Gorian studied his new environment.  It was not what he expected.  He assumed that she liked blue too, but everything here was grey.  He was in a cylindrical cavern, stretching as high as the sky itself.  There was a patch of vegetation where he was standing, if you would call it that.  Otherwise he was surrounded by smooth grey walls of rock, perfectly curved all the way around.  Below his vegetation was sudden drop of two feet to a rocky floor.  As Gorian's eyes followed the perimeter of the ground, he discovered a small opening to his right.

    Upon sliding down to the rocks, the blue furre grunted, realizing that he was barefoot.  He carefully landed on the bottom and looked back to the opening.  It appeared to be a cave, but the entrance was still too dark to figure out what was inside.  Cautiously, Gorian walked toward it and knelt to the opening.

    She must be inside, he thought.  He considered his options and decided to crawl in.  As his head entered the cavern, someone's paw touched his nose.  Stunned, Gorian felt his head being pushed back out into the light.  The paw followed.  It was grey, but tiny.

    "Kaelin?" Gorian asked.

    Her face reached the few rays of sunlight.  It was definitely Kaelin, Gorian thought, but she was ... a child.

    "You're not him!" Kaelin announced.

    "Who?"

    "What are you doing here?"

    "Kaelin!" Gorian shouted, "What are you talking about?"

    "Kliam," she answered as she completely left her small cavern, "Mar's ancestor."

    The two of them looked around their surroundings.  There was no one else there.  It was so quiet, Gorian would thought that everything was dead.

    "Does Kliam look like Mar?" Gorian asked.

    "Mar does have the same fur," the little girl answered, "Why do you ask?"

    "An acquaintance of mine was attacked repeatedly in her dreams by somebody who looked like him."

    "Your vamp-killer friend," Kaelin said coolly.  Gorian glanced at her.  Both Moonlit and Kaelin told him not to follow Mar, but he did anyway.  Why was that?

    "Maybe because you wanted to see what's out there," his guardian mused, "I've seen so many young ones like yourself ... you're all the same."

    "I'm not naive."

    "Not anymore, I bet," Kaelin muttered, "You all want to explore.  You, Mar, that poet of yours, the canine at the bar in Slen, Kliam, Roone ... even me when I was younger.  That's why you followed Mar.  There's no loyalty involved, you wanted adventure."

    "You act like a mother hen," Gorian countered, "And since when were you ever younger?  Is that why you're a child now?  To show me how stupid I am?"

    "You're putting words in my mouth.  Sit down."

    Gorian eyed her instead.

    "Sit down Gorian."

    He sat.  Kaelin did not speak for a while.  The two of them glared at each other instead.  This was stupid, Gorian thought.  He should not have entered this dream.  Sileia was right.  Speaking directly with his friends in their dreams was a bad idea.

    "Thousands of years ago," Kaelin began hesitantly, "There was a real furre named Ayem.  He was not a god-."

    "Did you meet him?" Gorian interrupted.

    "No."

    "Then you don't know for sure."

    "Just listen," Kaelin hissed.

    That was the first time he ever saw Kaelin spit at him.  Gorian's ears cowered as he glanced away.  Kaelin may be a child, but at the moment, he was frightened of her.  He decided to just hear the story and kept to himself.

    "There are stories that make him god-like.  But only because of the work he has done.  Every community has a story, Gorian.  Meovanni, Slen, Allets, they all have one.  Did you hear of anything in Slen?  They say that Ayem fought a giant beetle there.  I don't know if there was a real beetle, maybe.  I have seen weird things in my life.  They say that the beetle's corpse became the foundation of the city.

    "The point is, Ayem has been across this country - and for a reason.  It was during his lifetime that demons began to exist in Furcadia.  The Master of demons wanted to rule our nation, just as she does in hers.  Her nation is far away though.  Why she decided to take on Furcadia and not our neighbours, I don't know.  I've been told that you could only find the purest of elements here.  It was with all of these elements and the staff that hosted them that Ayem could defeat the demons.  And that's what he did.  All but one: the master herself.  But she became dormant somehow and eventually Ayem's life passed.

    "Now and then, the Master will re-awaken.  The last time she did was three generations ago.  She created an uprising against the royal family by spreading new demons into furres, essentially possessing them.  Four royal officers were able to defeat those demons by recombining the elements and the staff.  Beforehand it was decided that those officers would host an element of their own to aid them in battle.  A descendent of Ayem gave one water, one sky, one earth, and one time."

    "Kliam is earth," Gorian whispered.

    Kaelin nodded, "And Gorian the Warrior is sky."

    Gorian gasped, "My grandfather?"

    "Great-grandfather."

    "What-"

    "We'll talk about that later," Kaelin shrugged aside, "The Master was not yet defeated.  Before she became dormant again, she possessed one of the royal furres, Kliam, with a demon.  That demon was to steal all of the elements for himself.  Kliam convinced the furre of time to help him, with the idea that with all the elements, they could ensure the security of Furcadia.  They attempted to find the descendent of Ayem again, for this time he was on top of Mount Kuisp.  On the way to the peak, furre of Time disappeared, likely died.  It took Kliam almost a century to reach the top.  When he did, he attacked the descendent, but not before the elemental guardian spread the elements across the nation, to be hosted by various infants.

    "Kliam killed the descendent and stole the sole element he possessed: dreams."

    "Ayem," Gorian said with shock, "That's why the nightmares ... wait.  What are the elements?  How many are there?  I think I know some of them!"

    "You do," Kaelin nodded, "There are fifteen.  Moonlit is the furre of stars."

    "That explains a lot, actually," Gorian nodded.

    "The other elements are: sky, earth, time, water, and dreams, which you know.  As well as ice, seasons, light, music, fire, sand, and soul.  The staff is an element of its own.  That's fourteen."

    "Fourteen?"

    "I don't know the last one.  That was given a host before the royal officers took theirs.  Its likely a powerful one though.  Beware it, as I have no idea where it stands on good or evil."

    "Gelae is the furre of ice... " Gorian mumbled, "Chloria can make fire without even blinking ... I'm willing to bet that Cyiet is the furre of music ... they're all the same age as me."

    Kaelin nodded.

    "Which element do I have?" Gorian asked her.

    "You don't have any," she smiled, "I would've noticed it by now.  Mar doesn't either.  But you two have roles of your own."

    "What role?"

    "I was told that the descendents of the Royal Officers will have to fight the Master someday."

    Gorian blanched, "Ayem.  You could've trained me, at least."

    "No," Kaelin shook her head, "You're not fighting her.  I won't let you.  I'd rather die fighting her than let you near her.  Anyway, during the battle between the officers and the demons, the citizens of Furcadia took it upon themselves to overthrow the monarchy.  They're in exile today."

    "I didn't even know we had a monarchy."

    "They are the true rulers of Furcadia," Kaelin warned, "Never forget them.  I'm surprised no one invaded us yet without them.  Eventually the Royal Officers dissolved, especially since only one had survived the battle with the demons-"

    "Sounds like a poem I read," he noted.

    "Yeah... " she said as if speaking to the distance itself, "There are still knights protecting the royal family and the people of Furcadia itself, though no one notices.  That's the way they prefer it.  They are called to service in secret.  If they survive the harsh trials, they are granted status as knights."

    "Do I know any of them?" Gorian asked.  He found it odd that Kaelin would make mention to those furres unless there was a purpose.  But Kaelin just smiled as an answer.  That irritated him, but he was not going to provoke her further.

    The sky blinked.  For a moment, Gorian thought his head was having problems.  Then he realized that this was Kaelin's dream.  He had forgotten.  Kaelin was waking up.

    "No nightmares," she grinned, "A pleasant night's sleep for once."

    She turned back to Gorian, "When are you coming home?"

    "As soon as I can," he answered, "Hopefully with Mar."

    "Hopefully."
 
 
 

    Kaelin awoke on her straw bed.  Her eyes were expecting dawn, but it was still a dark night outside.  Not quite a complete sleep, she mused.  But that was no matter.  During her story to Gorian, she realized that there was one thing that had to be done.  She had to alert the Lions and have them help her.  Kliam was making too many moves.  He had Moonlit and Chloria in their dreams, likely more.  He would likely take them and their elements, if he hadn't started already.  It was time.

    It was time she raided the temple.