"I will find you..."

Stepping into the spinning portal, Drämoro and Dohäi gripped one another tightly. It was a curious sensation, something like having both your head and feet being pulled in different directions. Not painfully, just a gentle tugging sentation, until the full suction of the portal hit and the "bottom dropped out", so to speak. A swirling mass of blue and white flashed before their eyes, then an intense heat, then nothing. A blank expanse of black, unfeeling nothing.

The next thing either of them knew, they dropped face first into a quagmire of muddy snow. "Snow...they have snow in this world." was the first coherent thought to pop into Drämoro's head. Shakily, he pushed himself up and cast about for Dohäi. The boy was beside him, but so buried in the snow that only his rump and the heels of his boots showed. Plunging a hand into the mud and pulling his little brother up, Drämoro quickly inspected their surroundings.

It appeared that they had landed upon a mountain, a well inhabited mountain no less. Large, seemingly bird-like creatures flew here and there, many animals played in the scant shrubbery and people moved around a building further ahead. One of the bird-things noticed the pair of strangers just arrived from nowhere, and angled down to meet them. When it landed, Drämoro saw that it was definately no bird. It was reptilian all the way, a shimmery silver color, and large. His first instinct, being a warrior, was defence, so Drämoro quickly shifted to his bear form and snarled at the beast, stepping in front of Dohäi.

"Boy, did he learn how to change fast..." thought Dohäi as he watched his brother whip from one form to another almost instantly, when the huge flying lizard landed near them. Thinking it be best he change too, (and maybe just to show off to the lizard-thing and impress Drä) Dohäi closed his eyes and shifted to bear form. Having no armor, he just hunkered behind his big brother and tried to growl menacingly. The beast just gazed back unblinkingly. Easy now, you'd think you'd never seen a dragon before! it said, dipping it's huge head and gazing amusedly at the pair of bears in front of it. "You, talk?" asked Drämoro, rising up on his hind-legs (a good 10 ft+ tall) to make himself a more imposing figure to this "dragon" as it called itself.

In a manner of speaking, yes...I'm Dalbenth, I discover bonds for the dragons here...who'er you? Having realized they weren't hearing the silver dragon's voice with their ears, but with their minds, both Drämoro and Dohäi were stunned into resuming their human forms. "Er...I'm Drämoro...and this is my brother, Dohäi." The silver nodded and narrowed his gleaming eyes at them. Would you mind accompanying me up to the Aerd? I'll give you a lift... Dipping a wing and offering his foreleg to give them a step up, Dalbenth waited expectantly. Neither of them had any clue what to do, and sort of made it up as they went. Drämoro lifted Dohäi up onto the creature's back and pulled himself up afterward.

Apparently, they'd done it right, for no sooner had they settled themselves did the great silver spread his wings and pump them to gain altitude. Surprised, Dohäi clutched the dragon's neck, and Drämoro held onto Dohäi. Landing on a cleared, packed section of snow, Dalbenth once again bent and offered his foreleg to help them down, all while calling for his rider. A tall, tanned woman with hair the same color as their own approached and stopped by the silver, eyes unfocused.

"Hi, I'm Minwei." she said after a moment's conversation with the dragon. "And you're the first white Ursael we've ever seen." "Ursael?" Drämoro asked, comforting a shaken Dohäi. "Y'know, bear shifters. You've never heard of it?" Both shook their heads, but their attention was fine-tuned. Other bear-shifters out there? Were they like them, some unfortunate, cursed to share their bear half with a human half? "There aren't many here..." she continued, waiting for one of them to speak. "Where exactly is 'here'?" Drämoro asked after a moment. "This is Shivran Aerd, of Mythicalae."

I get the feeling you aren't from here... Dalbenth butted in. "No, we're from a different world..." Drämoro told them the short version of their story, watching Minwei's expression. It was far more mobile than a bears, they were like vast mountains of snow and ice, only changing with age. "Then you definately aren't from here, but this Eliodè sent you here for a reason...and I think I know what it was. There are several clutches of eggs on our sands, and we need bonders. Would you two like to try?" she asked.

They had been walking as they spoke, and now arrived at a large cavern-like room, with a floor made of sand and three more dragons curled around piles of eggs inhabiting it. "You mean, bond one of those, like you?" Dohäi asked tentatively, the first thing he'd said to Minwei. "Yes, like Dalbenth and I." Excitedly, he jumped up and said, "Sure!" before Drämoro could answer. "I guess so..." he said after a moment, and was pulled onto the sand by his little brother.

A Few Days Later...

Kicking around the front of the Aerd, alone for once, Drämoro gazed out at the vast fields of frozen land and the twilight sky. Everything had happened so fast since the portal had dumped them at Shivran Aerd. Dohäi had even bonded a curious creature that looked alot like a dragon, only with large hind-legs which it hopped on like a rabbit. He'd named the little female leap-flit Alena, and played with it every day.

Drämoro had no liking for the beast, it annoyed him with it's never-ending bouncing, chirping and eating. He'd seen quite a few of the residents sporting various creatures, from miniature dragon-like flits, to furry rabbit or cat-like beasts. He had not sought out a pet, as Dohäi had, but preferred to stay "unbonded" for the time being.

It wasn't to last, however. The multitudes of creatures, being animals, bred like wildfire, and Drämoro happened across a clutch of them hatching from the sands. Two of them instantly assailed him and bonded, one was a light gold, the other a brown. They chirped and crealed incessantly until he fed them. "Ugh, now I have to name you little buggers." he muttered darkly. The gold looked up at him with, he thought, a slightly irritated glance, while the brown just ate and ate, taking advantage of his sister's distraction. "Alright, you're Sardor," he said to the gold, "and you're Chanu." They both looked up at him as if he were the Authority, or an angel, before resuming their gorging.

"Won't Do be pleased..."