There was something painful about the crack in its voice and, for all his stoicism, Alton had to admit that it hurt to look down at his child clinging to its fatally wounded bonded. The way it asked him to save it. The way it pleaded. Begged. Ordell, as it was called, had never asked for something like this, and Alton knew that it was not a request he could grant.

"Why would I do this for you. It is insignificant in this universe. It matters less than the nearest star."

"Please, father. I beg you, please." Grey eyes filled with tears, bore into him with a pain and hurt Alton had never seen from it. An emotion he almost called love. Not for him, but for the creature it held.

"The only thing I can grant it is mercy and a painless death." The half dragon floated upward from Ordell's arms, tears lifting from its face, yelping in pain as it moved. It looked terrified as it reached out for Ordell, who reached back. Fingertips brushing as it moved from Ordell's reach. Alton's arm plunged into its back, grabbing its soul. Ordell shouted and as he pulled the soul from its body he felt something. A tether to time. A pause in his certainty as he looked at it and saw. He looked into and saw its others, the different versions of it. It was connected so deeply to this universe in a way he had not seen since he created the Watchers. It knew, at least vaguely, the future and past of this universe. Every version of it was connected to the very making of the Ayriaria. An anomaly in creation. One he could use. A decision to be made. One that did not require Ordell’s presence. A wave of his hand and Ordell vanished, sent back to Laylovahn.

Light flashed. Magic pulled at his stomach and it was seconds before Ordell fell to his knees. Familiar red sky and silver trees surrounded him. A sob ripped from his throat, collapsing till his face touched the ground, tears dripped from his nose. Fire burned in his throat and he screamed at the pain that ripped through his chest. His horns dug into the ground as he gasped for air, choking on sobs as he tried to breath through the stabbing pain that was left where he used to feel her. Her, her, Idunn and sister, she was gone, she was gone and his father, his father, the one person he had trusted above all others, had let her die, and she was gone. As he wept and tried to breathe through the agonizing pain of having her energy ripped from his, Ordell finally understood what Baydrith meant when he said he'd had nothing left. It was all he could think, all he knew, all he could feel, was her absence. The lack of warmth and how quiet it was with out her energy and how the blue sparks that had clung so closely to him were gone. There was nothing left behind. He had nothing left and she was gone.

Nali had never seen Ordell like this before. Finding him had been terrifying. Blood ran from his nose and ears as he slumped against a tree, barely breathing. It had taken too long to determine if he was alive, as he was cold to the touch and they couldn’t see his chest move, and even longer to wake him up. He and Kay had been missing since Kay had been injured nearly three weeks ago and, now that the realm was safe to travel again, they’d been looking for the pair. She looked around the area as she knelt beside him and she finally noticed what was wrong. Where was Kay. She shouted over her shoulder to Rhian to search the area before turning back to Ordell. She shook him, shouted his name until his eyes fluttered open, her voice panicked and strained as she spoke. As he woke he seemed to slip in and out of consciousness. Grabbing for her arm. Breaths sounding more like gasps for air.

“Ordell,” She grabbed his shoulders, trying to get unfocused eyes to look at her “Ordell. Where’s Kay?” The choked sob that followed made her stomach lurch and the words made her world crumble, the broken whisper she barely heard, cracking as he spoke. “She’s gone,” her hands pulled his head to her chest and he gripped her shirt. She ignored how his horns pushed painfully into her shoulder. “She’s gone.”

Alton looked at it with blankly as it sat up. An eyebrow raised as it scuttled back from him, realizing where it was. Who stood in front of it.

“Where am I? Where’s Ordell?” It sounded panicked. Dark wings flared behind it as it tried to stand, though it continued to fall to its knees.

“My domain.” His voice drifted through the plane. Something close to nothingness surrounded them, but his voice echoed as though it bounced of a hundred walls.

“And you,” he stepped forward, the small creature fell back as he leaned down toward it. “Will do as I say or die as you were meant to.”

Its eyes widened and it ceased its movements. He nearly scoffed as he stood again.

“You appear to have a unique connection to this universe.” He turned his back towards it. A Daedra. He’d made them in the hopes they be great. It looked pathetic now.

“I do not know why. I do not know how. But you, and your others, all have this connection.”

“My Layveeashta?” A whisper. He ignored it. It should not be speaking, anyway. It was here to listen and do as he said.

“I have decided to combine all versions of you and give you alone a task.” His hands clasped behind his back. It had taken some thought on how deal with that problem. Too many with too much knowledge for his liking. It was better if there was only one. “You will guide this universe’s existence. There will be no other like you.”

“What if I refuse?” His turned to look at it, a look of disdain on his face, a lip raised in disgust.

“You who knows the fate of this universe. You will do this or die.” He raised his hand, snapped, and it was gone. Sent back to the beginning of the universe. Now he only had to wait to see how badly it would make a mess of the world. To see if it was up to the task it had been given.