Her brother, always so over protective. Akarui watched as Mayoke began to weave yet another spell to discover Acerbu's destination. "You will be careful, yes? Don't trust everyone so easily." Acerbu's eyes were full of worry as he took Akarui's hand and squeezed it. She laid her other over his and smiled, "I will, my brother. Maybe I'm not as gullible as you think." The silver dragoness preformed her magic and Kokuuzou sent Acerbu onwards.

When it was just she, Kokuuzou and Mayoke remaining, Akarui released a shuddering sigh. This was it. She would be leaving Aether for a very long time in all probability, who knows what state it would be in when she was able to return. And the idea of being so far from Venia, that comforting golden acropolis that felt like the first warm strike of sunlight on a cloudy winter day to her. She knew that as long as Venia stood, she had a place to call home, and that there were still things that were good and right in the universe.

"Akarui? Are you ready?" The Light mage was drawn out of her reverie and blinked, focusing on Mayoke and Kokuuzou. "I'm sorry, I was just thinking... I'll miss this place, even in it's current state of disarray." "Time is nothing to the Void. We will return now in a hundred years." was Mayoke's cryptic reply. She reached out and completed her spell with a talon to Akarui's forehead. A brilliant golden light dazzled the golden dragoness' eyes, pulling her toward the east, toward Venia.

A startled cry came from Mayoke and Kokuuzou as the Light mage was suddenly bathed with warm, golden light, then suddenly wasn't there. "What happened? Where is she!?" he asked fiercely. Mayoke blinked, her normally silver eyes glowed amber as she spoke. "We will see to this one's destiny. She is safe with us." Then she closed her eyes and fainted.

"Something is not right..." The tunnel that Akarui floated in was not the normal cold, unfeeling black of the Void, but rather a brilliant, swirling gold. She could see and feel and hear - for the tunnel made an odd, soft noise, like folds of silk rubbing - everything. She rubbed her eyes roughly and blinked. "Kokuuzou?"

The One of Void is not here. We are in control. You are safe.

The echoing voice that answered her call was not that of Kokuuzou's, it had the many-faceted and colorless tone of Venia when she and the city were in contact. She continued to float almost dreamily through the bright haze of swirling yellows, ambers and golds in an euphoric state. All of her friends were safe, all was well.

We have different plans for you. You are Our champion, the One of Light. We are not able to follow away from Our world. Go safely, Akarui of Light.

Abruptly, the golden tunnel ended and the icey grip of the Void closed on Akarui. She was startled from her euphoria, blinking at the darkness that pressed against her eyes and the hateful unfeeling dark that filled her senses.

At the other end, the portal suddenly swirled with pale yellow light. Akarui was rather unceremoniously spat out, human formed and semi-consious. Concerned onlookers stopped to help the girl to her feet. "Wh-where am I? Venia?" She blinked at the dazzling overhead lights and gripped the shirt of the kind man that had helped her up, swooning. It wasn't there! She couldn't sense it! Venia had lost it's contact with her as she traveled, leaving behind an empty, cold sensation like the Light mage had never known. Staggering, she whirled on the man, power crackling at her fingertips. "What is this place!?" "St-star City!"

It was all she could take to just maintain the showy crackle of light at her fingertips, much less actually use any of her powers. Akarui felt faint, something was missing without Venia. Something she couldn't function well without. "Get away from her!" The voice was familiar, punctuated by a shrieking roar that wasn't. There was the rushing of feet, the ticking of talons on the metal floor and the crowd parted with a small gasp. The last thing she saw before passing out was a furry blue head, grinning with a mouthful of fangs.

She will be okay?

"She'll wake up, if that's what you mean. I don't know about okay. Not right now anyway."

Why? What is wrong?

"Ooooh..." Her head surely must have been split in two by the fall. It definately felt that way. Akarui struggled to sit up but was gently restrained by a hand on her shoulder. "Not now, my sister. You must rest." Sister? "A-Acerbu? Is that you?" His face swam into view as she forced her eyes open. The light was mercifully dimmed, but Akarui still made out the shape of a creature in the corner. What little light there was reflected off of the dome of it's eyeless head and the white of it's fangs. The rest was absorbed by the coat of deep blue fur that covered it's body.

"Akarui, this is my bond, Nacht. Nacht, my sister Akarui." The creature bowed his head, murmuring, Pleased to meet you. "Your bond?" She had managed to push off Acerbu's hand and sit up, still feeling very weak and confused. "Yes. I think that this is what Venia's plan when it said we were to 'travel to distant places and bring back a weapon of great power'. We are all supposed to bond a dragon or some other creature capable of great power!" The expression on the Darkness mage's face as he gazed at the blue beast in his lair was nothing short of love without hesitation or worry.

Akarui was so relieved to see a familiar face that the dragon could have sprouted from her brother's back and she would have cared less. She threw her arms around his neck in joy. He hugged her gently. "Your journey through the Void was as eventful as mine?" "I-I don't think I went through the Void the same way you did. Venia had more control than Kokuuzou. But... wait!" She pulled back and looked up at her brother, "You couldn't have been gone for more than thirty minutes when I went!" Glancing at Nacht, Akarui could tell the odd beast was fully grown. "It looks like you've been gone for years!"

"Well, if Venia truely did have a hand in your transfer, I believe I know why you're here." Releasing her, Acerbu went and stood next to his bonded, threading his fingers into Nacht's thick fur. "Nacht here is the best thing that's happened to me. I know what he looks like, something filled with pure evil or violence. He's not, he's an extension of myself." The dragon turned his toothy grin on his bond, licking at his hand with his tongue-like second mouth.

Akarui shuddered.

"I think Atrox may have had a hand in my own transfer, sending me to this clutch. They hoped that I would bond something to overpower will toward Their side, but it backfired. Nacht only does what I say, not what some incorporeal mass of evil demands. There is another clutch in the bays right now, and while no one really knows their exact breed, calls have gone out for candidates of 'the highest moral fiber', if that's not you I don't know what is." Akarui blinked at him. She still felt off, as if something integral was missing that buffered the harshness of everything.

"You... want me to bond one of - those?" She nodded at Nacht shakily. "No, not a xenodragon. There are many different kinds of creatures that seek out bonds at birth. This clutch has been largely kept a secret. Anything could come from it." The Light mage sighed. "Very well. I don't see how I could be any worse off than I am right now."