- Oh, its you dad, I said. – Do you mind, if I call you dad?
  - Call me whatever you want, Krasor replied. – It doesn’t really matter. So you finally came.
  - I wouldn’t say we “came”. We were “brought”.
  - Ah, it doesn’t matter either! Result is the same.
  Krasor turned his attention to Filno then.
  - This must be Filno. We didn’t get to meet the last time.
  - Uh…Hello? Filno said.
  Krasor grinned and laughed.
  - Haha. Although, I don’t believe in fate, I could say it has played a joke on my expense, Krasor said. – I just thought of fucking that bitch, but she was good so I wanted to do it again later. Then when I finally came back to my senses and decided to go kill her anyway, she had prepared for it. Damn Klazaar and his magic. I didn’t think it was worth it and decided to see, if a child could prove useful later...if she was even going to let your egg hatch – which I doubted. But she did let. Now it wasn’t just one child, but two. Twins you could say, though Filno came to be elsewhere. Accidents you both.
  That must be cool to hear from your parents – that you are an accident.
  - Accident’s that I have decided to accept, Krasor continued after a moment of silence. – You have proved your worth so far. If you two were some kind of fools like most, I’d have killed you by now, but you are far past that line.
  - So what do you want? I asked. – Why go trough the trouble have us brought here?
  - Doesn’t father have right to get to know his sons?
  - Yeah, but surely there is something else too!
  - You are right. Let’s just say, I’d wish you both to come with me. I could teach you thing or two about real power.
  - And be nothing more than glorified slaves like rest of your minions, Filno replied. – That’s why we haven’t come willingly.
  - You shouldn’t be surprised at all, dad, I continued. – We are bit smarter than your average minions. We got quite a bit more ambition than fighting with others to see who can pick most of the power crumbs that you leave behind. Besides you are dealing with cultists.
  - Heh, usually no one disagrees with me. It’s can prove to be unhealthy. But yes, I should expect you to have more spine. Let’s talk about my suggestion later and you can forget about the cultists. I’m nearly done with them. Everything with them was just to pull Klazaar out and come for me.
  - What about Zariath? I decided to ask then. – Is he somewhere near?
  - Yes, but I won’t let you touch him. I know I told you could kill him, if you found him, but I never expected the fool the get this far. Now he is more useful to me alive.
  - Are you saying I should suck it down? All the insults? That I can be pushed around?
  - Believe me or not, but sometimes such actions are required. It is best to avoid it, but always it isn’t possible. Trust me, I nearly tore him apart myself when I realized it was because of his actions I have to do all this with you. You have a lot of power.
  - Aha! I knew it. It’s all about my powers!
  - Least for now. Maybe when you are older and you have more significance other ways, it could be something else. Anyway, about Zariath. Leave the fool alone. You will find it more pleasing what is going to happen than just simply tearing him apart.
  - What?
  - Well, I made him think he could become a god.
  - We thought he came up with that himself, Filno muttered.
  - I pushed him into it. Anyway, he wanted immortality. I gave him directions.
  - And he trusted you? I asked.
  - Yeah, I didn’t really have to lie to him. What he is doing makes him something that some might consider god. He will be immortal and potentially very powerful. He’ll be very useful, indeed.
  - WHAT?!
  - You should learn to listen what I say. POTENTIALLY very powerful. I can use him. It suffices to say, he is essentially damning himself. Hmmmm…nah…a lot more than that….very much more than that. Damnation is still possible to comprehend by most. What Zariath is doing is something unnatural. Something that shouldn’t be.
  Krasor grinned.
  - It will be great fun to watch.
  By that time I realized behind that calmness was calculative and very dangerous mind.
  - What? He becomes some sort of demon?
  - Nothing like that. As evil and horrible such creatures are, their motives, though sometimes very complex, can be understood. That little fool Zariath taps into pure chaos and links himself with it – permanently. Everything that he is will eventually be consumed by it.
  - Why bother with it all? Filno said. – I’m sure there are easier ways to make someone regret their existence.
  - I told you. He can be used.
  - For what?
  - You don’t need to know that. It has very little to do with you.
  - Ok, fine! I said. – Is he even “killable”? Once you don’t need him anymore, can we find him and kill?
  - Well I wouldn’t say “killable”, but destroyable, yes. There is a slight difference. Though, if you really want to confront him, remember he will not be any sort of pushover. He can wield the power of chaos and I doubt he actually even requires his physical form intact.
  -*Now I’m starting to wonder what he fuck is your father doing to Zariath*, Filno muttered.
  -*Let alone where he is going to need Zariath*, I replied.
  - So, how is my old pal Klazaar? Krasor suddenly asked.
  - Klazaar? Well, he is acting all knowing and wise like always, I muttered. – Quite annoying sometimes. Hmmm…last time I saw him, he was preparing for battle with you, I think.
  - Hmph…I’d like him to change his ways again.
  - Again?
  - Well aside from personality cycle.
  - What? I don’t even know what you are talking about?
  - I suppose I can tell you. It really isn’t a secret. You know how Klazaar looks like walking rainbow sometimes? What color is he now?
  - Uh, blue? Blueish.
  - Ah, quite calm, but when angered will put everything into fight! Good timing, I’d say! You see, Klazaar changes his color in time. Whole cycle takes about thousand years. You know about ten thousand years ago he was red when we fought. That was really boring because he was trying to be all good and positive. You know how red’s are.
  - Ungh…yah.
  - Only color he isn’t ever, is black. It would be nice, if I could have fight with someone who would put everything into it and not care about silly things like morale.
  - Yeah I think everything would be better, if he could just forget some of that crap he thinks is important.
  - He is allied with humans, elves and dwarves right now, yes? He wasn’t as nice, as he is now, long ago. That was when WE ruled over the lesser races. He was much nicer guy back then. He didn’t have any objections about eating things like humans or keeping them in check. No one had.
  - What happened? Filno asked.
  - Do you know of the story when lesser races banded together and fought against dragons?
  - We just know that happened, but nothing more.
  - Good time to tell it then, Krasor said. – I’m trying to bring back the times when we rule. We were caught off guard. No one ever even dreamed up possibility that we could be defeated. Now we know it is possible. It wouldn’t happen again. Of course we would have to make sure only strongest of us, we, the black, were only ones to reproduce. Weaker ones would finally disappear and finally the dragon blood would be pure. But yes, about the story.
  
  I wouldn’t myself go that far. I think we could just let some other colors reproduce too because they would be good servants.
  
  - We were dominating pretty much all of the areas where you can now find elf and human nations. Dwarves were a bit troublesome because they dug their tunnels in same places as we did and were stubborn, but nothing we couldn’t handle. We didn’t consider lesser races to be nothing more than smart animals – something we could use as we pleased…as it should be. It wasn’t taken seriously when those upstarts began inventing ways to kill us. We thought they could just throw themselves at us and we’d kill them, if they ever became trouble. No…we didn’t consider them as anything dangerous at first.
  - Great, I can see where this is going already, I muttered.
  - Probably so, Krasor answered. – Then came the news. A group of those dragonslayers had killed several dragons. Immediately we decided we wouldn’t stand such insult. It was already too late, though. Now that rest of the weaklings knew it was possible to kill us, more wanted to learn. Which had been just several men at beginning was now small army and was growing.
  - Surely you didn’t sit back anymore?
  - Surely not. Even I discarded my differences with Klazaar and the third Old One, Valzar.
  - Who is that?
  - There was this third one. He was all white. We have no idea who was first, but now that I think of it, you might be related to him. Maybe your mothers side…or perhaps even mine. We don’t know. It’s completely possible I might be his son or something. Just considering those white areas that seem to have appeared on you both.
  - They appeared after I tried to bring back alive the guy who raised me.
  - Yes, I wanted to know everything that happened there. I felt it too. Whatever the case is, he had strange powers too…a bit like yours, but nothing to do with healing. He was somewhat silent, I remember. Valzar just often watched. Yet, he liked to have the last word. We didn’t like him, Klazaar and I. I’ll tell you about him later. Valzar remained at Crystalfire while I and Klazaar led our teams upon the foolish humans, elves and dwarves. It was war. We patrolled the skies and decimated any villages we found and killed everyone.
  - How did they respond? Filno asked.
  - The same way they always did. They hid. They built their homes in hidden places. We should have kept better eye on the dwarves too. The massive army of humans, elves and dwarves came together in there and were trained to specially kill dragons. When they all finally came out, massive battles started everywhere. We killed them and they killed us. The only difference was that they could replenish their numbers lot faster than we could. Finally we were pushed back at the Crystafire Mountains. It was first time in our history we were being defeated. Nearly every dragon was there. Then finally we three, Klazaar, Valzar and me, took one third of those who could fight and joined the battle.
  - And lost?
  - Unfortunately yes. Ground was blackened and burning as far as eye could see. Corpses were littered everywhere. The smoke was blocking of the sun. We heard one loud shriek that silenced every other scream. Valzar was killed. One of us ageless old ones was slain. That was massive hit on us. We had to back off into mountain. There was only about hundred of us left. We realized we would become extinct, if nothing was done.
  - You came up with those damn laws? I said.
  - Yes. We had to do something. I agreed on them finally too because I assumed they were going to be something temporary, but what I didn’t agree with was Klazaar’s idea that we would surrender. I took remaining black’s with me and fought our way past the armies and flew to Black Mountains and took back our destroyed city there. Klazaar himself contacted the leaders of humans, elves and dwarves and asked that, if dragons surrendered their lives would be spared. Can you imagine him pleading something?
  We both had to laugh at that point. It was just completely “out of character”. Klazaar gives orders…it just feels funny to think he pleaded to be spared! One would also think he’d hold grudges against lesser races, but apparently he doesn’t. Krasor also mentioned something about it.
  - That must have been like greatest humiliation ever and that’s why I didn’t want to do it. Klazaar agreed to give up nearly everything we had ruled. We didn’t really need all that land anymore. Before the war, we had numbered in thousands and after just about hundred. That’s why even today our race holds only those two mountains areas. The next time I met Klazaar several thousand years later when our numbers had grown up a bit again and suggested that we go take back what is ours, he just told me “They have proved themselves capable. We underestimated them in our own arrogance. We had to learn it the hard way”. That basically meant they were “equal” or “nearly equal”. That’s what I mean with changing his ways.
  History lessons are sometimes a bit boring, but this was actually interesting. Least it’s good to know stuff about Klazaar. I considered trying to ask him tell more things because he was basically a walking history book. Sometimes it’s good to know what has happened to best understand future. Though, as Filno says, he had completely other motives to tell us all that. If you are smart enough, you might understand!
  - Nice story and all, but what now? I asked. – We just wait until attack begins, right? Then you want me to keep cultists alive?
  - Nah! You will know what you must do when the time is right, Krasor said and grinned.
  I had a bad feeling.
  - Ah, don’t be so afraid son, Krasor continued. – If everything goes the way I have planned, you should come out of it alive.
  - And if it doesn’t?
  - Shouldn’t change anything regarding your wellbeing. So stop worrying. Would you like to go for a walk and talk some more.
  He didn’t seem to think there was any trouble about letting us see all the things inside Coand. I think he didn’t expect any of it be left after few days, so it wouldn’t matter. When we asked, if we could get at least see Zariath and have a word with him, Krasor wouldn’t let us. Then we pointed out we could make sure Zariath stays alive, if we were given chance to torture him. Krasor still declined…but he did really consider it!
  - So let me get this all straight, I said. – Everything. The whole disease thing, randomly attacking everywhere, everything, was just attempt to get Klazaar come for you?
  - Well the disease was just bonus I happened to come up with. I wanted to have a method to destroy lesser races when needed. I need to refine it though…it just kills too fast. It doesn’t have time to spread.
  - It can kill dragons too, you know. If I didn’t have these powers, I’d be dead by now.
  - Like I said, I need to refine it. But yes, you could say everything was just to dig out my old pal out of that mountain.
  - Why go trough all the effort? Filno asked. – Why not just go somewhere near Crystalfire and in a friendly and calm manner explode couple villages and tell everyone you continue doing so until Klazaar comes.
  - This is more fun. Simple as that. There are downsides of living this long. You get bored. I always try think more ways to amuse myself. Klazaar is only one I can fight with. You younger can do that much easier.
  We stopped to watch couple Krasor’s minions fight with each other. As far as I could tell, it was just about who got to eat remains of some human – probably a sacrifice or just cultist who wandered too close.
  - One must be ready to show their superiority at all times, Krasor said.
  - Bah…they are killing each other for just one meal, I pointed out. – Are they stupid or something? Not worth it, I say.
  - We get our respect from things that actually matter, Filno added.
  - Probably so, yes, but this makes sure the strongest survive and and weak die away, Krasor told us.
  - We have other means to deal with idiots, I said and grinned. – There are these two red’s who were being annoying. We could have killed them both, if we had wanted.
  - As retarded they are, killing them would have probably put a price on our heads…so to speak, Filno continued. – I have a feeling they have recently learned to stay away quite well. Least they seem to have switched the pair who were supposed to keep eye on us.
  Krasor stopped to shout some orders. Several guys left for patrol and one went to get something to eat for us. Soon we were brought a screaming cultist. Krasor swiftly snapped the neck.
  - This is what lesser races are good for, Krasor muttered and tore of the upper half of the body. – You can take the rest.
  - Ungh, not that hungry, I said. – Cultists taste weird sometimes and besides who knows where it has been.
  - Same, Filno added.
  - I kind of have to agree, Krasor replied. – I suppose I have got used to it.
  So we went on with talking more or less interesting stuff. Least until stuff began happening. Filno and I didn’t notice anything at first, but Krasor looked around and after a moment he stood up and grinned. He motioned us to come with him.
  - It’s beginning, Krasor told us. – This is going to be something one doesn’t see often. You’ll want to have a good look on it. We should find a better place. Hmmm…like that tower roof there.
  - What is happening? I asked.
  - Zariath has begun the ritual. It is very complex and a long one. It will take least day to finish. It isn’t one of the easiest things to do to rip a hole out of this world into chaos.
  Filno, of course, being interested in magic wanted to go see right away and I really did have to agree – I wanted to see it. So we followed Krasor and sat down on that tower. You could see pretty much everything from there.
  - If Klazaar didn’t know what Zariath was going to do, he will now, Krasor told us. – I’m quite sure he did know, but, like me, didn’t expect Zariath get this far. Now that they see it too, they have no chance, but to hurry up their attack. This part of the story is nearing its end!
  By then brightly glowing ball of energy shot up in the sky from Zariath’s temple. It began slowing down and finally stopped very high. It began spinning and turned into reddish glowing vortex. Thick black clouds began circling around it and cowered the whole area turning day into night. It all sounded like it was a thunderstorm upon us.
  - It will become stronger, Krasor continued. – Strong enough to pierce a hole trough reality and, when that happens, Zariath will bring piece of what is outside into this world and binds it into himself. Then he can access the energies whenever he wants. But! There is a price…something like that isn’t free.
  Of course he wouldn’t tell us what the price was…