Airo was dimly aware of somebody hauling him. The pain from his wound had receded, yet so had done the strength in his body. He could barely move, his limbs slack like sacks of rope. He willed his eyes to stay open, gazing at the high golden ceilings of Ilsorin as his captors carried him. Up there was a constellation of machinery and art: holographic projectors embedded in crystal-inlaid mosaics, energy emitters set next to hydroponically-fed hanging greenery, the glowing surfaces of planets and stars carved in bas-reliefs with grooved orbits. This parade of sights from a new perspective helped Airo to stay awake, and gave him some a vague notion to where they were taking him.

He knew he was being taken to the lower levels when the ceiling vistas disappeared, replaced by utilitarian designs and the looming profiles of large-scale nanofabricators, aethertech megafluxers, and other industrial-grade hardware. His captors took him still further down, into Ilsorin's depths, where Mentoria had made her private sanctum.

Heavy doors opened with a booming thud and the illumination changed yet again, becoming a riot of competing light sources. Worked stone and inlaid crystal made way to simple composite tiles. Decoration faded away; servers, power stations, and yet more fabricators took up free space. Brightly marked areas were free of any objects, demarcating high-energy weaver fields. Storage tanks, cisterns, and distilleries bubbled quietly, unseen fluids coursing through their pipes.

At last, Airo was placed down beneath the circular profile of a stasis-field projector. The projector's phasor transducers lit up and a golden haze enveloped Airo, immobilizing him completely. To his surprise, the field floated him into upright position and he finally was able to take stock of his surroundings.

He had come down here only a couple of times, yet it was enough to recognize this was indeed the laboratory where Mentoria worked. The whole place was a single enormous space the size of a geodesic dome, similar in shape, with equipment arranged into distinct sections. At the center of the dome was the tall cylindrical frame of an Æther forge, surrounded by HHI workstations, matter-to-energy modulation transformers, and variform magnetic-pressure injection nozzles.

And standing beside the Æther forge was Mentoria.

The exotic aethereal paid Airo no heed, her toxic-green eyes focused on a cluster of security drones. Airo couldn't move, though he saw what had gotten Mentoria's attention: a couple of drones were carrying Veralla's unconscious form, her wings and tail splayed helplessly.

"Veralla!" Airo tried to shout, yet the stasis-field denied him freedom to move his jaw, and he only made a high-pitched moan. The effort nearly made him black out; the wound in his chest wrenched, the sensation not quite a pain – but overwhelming nonetheless.

The drones placed Veralla at the Æther forge. Mentoria watched the proceedings carefully, her expression one of predatory anticipation. There was a commotion and the exotic aethereal turned. Two more security drones came into view, their slab-like shapes flanking a hazy, liquid-looking globe swirling with a multitude of colors. Someone was inside the globe, their body warped by the surreal refraction. A face, its features twisted, emerged near the globe's surface – and Airo recognized Magus Dei.

"Mentoria! What is the meaning of this!" the old Radiant Knight demanded, his voice heavily distorted.

"I told you, dear Magus, I have no intention to die here," Mentoria replied with a cold smile. "It was about time I made my own move. I do not have patience to gather so much resources in one place a second time."

"Your move?" Magus repeated. "You have enough means to escape Terra Para! Why do you arrest us?" His warped face turned. "Why have you taken Veralla?"

"Power, dear Magus," Mentoria replied. Her voice had a maniacal edge. "The power to Ascend."

Magus took one look at Veralla's unconscious form.

"No!" he shouted.

"Oh, yes," Mentoria said. "I have finally discovered the key to attaining the form of ultimate might. I can become a Primordial."

"Mentoria, do not do this!" Magus yelled. "This is not the Way! This is not who you are!"

"Silence, you fool! Who are you to tell me my destiny! You wasted your powers trying to bring back the dead, while I begged you to return to me! Where was your compassion then, Magus?! WHERE!?"

The liquid-looking globe suddenly burst into clouds of shimmering waves, with Magus standing in the center, his whole body coruscating with a blazing aura.

"I LOVED Aethernalis! He returned the light to my sight! He gave me a second Awakening and saved me from downfall! He is the one because of whom you seek the power of his kind! You refused to see that, just as you refused to see my true motives in building the Order!"

The shimmering waves rushed back against Magus and encased him once more into that strange hazy globe, scintillating with energy discharges.

"Enough!" Mentoria snapped. "You had your chance to create a lasting legacy, my dear. Now it is my turn. Rest easy, for I shall not ruin the remaining scraps of your precious Order – it is why I bothered to capture them alive." She made a gesture and the globe went off, Magus stumbling inside it.

Mentoria then turned and finally fixed Airo with a cold, calculating gaze. He glared at her, putting all of his hate and rage into his stare.

She chuckled. "The mighty Dragonslayer, defiant as always. You have something dangerous in your possession, warrior. I will take it now."

Pain like a thousand drills bored into Airo's mind. His whole being went supernova, melted and scattered down to the very atoms of matter. The ocean of agony was so swift and brutal he had no time to react. By the time he drew breath to scream the nightmare was already over, and only the excruciating shadow of torment remained clinging to his deadened synapses.

A miniature sun parted from his body and drifted outside the stasis field. Mentoria took the sun in her cupped hands, and deposited it on an anti-grav stand at one of the workstations. The sun bloomed, taking the form of an elegant sword made of light.

"A remarkable product of artisanship," Mentoria said, watching the starblade. "Yet it is but a toy compared to the potential I shall unlock today." She glanced at Airo. "Throw him with the rest."

The stasis field shut down and Airo collapsed to the floor. A security drone picked him up and carried him to a wall of opaque darkness. The drone heaved, hurling Airo straight at the wall. He passed through without resistance and landed heavily on the other side.

"Commander Airo!" somebody gasped.

He hauled himself onto one elbow. Radiant Knights, both humans and dragons, stood in a wide, empty section of Mentoria's laboratory, surrounded by energy walls which were all entirely transparent on this side. Airo struggled to rise, but his body gave out and he fell down. He heard the rush of many feet and somebody tuned him over to lie on his back. The worried faces of several human Knights filled Airo's vision, including a few draconic snouts looming further above them.

"What's wrong with him? Is he injured?"

"Quick, who here has Life Sphere expertise!"

"We can't do anything! This place is nullifying our powers!"

"Bernard, do something!" one of the Knights exclaimed. "You're the gearhead among us."

"I'm a technician, not a healer, Samantha," the engineer Knight snapped. "I can't even see his injury!"

"Check his armor then!" Samantha said. "It must have onboard diagnostics!"

"Right." Bernard leaned over Airo. "Ok, he's wearing an Orion-class powersuit. Consortium make, cutting-edge model. MEM micro-core power plant, aethertech architecture, four-point-two zettaflops distributed CPU–"

"Bernard!"

"Listing things helps! Here! According to his medical status, he has sustained a mil-grade laser wound to the chest."

"How's that even possible?" another Radiant Knight cut in. "There's not even a trace of damage on his armor."

"I don't know, but his vitals are bad, and only the armor's restoration fields keep him stable. He's steady, but he can't stay in this condition forever."

"Veralla..." Airo moaned.

"Well, if he can keep like this for a week more..." a deep voice rumbled.

"That's not funny, Glosserax! Bernard, is there any way to put the restoration fields into some kind of overdrive?"

"Hnnh, I can boost the MEM-core's output and reroute the extra power straight to the fields' emitters, but it might fry the underlying circuitry."

"Any better ideas?"

"I guess not. Give me a nanosec."

In a few moments, Airo heard his power armor beeping and then he felt a tingle, like an electrostatic wave washing over his body. His pain receded and the weight from his chest diminished, although it didn't disappear. His eyes widened as he focused the group of Radiant Knights who had gathered over him.

"Veralla!" he burst out. "Veralla!" He tried to stand, but Bernard put a hand on his shoulder.

"Commander, calm down," the head engineer Knight said. "You've been injured–"

"Out of my way!" Airo shouted, shoving away Bernard's arm, and then rose to his feet, the Knights giving him space. His actions rewarded him with fresh stabbing pain in his chest and he stumbled, barely keeping himself upright. He looked around and saw Mentoria standing at the Æther forge over Veralla, the energy barrier – a thin, hardly-perceptible haze – the only obstacle between him and them.

"Veralla!" he shouted, and ran toward the barrier. The Radiant Knights shouted warnings at him, yet he ignored them. He lacked weapons, but the power armor he wore was weapon enough. Reaching what he sensed was the boundaries of the barrier, he swung, and smashed his fist with all his enhanced strength against it.

In an instant, his mind became dark. He lost consciousness within a second, the last sight registered by his senses being the helpless body of his soulkin.

 

***

 

Veralla opened her eyes and saw Mentoria. She tried to move away, but some kind of energy field was suspending her in place, keeping her floating in front of her captor.

Mentoria smiled and Veralla saw her green eyes were as terrible as those of Ferrtau; but they also carried a great sadness like the one Airo had held in his gaze for so long.

"Why have you taken me away?" she rawr–ed. "Where is Airo?" She looked around, yet she saw only a large laboratory full of devices, probably located somewhere on Ilsorin's lower levels.

"Relax, little dragon. Your soulkin is safe, for the time being," Mentoria said, her face darkening at the word. "Cause not any trouble, and you two shall be reunited, eventually."

Veralla tried to focus her mind on Airo. She could not sense him at all and this alarmed her. She struggled against the restraining energy field to no avail. "Where am I? What do you want from me?" she whimpered, fear and panic clawing at her twin hearts.

"You are in my sanctum," Mentoria purred, raising a hand. Her powerful aura scintillated between her fingers, and machinery stirred into operation all around the laboratory. "As for why you are here, I need to take a small part of you, little dragon."

"Take a horn or a claw then," Veralla consented meekly. "Take anything you must. Just release Airo and my friends, and leave us be."

Mentoria laughed, a dry, mirthless sound. "Oh, it will not be so easy, little dragon," she said. "Trifle things such as your body will not suffice for what I have in mind. I need a part of your Essence."

"My Essence?" Veralla asked in a very small voice. "You mean my soul?"

"Yes," Mentoria said. "It would have been much quicker just to kill you outright – but I must uphold my agreement, in case he watches." She looked around, raising her voice. "Do you hear me Ferrtau? If you are watching, witness that I am keeping my word as promised!" The energy field around Veralla began to hum and more devices and equipment came online. Her scales began to itch, when something ephemeral yet transgressive pierced into her aura.

Mentoria's smile became very cold and her eyes blazed with dark hunger. Veralla whimpered, but she could not shy away neither from her captor, nor from the dreadful implement which had impaled her spiritual being.

"Trite as it sounds, this is going to hurt," Mentoria said, and balled her fist into a nimbus of flaring strands.

Something ripped straight at her soul, and Veralla screamed.

 

***

 

The flood of tingling sensation in his mind brought Airo back to consciousness. He jumped to his feet, shouting for Veralla, yet immediately a dozen armored arms restrained his movement.

"Commander Airo, stop!" Lylana Darkovitz yelled. "Your condition–"

Her words were cut short by Veralla's scream. The Radiant Knights all stared in horror at the scene before them. Airo struggled against their lessened grip, but this strained his wound and he toppled with fresh weakness.

"Great Cosmos, what are they doing to her!?" one of the Knights exclaimed. Beyond the hazy barrier of their prison, the Æther forge fired a series of hypercharged pulses, their resonance frequencies spread across the whole cosmic spectrum as their energies passed through Veralla.

"Mentoria tries to complete Project Ascension," Magus Dei said very quietly. Several of the Knights looked at him in incomprehension. But Airo's eyes widened in realization.

"Bring that barrier down at once!" he ordered, pushing himself upright with effort. "Do it now!"

"Commander, we can't–" Lylana started to object.

"Just do it!"

Veralla screamed afresh, her whole body spasming from the torment exerted by the Æther forge. Several of the imprisoned dragon Knights roared in sympathetic anguish and furious hostility.

"You savage egg-sucker!!!" one of them cried.

"Mentoria!" Airo bellowed. "MENTORIA! Come here and fight me, you bloody witch!"

"Airo, she can't hear you," Glawlrhain hissed, his tone feral. Stamat clung to his body with a haggard expression. "Nothing can pass from this side of the barrier, be it matter or energy. Even our air is limited." The dragon's slurred explanation was punctuated by another agonizing shriek from Veralla.

Airo yelled wordlessly, his mind drowned in rage. He whirled toward Magus. "How did this happen! Why did you allow it to happen!!" His fist trembled, half-raised in the old Knight's direction.

"I am sorry. I am very sorry," Magus said, his voice broken. He sat on the floor, shoulders slumped and face drained of all color. Airo had never seen the old man in such a humiliating condition, and it blunted his anger. "I should have stopped her earlier," Magus continued. "I saw the signs, yet I gave her a chance to mend her ways. I should have stopped her." His gaze fell. "I am sorry, Airo."

Airo summoned all his willpower, trying to think clearly. "Almost all of you are aethereals!" he said, scanning the imprisoned Knights. "Do your routines and remove this barrier!"

"We can't," Lylana repeated. "This place is nullifying our powers. We tried already to escape."

Airo ground his teeth, screaming himself as Veralla did so again. "IS THERE NO BLOODY WAY OUT!"

"Dragonbreath can probably punch through the barrier," Bernard chimed in, stroking his chin with quick, nervous motions. "But since it's some kind of energy, it'd probably reform back instantly. We probably can keep firing at it to keep it open, but then we can't leave as nothing can pass through the heart of a dragon's most potent ability."

"How Mentoria created this prison in the first place!" Airo demanded. "She overpowered us all at once, even Ilsorin's security systems! How was she able to do it?!"

"The serefi," Lylana muttered darkly. "They helped her."

"You said we had complete controls over these things!"

"We certainly thought so," Glawlrhain growled. "But the so-called master resonance turned out a hoax. The serefi had been all that time beholden to Mentoria, without any of us knowing. With a single command she turned all of them against us."

"Even the Guardian, whose influence encompasses this entire fractal sub-region," Lylana concluded.

"AIROOOOO!" Veralla shrieked between screams. "HELP MEEE!"

"VERALLA!" He turned, and would've ran against the barrier once more, if it wasn't for Lylana's swift, powerful grip. He fell to his knees with raving sobs, his reason drowned out by helpless rage and the cold, absolute fear of another loss.

"Veralla!" he cried, a defiant arm stretched in her direction. "I am here!!! Veralla!!!"

She lay beyond, trapped within the Æther forge, tortured by the merciless indifference of the machine, while Mentoria loomed to the side, her scant-clad body enveloped in a blazing aura, her expression one of gleeful anticipation. The scene burned itself into Airo's maddened psyche, until the tears took away his vision, leaving only soul-piercing sound.

"Damn rude to say it," Tehalix remarked grimly, "but it'd be a small mercy when her voice gives out."

"Unlikely," Glawlrhain replied, subdued. "Our kind's vocal chords are just as enduring as the rest of our bodies."