Lena sat on a rocky beach in Harve looking out to sea. With her mind’s eye she saw in the haze before her every place she once called home. The shores of the Niben. The mists of Dementia. The banks of the Pontar. The beaches of Cassardis… Perhaps she should find a home in this world, too. Scorpio watched her for a bit, then walked over and sat next to her, pulling her close. He unclipped his wolven wrap and draped it over her shoulders more than his. “I am here,” he said in her ear. She could feel his heartbeat. She closed her eyes and allowed the day to fizzle out.

…

“Do you think she’ll do it?” The old man by the sea looked quizzically at Lamond.

“Sacrifice our world?” Lamond looked up from the fire. “Nah, not she… She’ll find another way.”

“Are you not tired of the endless cycle?” The old man resumed stirring in the pot. “Every time it is the same.”

“You’ve got your Godsbane, you can end it any time,” Lamond objected. “Yet here you are.”

“The choice when to die is rarely given, granted,” the old man agreed. “All in all, it’s not a bad place to live.”

The stew was ready and they shared a meal, gazing at the stars above.

…

“Tell me about your research, Lord Phaesus,” Lena stood in the Forbidden Magic Laboratory. “Why are you making Godsway?”

“To control the dragon and break the Dragon’s Dogma. To free our world,” he shrugged.

“Free it…” Lena nodded. “And what, pray, do you know about this world?”

“It is vast… There must be lands beyond the horizon… lands beyond the mountain ridges… This whole world must be made free.” Lord Phaesus looked at her and smiled, and Lena thought that instead of her standing there, he saw new lands beyond the horizon.

“Do you suffer much from your cravings to be fed on?” She suddenly changed the topic.

“Suffer?” He looked at her in surprise. “Does one suffer in between moments of ecstasy? Perhaps only by comparison…” He looked at her with a deep longing. “You lost your fangs, Mistress… But perhaps you could use a dagger..?” His hand was already pushing back the robe revealing his neck.

“These healed quite well,” Lena touched the scars of the previous bite marks, barely visible now. “I don’t need a dagger,” she smiled. “All I have to do is will it…”

“The transformation..!” Lord Phaesus gasped, watching Lena’s canines pull out turning into fangs, her face growing gaunt and eyes feverish at the same time.

“I am naught but a monster akin all others, here to be hunted and killed,” she said in a low voice, paraphrasing Pheasus’ own words back at the excavation site. “I have been for centuries…” She was looking into his eyes. “How do you kill the immortal? There are ways, of course… You have been trying to kill my pawn, yet you failed.”

“Mistress…” Phaesus backed against the wall, the air in the room growing cold.

“What will you do once you’ve freed this world from the Dragon’s Dogma?” Lena stood quite close to Phaesus now, speaking quietly. “The king in Vermund is your son, is he not? But I do not believe you care for him or his mother… Yes, I saw you there, at The Rose… their escorts show more warmth or conviction than you did taking her into your arms…” she smirked. “Is it the throne you want? The riches, the power?” She gently stroke his neck with her cold hand and he moaned, his knees growing weak. “Should I grant you your moment of ecstasy?”

“I do not wish to be king…” Lord Phaesus said in a hoarse voice. “Everything I want is here…” he looked around the room. “The Empress of Battahl is oblivious to my research, yet she’s funding it… women are so easy to manipulate…” He returned Lena’s gaze and for a few moments they stood locked in it, Phaesus’ dark brown eyes and Lena’s amber, with a hint of red… “Yes, Sven is my son,” he nodded. “An investment I made twenty years ago. Disa simply wanted a child, I wanted the Arisen Sovran to have a heir. Break the pattern one step at a time… I had no definite plan then… I still don’t. The Godsway we make will not control the dragon, it barely controls pawns…” His voice trailed off, he looked away, but remained standing before Lena.

“Ambrosius is dead,” Lena walked around the room, picking up a few books and notes, quite a few in Ambrosius’ hand. “He was your loyal assistant, yet you wouldn’t care for him… He could have recovered.”

“He lacked brilliance,” Phaesus made an annoyed gesture. “He was collecting shards for years, yet still made no connection as to where they came from or what they were…”

“And you… you know it?” Lena looked up.

“They are fragments of an Arisen’s soul,” he nodded. “That of Rothias in the tower and the Dragonforged in the cavern…” He paused, thinking. “They are not all the same, and it isn’t the size that matters but the substance… something that Ambrosius could never understand.”

“You wanted to kill me for my soul,” Lena suddenly realised.

“I thought to capture it through your pawn,” Lord Phaesus walked over to a bookshelf and pulled out an old tome, handing it to Lena.

“On the Transference of Souls,” she read.

“You know it, I take it?” He noticed a spark of recognition in Lena’s face. “I am still searching for the second tome. This here is but the first half.”

Lena put down the book.

“The easiest way to control the dragon and the pawns,” she said in an even tone, “is to become an Arisen yourself, Lord Phaesus.” She paused and he looked up sharply. “Oh come now, you know how it’s done… The dragon chooses the challenger, always. Not the mage taking notes. Not the reseacher hidden deep inside the earth. Next time the dragon comes around, seek him out, he’s easy to find. A good lightning bolt will make you lose your heart and gain the power… And then, when you face your dragon, stab him with your personal Godsbane.”

Lord Phaesus stood transfixed as a long silver dagger, or a short silver sword, appeared in Lena’s hand, shimmering with an unknown enchantment. She put it on the table before Phaesus.

“This one is mine,” she said simply. “You can touch it but only I can wield it. This sword exists with a single purpose: for me to commit suicide. Every Arisen gets one when it comes near the time to face the dragon.”

“But what is the point..?” Phaesus touched Lena’s Godsbane and it gave him a powerful discharge.

“Interesting,” Lena smiled. “It doesn’t like you.” She put it away. “Every Arisen can break the cycle, can lift the Dragon’s Dogma. Very few choose to do it. I did it once in another world… But what came next was not worth it, and I worked hard to undo it. The same would happen here, I wager… Or something very much like it, at any rate…”

She walked around the room, glancing at the many tomes in Phaesus’ library.

“The lands beyond the horizon that you speak of… How do you know that they exist?” She stopped close to him.

“I saw them… with my mind’s eye…” Phaesus said softly, seeing them again. “Forests teeming with game… Deserts of warm sands so unlike Battahl… Frozen peakes of rugged mountains… An Elven city on an isle with a spire so white and so tall, it can be seen from every corner of the land… All of this… is beyond the horizon.”

“All of this is not of this world,” Lena smiled, pulling back the robe on Phaesus’ shoulder to reveal his neck. “Let me give you another dream…”

…

Scorpio was sitting outside Lord Phaesus’ chamber waiting for Lena. He had to resist the urge to charge in and just kill Phaesus where he stood, but Lena specifically instructed him to stay out and to keep everyone else from even approaching the door. All was quiet and no one came to Phaesus’ chamber, and so Scorpio listened without interruptions.

When Lena came out, she looked completely human again, with all visible traces of vampirism fully receded.

“Phaesus?” Scorpio asked, checking her over, just to be sure.

“He’ll be alright,” Lena smiled. “I took more than a fair share, but he can handle it. He’ll be craving it all the more next time we meet…”

“Are you sure we shouldn’t just kill him?” Scorpio looked through the door opening – Lord Phaesus was slumped on the cushions, looking quite pale. “I mean, after some of the things he was saying…”

“He is no threat to us now,” Lena shook her head. “And I still need a thrall sometimes…”

“Then take my blood instead..!”

“No, Scorpio, let’s not make it into a habit,” she kissed him on a cheek and motioned him to go. “In an emergency, if I have no other choice, I shall take your blood… But not if it can be avoided!”

…

They returned to Vermund, leaving behind the land of red rock and the stigma surrounding pawns. Here, among the green mountains, the air was both cooler and less toxic, which was a welcome change.

“The people in Gransys didn’t like us pawns either,” Scorpio observed as they were walking up a mountain path. “Yet in Battahl I experienced a whole different level of rejection… not hate, but distrust and disdain… I am glad to be out of there.”

“Agreed,” Lena nodded. “But here it is the reverse. I wonder what they will make of us now… I should be the Sovran but I abdicated… Some will see it as slander or even a provocation. We won’t find many friendly hearts here, I think.”

In Vernworth life continued as before. To Lena’s surprise, most people appeared not to care that she wasn’t fulfulling her duty of presiding over the throne. “It must be awfully dull,” they would look at her with understanding. “All those laws and decrees… Hardly the stuff of dreams, now is it?”

Lena went to the Pawn Guild.

“Arisen!” The receptionist greeted her in his ever dispassionate tone. “You cannot summon pawns in times of peace like these. However, if you have need of assistance, the Guild can provide support for a fee.”

“I had something else in mind,” she shook her head. “I wish to travel the Rift.”

“Only pawns can do that, Arisen.”

“Not even for a fee?” She smiled, putting a small mountain of rift crystals on the table, with one small Godsway crystal just visible inside it.

“Well, since you put it like that…” The receptionist quickly extracted the Godsway crystal from the pile, stashing it in his belt. “Where would you like to go?”

“Today – nowhere,” Lena smiled. “I am glad we’ve reached an understanding. That is premium purity, I am sure you will realise. Sweet dreams.”

…

“What are you planning?” Scorpio waited to ask this question until they were inside Lena’s house.

“A way home, an escape,” Lena smiled. “You traveled to Tamriel through the Rift, we’ll take the same route.”

“I am a pawn, you are not,” Scorpio looked sceptical. “The only reason I can do it is because the Legion needs the pawns to move between worlds… As long as they own me, I can do it… That’s why I never let my mark vanish completely, lest I would not be able to find you again…” He rubbed the mark on his hand and it responded with a steady glow. “Besides, we cannot leave until you regain your heart.”

“My heart…” Lena pressed a hand to her chest, the emptiness inside was almost palpable. “Vampires have hearts, but they don’t beat. When I grow cold… my heart stops… yet I do not die. When I grow warm again, my heart once again starts beating, thanks to the cure I took. Vampires’ hearts don’t beat no matter what, I’ve been told. And yet I know it not to be true. All it takes is something to warm it…” She stopped talking, emotion making it difficult to breathe.

“Your first bond,” Scorpio said softly. “Now I understand.”

“In time,” Lena nodded. “I shall return to him in time, but only once my soul is at peace…” She pressed her hand to Scorpio’s chest, feeling his heartbeat. “My soul, which is also yours.”

“And when your human bond runs its course, I shall still be there,” he took her into his embrace. “And perhaps then it will be I who warms your heart.”

The night had fallen while they were talking, a night of sweet dreams.