the weather and quickly cast a dampening spell on the whole of Fort Ouph, moderating the temperature back to normal.



Some of the mages thought he became crazy as they saw Aether shouting at the sky. But others quickly realized what it meant. The dragon’s owner had arrived.



Taranis laughed from high above the clouds. It amazed the humans how he was so far away, yet his voice boomed and reached them as if he were standing right next to them.



Aether remained unmoved by Taranis’ behavior. His eyes shone like cold steel. Taranis shrugged his shoulders and sighed, leaning back against a cloud.




The dragon roared, having understood Aether’s words. Warriors and mages scrambled to finish setting up the canon. Taranis had arrived earlier than predicted, so they were not yet ready.

Aether’s eyes were scanning the area, looking over their work, when he noticed the unfamiliar faces of the just-arrived players. He was unlike any human. He quickly identified the players as an unnatural existence in their world.

He sensed The Twilight Dragon's powerful magic emanating from them – the very magic that had transported them to the past. Upon seeing the group tread more closely to their location his suspicions intensified.



A thick book proofed into his outstretched hand, its pages turning in a sudden wind. The wind picked up the elf mage’s robes in its flowing stream. Aether’s lips moved continuously, whispering spell after spell. His form became engulfed in golden light.



In his left arm he held the Heavenly Scriptures, in his other, the Staff of Eiwanar. He lifted the staff, its twin rings spinning into golden halos. With a wave of the staff, a bolt of lightning suddenly fell and split across the air, one branch upon Kitsune, slamming him backward, his trajectory threatening to bowl over Rawrda. The other snaked its way toward Zash. Electricity took root in the ground, surging up through the feet of unsuspecting players.

[ Kitsune -1000HP]

[Rawrda is paralized!]

[Reign is paralized!]

The only one unaffected was Douken, who seems to have gone in the opposite direction of them. 

Naturally, the first attack had meant to test them. Attacking an enemy he knew nothing about held too many hazards and Aether desired to be anything but rash in his decisions. If only the situation would allow him to calmly access its every twist and turn, he would have further investigated the force that had brought them all, but he was running out of time. In fact, the reason they even had any time left was due to Taranis’ idle nature.

He could not risk the success of their operation on baseless faith. Not now. Kitsune’s words hardly convinced him of his innocence.



Having said that, Aether let go of Eiwanar, allowing the staff to float in place rather than be held back by his hand. Eiwanar began to glow, its light intensifying as Aether constructed another spell, word by word. But before he could finish conjuring, one of them dashed and struck at him. The force of Kensei’s blow sent a crack across the shield he had previously put up, knocking the elf off-balance.

This was an inevitable drawback of powerful spells. The need for time and concentration. Aether took back Eiwenar into his hand and released what power he had accumulated in it to cast Spirit Counter, partially summoning Skeith. One of the monstrous hands counter-backhanded Kensei away while the other started casting Rue Cruz and Ban Bolg on the nearest players.

[Kensei -523 hp]

He chanted once more to fix the crack in his shield, his body almost shrouded in golden light now.
The battle in the ground did not go unnoticed. Taranis perked up after seeing Aether buff himself anew. Truth be told, if they left the elf alone he could very well buff himself until reaching invincibility status. It was one of the reasons why some gods found him troublesome. A devious smile split across his face.



With Aether preoccupied by the things going down below, Taranis easily nailed him from behind. He aimed a finger in Aether’s direction. A single laser beam was fired from its tip.

Aether’s face twisted as the laser shot through his wards and pierced his left shoulder. All feeling quickly left that arm. Most of his wards dissipated in that moment.



Aether fought to control his anger. To concentrate.

The canon was about 80% ready now. The dragon, which had been thrashing wildly about, could no longer even keep its body standing.




A different sort of meeting was taking place far from the battlefield. Fort Ouph still held many of the structures previously built by the elves. There was one such sanctuary that had yet to be reached by any human, standing tall and rustic atop one of the many flying islands that made up the fort. Only this one had no bridge connecting it to the other platforms. It seemed isolated from the rest, surrounded by a thick foliage that spread wildly all over the place. Two beings sat across from each other at the farthest, eastern alcove.

The dragon-like one put down a piece of parchment upon the heaps that littered the ground around him. He stared at the elf across from him, whom was half-buried in scrolls himself, with infinitely impassive eyes.



The elf did not avert his eyes from his writing. It had seemed like he didn’t even catch what Sheraton had said, but then he answered.





Is what the busy elf said, looking nonchalant as he spoke of his brother's demise. But this did not fool Sheraton. He could clearly see the disturbance in N'Doch's usually peaceful countenance. He must have tried to dissuade Aether already and failed.


A sudden quiet interrupted their discussion. Sheraton brought his eyes to the sky, as if searching for something. N’Doch had long discarded such habits. He simply knew someone was nearing their location and continued to write. However, Sheraton looked confused. It felt like Twilight...yet not. Was he trying to mask his presence? He closed his eyes and projected himself outward, intending to find out.

A black serpent dragon suddenly burst from the clouds above Douken, not roaring, but his entrance causing the immediate vicinity to thunder regardless. The dragon flew toward Douken, threatening to coil itself around the beastman. The dragon's voice boomed in Douken's head.