Eternal Beasts

A Whispered Hope

Jared wasn't sure how long they were in that little pocket universe his incredible Niki had created for them. He just knew they had the chance to make love several times, even ending up in the shower to make love under the steaming water and finish what they had started that one morning seemingly so long ago.

"We are in so much trouble, my love," Nikeera said sleepily from where she was snuggled up to his side, her arm and leg thrown possessively over him. "I lost count of how many times you made me orgasm. But I just couldn't get enough of you." She looked up at him with a heavy-lidded gaze of satiation.

"We are never going to leave our domicile!" She smiled lazily even as her passion still smoldered in her eyes. "I want to be naked with you all the time!"

"Sounds pretty damn good, actually," he said with a smile of his own. Then he frowned when she seemed to shimmer.

"Nooooo!" Nikeera growled low in her throat. "It would appear the Ritual is done with our bodies, my love."

"Damn it," he said with a frown. "What do you think will happen now, my angel?"

She lifted a hand to tenderly touch his face.

"Our minds will be slammed back into our bodies, my love, back in that crevice in the mountain. And then I will be forced to wait to be with you again until the end of our quest. Having tasted how sweet that fruit is, it'll be torture every moment you are not inside me!"

Before Jared could respond, she disappeared. One eye blink she was there, touching his cheek. And the next she was gone, leaving her spot in bed still warm.

The big man, however, didn't get much time to consider that. Because he went from frowning in disappointment in his dorm room in the pocket universe. To standing on the edge of a vast cliff., the orb in his left eye tingling fiercely.

Below the cliff edge a massive river raged, surging through its rocky channel with incredible power, throwing up spray as it brushed by jagged spurs of rock that dared to interrupt its passage. 'Where am I now?' he wondered as his eyes took in the surrounding landscape, rugged and beautiful in a hard, unrelenting fashion.

That was when he noticed the tingling in his left eye, the orb warm in its socket. The last time the orb had done that, he was shown the rebirth of the Altara. What was he being shown now??

It was as his eyes scanned the river's far bank, shrouded by a thick growth of evergreens, that Jared caught sight of a small group moving carefully along the bank. As he brought his keen vision to bear on the group, Jared could see they held something in their midst. 'Are they human?' Jared wondered as the group slowly moved towards a spur that jutted a good three meters out over the surging river.

Carefully the group moved out onto the spur, leaving two or three of their number behind as the spur wasn't big enough to hold them all. Thus was the creature they held between them exposed. It was bent and broken, as if it had suffered severe physical punishment. Still Jared could see that, somehow, it was still alive as it weakly moved between the powerful hands that held it.

And then, without warning, those that held the broken creature flung it strongly out into the river. Instantly the surging waters took it and bore it swiftly away, quickly carrying it out of sight beyond a curve in the river's bed. 'Is this happening now??' Jared wondered as he returned his attention to the small group that had regathered on the river's bank, seeming to talk amongst themselves. 'Or has the river of Time brought me to some place in the future? Or the past??'

With a defiant shriek, a dragon abruptly appeared from around the side of the cliff Jared seemed to be standing on. As soon as it was visible, Jared felt a wave of warmth through his connection to Samantha. 'Sam??'

- JAAREEED!! - Sam's voice exploded into his mind, filled with equal parts fear, relief, and pure joy at feeling him in her mind. - I'm so scared, my rider. Where are you?? I need you!! -

- I'm coming for you, Sams, right now! - Jared shot back, leaning over the edge of the ledge he stood on to stare up at the dragon as it hovered over the river. Its rider seemed to be interested in both the small group that still clustered on the far bank and the river itself.

- Where are you?? -

- I ... I don't know, my Jared, - she confessed, her mental voice miserable.

- If I can feel you, you're close, Sam, - Jared grimly pointed out. - Which means you're near enough to reach. What happened at Isla Mobius? -

- The leviathan captured me after its power knocked us from the sky, - Samantha replied. - It used some sort of magic to send me to Tammen Gall where several cholim sorcerers worked together to imprison me within an amulet that is worn by the Lord of Dragons. -

Jared's eyes narrowed as he abruptly recognized the dragon that hovered over the river from when he saw it back on the Arch. 'Karluran!'

- If you can find the Lord of Dragons, you will find me, - Samantha hesitantly added. So she knew she had been imprisoned inside the amulet, but she didn't know where that amulet currently was!

The realization was enough to make Jared visually search Karluran sitting in his saddle not ten meters from where he was standing. There! Around his neck, a heavy golden necklace with a large amulet attached to it. 'Samantha!' It was enough to gather himself for a jump. With his rider's strength, he should be able to clear the space!

Only to discover that, try as he might, Jared couldn't move from the spot he stood upon. For a moment he silently struggled, trying to pull himself free. Then, realizing his essence was only there as an observer, he stopped, seething with frustration and anger.

- I can see that scale-backed coward now, - he hissed grimly. - He and that overgrown lizard he calls a dragon are hovering over some river where I watched something get dumped into the water -

- Yes, yes, my rider! - Samantha exclaimed, the excitement at feeling how close he was pushing aside her fear for the moment. - I can sense your essence nearby! But not your physical self. What has happened to you since I was taken, my love? Your soul is so very troubled!! -

In a rush of sensation and memory, Jared used the link binding him to his griffon to pass over all of his experiences since Isla Mobius and the battle with the leviathan. As the last memory of the battle with the dragons on the path through the Nar Shava Pass flitted across the link, Jared could feel a returning surge of emotion.

- If only I could've been there to help you, my love, - Samantha began, pain, loss, and longing filling her mental voice.

- I wish you could've been there too, Sams, - he said heavily. - But we'll be together soon, I promise. - Again there was a quick exchange of memory and sensation. Then, painfully, Jared felt the link begin to stretch as the scene began to fade, like water colors in the rain.

- Sam! Looks like my vision is over. Hold on, sweetheart. I'm coming for you! -

- Hurry, my Jared. I need you. I love you! - Sam's voice returned to say into Jared's mind, laden with emotion and longing. And then she was gone.

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