This story is the fourth part of the "Yslien's Lover" Story series. Okay, So this chapter is shorter than the last, but meh, more to come soon I hope! ££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££ The rain poured down hard...very very hard. So hard the sparse shrubbery of the moutain foothills bent in half. Arzhi and Jiles were bent low over their mounts against the driving wind and rain. "We need to find shelter!!" Jiles yelled "Where do you suggest!?" Arzhi yelled back sarcastically Jiles grumbled something inaudible over the wind, before calling out "Look! Over there! I think there's some caves!" "How cliché..." Arzhi thought before spurring Tochi towards the dark outline just visible through the rain. As they approched the outline it turned out to indeed be a cave. They rode up to it and saw the reasonably small entrance, it seemed to go back quite away. "Wait here!" Jiles called before dismounting and heading into the cave Arzhi waited for a few moments, trying to shield his face from the rain. A few moments later Jiles returned and beckoned Arzhi inside. Arzhi dismounted Tochi and led him inside, Jiles led his horse with them. The mounts had to duck their heads to get into the cave. It led down a narrow corridor for about three feet and then it opened out into a much larger cavern. It was pitch black so the two couldn't see this, but the sense of space above and around them was enough. There was a flare of light and Arzhi was holding a small glowing sphere in his hands. "How did you do that?" Jiles asked "I thought we needed light." Arzhi shrugged "I have no idea how my ‘power' works, so It's probably best we don't question it." "Right..." Before it had started raining Arzhi had been telling Jiles about the medallion and the powers that came with it. They had managed to lose the Everto Venator when they entered the foothills and the rain had begun to fall. When they arrived in the cave, they looked around. It was about the size of a large house and, most importantly, it was bone dry. Arzhi sent the small globe up towards the ceiling of the cave, where it glowed brighter. "GAH!!" Jiles shouted as the light illuminated the rest of the cave Arzhi turned to see what it was and jumped back with a yelp "W-what is it!?" he whimpered "It's...wait...you've never seen a skeleton before?" Jiles asked, raising an eyebrow "Whats a skeleton?" Arzhi asked, looking at the skeleton that was sprawled out on a large pile of bracken and moss. "It's...well...that..." Jiles said, pointing "Everyone has one inside them, thats how we stay upright, not like a damp bag of flesh." "Everyone has one of those? But what about..." "They differ from species to species. Now, it looks like he made some sort of camp in here." The hyena went over to the skeleton and started going through the various bags that were strewn about a small fire pit. "It looks like he was set to stay here for a while." Jiles said over his shoulder "There seeme to be remains of food and drink here...not much good to us though." "Theres lots of dry firewood over there." Tochi said "Tochi says theres lots of dry fire wood over there." Arzhi translated for Jiles "Hmmm...I wonder what this person was doing stocking up in this cave for? And why did he die?" "Might it have something to do with the knife sticking through his chest?" Arzhi said, tugging the blade free of the ribcage. "Why would someone want to kill him though?" Jiles asked coming over to Arzhi and inspecting the knife. "Well, theres no point in worrying about it, whoever did it is long gone." Arzhi said handing the knife to Jiles and then pulling the bones off the dry bedding. "Hey! This stuff is still okay!" he said, pushing it with his hand "It's still dry and theres no...ickyness from the corpse." "It must be a very old corpse...and theres no moisture in this cave which could explain why the bedding is so dry." Jiles said "So why wasn't the corpse mummyfied?" he added to himself. There was a "whoompf!" and a small squeak, Jiles span round and saw Arzhi rubbing his hand. There was a fire burning merrily in the fire pit. "I tried to light a fire but it exploded!" he whimpered "Maybe you shouldn't use magic to start fires?" Jiles said as Arzhi sat on the bedding. Tochi lay down behind him, curling his body around Arzhi in a horseshoe shape. Jiles led his nervous horse to where the other two were sitting. It lay down on the dry dusty floor of the cave and whickered as Jiles rubbed it's neck. "So what do we do know?" Arzhi asked "I suppose we wait for the storm to subside...although I have no idea how long that will take." "Great...so what are we supposed to do now?" "Well, you two seem pretty cosy, I guess I'll take a look around, I think there was a passage leading further back over there." Jiles said, pointing to the rear of the cave. "Take this." Arzhi said, and opened his palm. A small sphere of glowing light appeared and then floated up to hang just infront and above Jiles' head "Thanks...this isn't going to explode on me is it?" he said "No, It's not actually." Arzhi replied, somewhat curtly. "Well okay...See you later." Jiles said, before moving off into the dark of the cave "What are we supposed to do now?" Arzhi wondered aloud "We could always mate." Tochi said "Thats all you ever think about isn't it?" "Not you...me and that sexy horse." "You do know thats a male horse...don't you?" "Yeah, whats your point?" Arzhi sighed and turned back to the fire. They had very few supplies, considering the hurried flight from the city. They'd be wanted "criminals" for sure now. He lay back on the straw and sighed, this whole venture was steadily heading straight down the proverbial can. He had spent most of his life in a slave house and then the rest up to this point in Yslien's realm. He had spent a little under four days in the real world without any inhibitions or confinement. In those four days he had become wanted by what was probably the most powerful organisation on the continent. So in short, things weren't going to well, he had also lost one of his most valuable leads. He just hoped Brian could decipher his letter. A while later, Arzhi was wondering where the hell Jiles had got to. Either cave was really quite large, or Jiles had gotten lost. "Gah! If he gets lost I'm gonna have to find another person to help me in this world!" he snapped to no one in particular "Tochi! I'm going to look for him, you stay here and look after that horse...and try not to rape him." "I can't promise anything!" Tochi replied as Arzhi headed off into the darkness. Arzhi had started by marching, but soon slowed into a walk. The cave had a strangly opressive feel to it, and it also had the feeling of an increadable weight upon it. Not suprising considering there was a mountain up above him. So far the passage had remained dry and dusty, but totally black. No light penetrated through anywhere, the cave brought a new meaning to the phrase "Pitch Black". Not even pitch was this black. It was at this point that Arzhi realised that there was no light, yet he could see perfectly. Obviously another ability from Yslien. He had left his sword back with Tochi, what was he going to run into down here? But now he wished he still had it, if only to have something reassuring next to him. He also had no idea where he was going, even with the ability to see, Arzhi still could't get his bearings. He was deep underground with several billion tons of mountain over his head. He couldn't even tell if the path turned or not. After a while Arzhi stopped and sighed. Now he was lost. He grumbled and started moving again, plodding along. "Gah! Where the hell am I going!" he shouted. A section of the ground under his feet slid away and he dropped into a smooth stone chute. Arzhi shot down the chute which gradually widened into more of a slide. He began to slow down, until he came to a complete stop. After sorting out the massive wedgie he had recieved, he looked around. He was in a large stone chamber with smooth grey walls. He could see an exit with a light shining through it. Having no where else to go except up the frictionless slide, he headed towards it. As he approched the door, he could here someone talking. It was an oddly alluring voice, curious, Arzhi peered around the edge of the doorway. The sight that greeted him was very suprising. There was a large spacious cavern that was full of very strange looking objects. At the present time, Arzhi didn't pay much attention to these objects. He was focusing more on the large white dragon that was sitting in the cavern, talking to a figure suspended from a strange bronze device. It was obviously Jiles that was suspended from the device, who else could it be? Arzhi slipped into the main cave and crept closer, using the piles of archaic looking machinery and treasure as cover. Up close, the dragon didn't seem that large, its body was roughly the size of a shire horse, maybe a bit larger. It's tail made up most of it's length however, being nearly three times the dragons body length. Arzhi could see that Jiles had been stripped of his clothing. He was covered in strange devices and odd tubes. The dragon seemed to be talking about them "...And once I've activated the disintergration matrix, I can replace your skeleton with something a little more dureable." It said in a clearly male voice Jiles just grunted. There was an odd contraption around his waist which had a long metal probe like thing inserted up Jiles's tail hole. A tube was attached to it and a strange glowing substance was moving sluggishly through it. "Don't worry, you'll be able to speak once the procedure is completed. You know, I must thank you. You coming here has saved me the trouble of going out and finding a specimen like yourself to experiment on." the dragon continued. "Whhhttt...rrrr....yoooo...drrring?...." Jiles murmured. His eyes were half closed and his muzzle had a strange look of bliss twisting it. His legs occasionally jerked and his body twitched. Arzhi noticed that his penis was fully erect. "Well...I have just told you...but I may as well explain for your friend hiding behind me." The dragon replied, turning his head and smiling. Arzhi immediatly moved as a jet of fire hit the place where he was hiding. "Sorry human...I already have one specimen...I don't need another!" The dragon roared, rearing up and opening it's large wings. Arzhi rolled behind a large bulbous beaker full of a strange orange fluid. It was roughly the size of a man too. "Damn!" He thought "I left my sword back with Tochi!" Another jet of flame seared the stone floor next to him, causing him to dive for different cover. "Why do you bother to hide?" the dragon taunted "I know every inch of this cave...you cannot hide!" Arzhi new it was true, he didn't have long. Maybe he should try using magic? According to Natasla you just had to have the ability and the will to use it. From there you could shape it into whatever form you wanted....or so the theory was. "No better time than now to test it..." He muttered He held his arms out in front of him and cupped his hands. Arzhi closed his eyes and concentrated, imagining forming the magic that was inside him and around him. He felt something warm and slightly heavy condense in his hands. Opening his eyes he saw his hands had been enveloped in dark light, with a shimmering red aura. When he moved his hands, it left a bright trail of dark light. Arzhi grinned to himself...now... The dragon looked around for the human, trying to see over the mounds of treasure and scientific junk "I really need a clean out..." he muttered a glimmer to the right caused the dragon to turn, just a searing bolt of dark energy shot past his head and melted a patch of cave behind him. Arzhi came leaping from behind a pile of junk, his hands and eyes glowing. He brought his hand back and made a throwing motion. Another ball of searing dark energy shot towards the dragon, causing the reptile to duck as it hissed over head. "Demon magic!" He roared "How in the seven circles of hell do you know demon magic!?" "I think I have my mother to thank for that!" Arzhi shouted back, fireing several more balls of magic. Arzhi's aim wasn't perfect, but it didn't need to be. The dragon was a large enough target anyway. Arzhi spun in the air and let fly another shot. This time it manifested as a wide crescent. "The magic is forming to the ideal shape depending on the way I throw it!" He thought It was at this point he realised that thining like this in the real world was a stupid thing to do. Unlike the stories, you had very little time to think...which was probably the reason why Arzhi was smacked across the cavern by the dragon's tail. He crashed into a pile of gold and slid down it. The dragon walked calmly towards him. "I wouldn't try to run." He said "You will have several broken ribs from that blow...maybe even a broken back. Either way...You aren't going anywhere. Now, lie there and die!" The dragon raised a large, taloned paw int the air, ready to smash Arzhi into oblivion. "Wrong!" Arzhi shouted The dragon looked fairly suprised at the fact Arzhi could move. He was even more suprised when Arzhi unleashed a jet of demon energy right into his face. The dragon roared and staggered backwards, crashing into equipment and beakers. Strangely colourd fluids splashed everywhere. Large clouds of coloured smoke and steam rose from the chemicals mixing. The magical machines fizzed and sparked igniting with large colourful exsplosions. "Oops..."Arzhi said. Then... "Shit! Jiles! Jiles are you okay!?" Arzhi shouted, getting up and running towards where Jiles had been. He stared around and saw the contraption that had held Jiles, but he was no longer in it. "Jiles! Where are you!?" Arzhi shouted a large exsplosion hurled Arzhi through the air. He landed back in the room with the stone chute and rolled along the floor. A raging inferno of multiple colours burnt in the room behind him. There was only one way out, and that was back up the chute. Arzhi closed his eyes and concentrated. He could do this...all he needed to do was... "Arzhi?! Where the hell did you come from?!" Arzhi turned and saw Tochi looking at him. He was back at their camp near the entrance of the cave. "Where did you come from? Whats happening?! The horse ran for it when there was an exsplosion! Whats going on!?" "No time to explain! We gotta get out of here!" Arzhi said and ran towards Tochi, picking up his sword has he went. He vaulted onto Tochi's back and the reptile ran towards the exit. They exploded out into the watery sunlight just as the Mountain rumbled. A dull boom caused the ground to shake and stones and boulders to fall from the mountains. Tochi stumbled, but regained his footing. "Whats going on!?" Tochi shouted "I think we might have lost Jiles! Either way, head higher into the mountains! We have to get across them as fast as possible!" "But what about Jiles!?" "I don't know...I can't say that I'll miss him though...I only new him for a short while!" "Thats a little cold, don't you think?!" "Maybe, but it's not helping me to find Natasla or mother by dwelling on it!" * After a while, they came to a stop. They were now Leaving the foot hills and entering the mountain proper. They were quite high now, but the icy blue and white peaks still towered above them. "We'll never make it over them you know." Tochi said, looking up at the intimidating mountain tops. "I know...Maybe we can go through the mountains..." Arzhi replied, although not very confidently "Arrgh! I know too little about this world to be on my own! I feel so lost! I know nothing about navigating over mountains! I don't even know where the hell we are!" While Arzhi was having his little crisis, many miles away, in a different dimension, Natasla sat bolt upright out of her bed. Sweat dripped down her naked form. She had just felt a surge of power from a strangely familiar source "Arzhi..." she whispered