'Ashley....for the last time, it wasn't your fault! You had no control over what happened to Amy!', Kaitlynn said in frustration. Ever since they had gotten back to the cave, Ashley had been inconsolable, dissolving into sobs. 'You don't need to listen to Stephen either, okay? He's the one who accepted the Darkness into his heart; it took you over for a few minutes, but you managed to break free.' 'But not before I killed my best friend, Kaitlynn!', Ashley sobbed. 'Alright, Ashley....I'm gonna go, I have better things to do than sit around and watch you sob and blame yourself, even though it wasn't your fault. If I find out that you actually want to do anything about this situation, I'll send someone around.', Kaitlynn replied and walked away. An hour later, Ashley's tears slowly stopped as she pondered over what Kaitlynn had told her. 'How can I do anything about this situation? It's over.....Stephen's won. I guess now he'll take over the world or something like that.', she mumbled as she dusted herself off, 'How would she know if I wanted to actually do anything or not? It's not she has any cameras around here.' 'Actually, milady, she has something just as good as cameras, if not better.', a voice said behind her. She whirled around and looked up, and up, and up. 'Don't look so surprised, milady. Goddess Kaitlynn is also Goddess over the Magical creatures, like me, so she sent me to keep an eye on you....you know, make sure you didn't do anything stupid.', the dragon said, looking down at her with one large black eye. Ashley surveyed the dragon quickly. 'I've never seen a black dragon before; scratch that, I've never even seen a dragon before now!',she thought excitedly. 'What do I need to do to get in touch with Kaitlynn?', she asked. Bending down to the ground, he replied, 'Climb aboard, and I'll take you to her.'


An hour later, Ashley tumbled to the ground in front of Kaitlynn. "So, are you done feeling sorry for yourself yet?", she asked as she helped Ashley up. "You know, I think I am.....what do we do about this "situation" as you call it?", Ashley asked curiously. "I'm not totally sure about the whole plan, but I do know one thing: We'll beat Stephen.", Kaitlynn answered with a grin. "How did you come to own the dragon? Aren't they.....extinct, for lack of a better word?", Ashley asked as they walked along. "Since I'm the Goddess of All Things Magical, the Magical creatures will help me whenever I need them. I don't own him though....he is his
own being, and no one else's. Oh, and there is more than one dragon, Ash." Kaitlynn replied, walking towards a large door, "Follow me." She opened the door to reveal a large cavern. As they stepped inside, Ashley was shocked to see at least twenty more dragons inside the cavern. "They're everywhere!", she exclaimed, "They can defeat Stephen for us!" "Whoa, time out, Ash....did you forget about the Future Beings? They'll rip the dragons to shreds. I've sent some of my other helpers tp get our dragon armor, but that could take days....be patient.", Kaitlynn admonished. "But need to do this now! If we wait, he'll just get stronger!", Ashley cried. Kaitlynn didn't answer, but one of the dragons, one with scales the color of fresh snow, did. "We're working as fast as we can, milady. You can't rush Magical creatures.", she stated. "Wait, who are your "helpers", Kaitlynn?", Ashley asked. "Oh, they're dwarves. I happen to have one who is pretending to be Stephen's Apprentice as we speak.", she replied nonchalantly. "Where am I? There's not such things as dwarves and dragons!", Ashley exclaimed, "Is this a dream? Because it would be really nice if it is!" "Unfortunately, this is reality, Ashley, and since the asteroid hit, it has awakened a lot of Magical creatures, including myself, the dragons, and the dwarves." "What about the Future Beings? Are they Magical too? Do you control them?", Ashley asked. "You never run out of questions, do you?", Kaitlynn asked with a smile. She watched as Ashley's face turned the lovely color of a tomato, then continued, "I don't control them because they aren't Magical. They have just accepted me as one of their own. They are very much real, Ashley....Stephen was right when he said that their origin was at least three thousand years in the future. They move faster than you can blink; a very dangerous enemy in battle." "But won't they be on our side? You said they accepted you.", Ashley pointed out. "Yes, they've accepted me, but apparently they have accepted Stephen too. I don't know who's side they will be on....whichever it is has a powerful and lethal advantage in battle.", Kaitlynn said gravely. That sat in silence for a moment, then Kaitlynn jumped up. "Ah, I seem to have neglected my duties as hostess. You must be exhausted Ash; here, Icestorm will take you to your quarters.", she said, nodding to the large white dragon. Bending down, she said, "Climb on, milady, and we'll be off!" Ashley clambered onto her back, and she took off. The last thing Ashley saw before she lost sight of the cavern was Kaitlynn kneeling on the ground, weeping.

BOOM! Stephen groaned in exasperation as Mairan emerged from his workshop, his coarse blond hair singed black, the result of yet another failed Magical experiment. "I thought you said you could do Magic!", he shouted in anger. "Sir, I said that I could learn Magic. I didn't say I could do it.", Mairan replied evenly. "Well, you need to figure it out! I'll be in need of your skills soon!", Stephen yelled before storming off. After looking around to make sure he was alone, he whispered, "You can come out now!" A young dragon squeezed out from under Mairan's workbench. "You're not supposed to be here, Earthfire! What if he catched you?", he hissed. "But he hasn't caught me, has he?", Earthfire asked with a smile. "No, but he might if you keep coming when you're not expected!", Mairan said, "Anyway, there's nothing to report. He's just been making me do these stupid beginner's experiments that I've known for years! I know Kaitlynn said to stall him, but he might throw me out if I don't start getting these right!" "He won't throw you out...he doesn't have another Apprentice!", Earthfire replied. Before Mairan could offer a retort, Stephen shouted, "Mairan, get your tail out here, now!" Grimacing, Mairan shooed Earthfire under the bench and ran outside. "You called me, sir?", he asked. "What do you know about this?", Stephen asked quietly, holding up a photo. As Mairan peered at the photo, he regretted ever making the decision to put up security cameras. "Ummm...it's a dragon?", he asked stupidly. "I KNOW THAT!", Stephen screamed, then took a deep breath and started again. "I know that, Mairan. What's going to be done about it?" With a sigh, Mairan replied, "We're going to do an extermination mission, sir?" With an evil smile, Stephen said, "Report back to me when it's done." Mairan nodded, then backed away. When he returned to his workshop, Earthfire was gone. Mairan sighed. He never had understood dragons and their mysterious ways. "Oh, and Mairan?", Stephen's voice rang from the doorway, making him jump, "Practice that experiment until you have mastered it and can do it with your eyes closed." Stifling a groan, Mairan started setting up for yet another experiment gone awry.


'Sir?', a voice roused Stephen from his sleep. 'What?', he asked grumpily as he sat up. 'The extermination mission? We couldn't catch the dragon....it was too fast and wily, sir.', Mairan said apologetically. 'What? How could you not catch a stupid dragon? They're just animals!', Stephen screamed in exasperation, 'And you woke me up to tell me that the mission was a failure? WHY?' 'Because you told me to report back to you when the mission was done, sir. We may not have successfully completed the mission, but we did complete it, sir.', Mairan replied evenly. 'Get out! And don't come back unless you have something worthwhile to report! Now GO!', Stephen yelled, watching in satisfaction as Mairan cringed, then backed out of the tent.