Chaos comes calling...

Slith, second in command of the First Dragon Army Engineers, pauses for half a second in surprise as he sees the people in front of him. What an odd collection of people indeed! This is odd, but then this entire business had been odd (some of it happy, like the actual discovery that his race wasn't doomed to extinction, and some of it almost too much to bear, like the real betrayal of the Draconians by the Dark Queen).

See, he, like the others of his regiment had, after the last War of the Lance (a battle between the supposed forces of Good and Evil) had retired to a secluded valley to ostensibly get away from those who'd like to wipe the Draconian race from the face of Krynn....but actually to just find a secluded place to live out the remainder of their lives in relative peace and quiet....and die. In the meantime, they would partake in what developed into something of a game between the local dwarven settlement nearby. On a regular basis each side would raid the other for various things. Oh, people got roughed up now and then but nobody got killed or seriously hurt (what with Draconians and dwarves being ruggedly built and all that). After the last Draconian died, the dwarves would have the fortification the Draconians had made. Slith had, like many other Draconians, had thought it would be the only thing left for the world to remember them by.... they had built instead of destroyed (as what those damn bards would have you believe that Draconians were only capable of doing). Indeed, the general hope had been that the dwarves WOULD be able to use it (nothing brings a warmer glow to an engineer to know that what they create is useful and appreciated by others). That had been one of the things that Slith and the others talked about quietly while he and the others got drunk (to ease the cruel reality/fate that awaited them in the end) on yet another ration of dwarven ale stolen from their neighbors. 

And then...... 

And then it looked that the forces of Takhisis, the Dark Queen, had finally gotten their act together and that finally the world of Krynn would know order...and justice. See, the Draconians had thought (events later would finally wipe away decades of illusions and lies in one fell swoop.....practically rubbing their muzzle in it, really). 

Then Kang, Slith, and the other Draconians had gleefully decided to join with those other forces as fellow warriors and war engineers (they did specialize in bridge building, after all)....only to be relegated to digging latertines while the humans and other, more trusted allies, handled the more serious business. Insult to injuries, the Draconians were also supposed to turn over most of their weapons (leaving only short swords for defense) so that the other, trusted members of this force would fight. 

The Draconians hadn't joined up for this. To aid in this almost holy cause and to give their life meaning by perhaps selling it in battle (instead of dying quietly) had been the plan. It was just like old times. Just like old times... Worse, really.

So the whole of the Draconian forces moved out and away silently during the night to let these SOBs take care of the latrine digging. Slith had pointed out that they'd joined up in the first place for other things and they had every right to withdraw! 

Then they'd withdrawn and gone back to the same valley where they'd left, only to find that the fortification they'd left behind for the dwarves to use....in flames! The dwarves had torched it, the only thing that would have been a memorial that Draconians had existed. The only thing that the Draconians had built with their own hands...... Torched. 

"Twas a heavy slap to the face, that. That, and there was the fact that winter was going to arrive soon....and the loss would make life hard for them....perhaps impossible, even.... 

Then, after Slith had yelled himself hoarse getting the other enraged Draconians from going out in a mob and attempting to torch the dwarven enclave (they'd cut down in their tracks by the dwarves if they attacked as a mob). Order and discipline had kept them alive and together and it wasn't going to change NOW! 

Then after setting up a camp to decide how best to respond, a small group of Draconians went off to recon the dwarf enclave to see exactly who was responsible for the torching and how best to direct a reprisal. Slith and the others learned that the torching had been a unilateral, unsanctioned move by the war band leader of the dwarves (i.e. the dwarven enclave leader hadn't said to do it). That itself changed the complection of things....but what really thrown things into the fire was the fact that one of the dwarves (a loner and rogue of the enclave) had found a map to a cavern where some dragon eggs containing female draconians left over from the time when the Draconians were first created were stored, magically suspended. That, and there was also a lot of treasure was also there. Slith and Kang didn't give a rat's ass about the treasure, they just wanted to get those eggs before those dwarves did! If the Draconians got the eggs (and somehow were able to revive the females), the Draconian race was no longer doomed. If the dwarves got there....the eggs would be destroyed. 

Then, wile i route with a small strike force to recover the eggs before the dwarves got to them, a Knight of Takhisis intercepted them and told Kang of a dire threat to all of Krynn. Inside the caverns where Kang and company were heading. A nest of strange fire dragons in service to some dark, evil God called Chaos, were going to soon take flight and kill the last hope Krynn had at survival. Kang was tasked by his god, Takhisis (the Dark Queen), to intercept and kill these dragons.

.... 

Eh, right. 

If he and the Draconians succeeded , then the magical item (a special wand) used to help in this task would revive the female draconians. If not....the draconians....all of Krynn...wouldn't have a future! 

It was a combination bribe as well as a thinly veiled threat by the Dark Queen, that wand. Kang and the others would have done this task without question without it. But this was the first, true, glimpse of the Dark Queen's true character for the Draconians. 

The situation soon had it, after the dragons did get defeated, that the dwarves got trapped due to damage to the tunnels. They had to join with the Draconians and allow the eggs to be taken by them in order to get out. 

Then, by about this time.....they met Scott Chen, along with enough otherworldly equipment that could have clinched victory for the forces of the Dark Queen....and that was....interesting..... 

(Author's Note: See episodes 16199, 16200, 16201, 16202, 16203, and 16204).

Then.....and then after all of this.....Scott.....died defending the Draconian young. 

Slith still had many questions about this odd human....but he no longer doubted Scott. He....felt rather bad that he'd doubted the human's sincerity, now. 

He'd volunteered personally when he'd found a trail leading off to the hills showing the way the murderer had headed. He and the others of this hunting group would bring the murderer back...and like civilized beings would put the murderer on trail (not cut her down like wild savage beast....though Slith personally would just love to have this red haired woman's guts for lunch). 

And now....this? 

Two red haired, identical women (both with the same scent)? 

TWo small figures who look....kind of like kenders....or elves? (Slith wasn't sure which....not being familiar with Light Elves). 

A pixie and a set of three other outlandish humans.....dressed in a similar manner as Scott Chen?! 

He wasn't exactly sure what he'd find on this hunt that started during the funeral proceedings (gads...what strange funeral music Scott had chosen for his funeral). He'd been able to sooth the distraught, hurting baby blue dragon named "Junior"....and had gone off....and found this. 

Slith was a bit put off here. If any more got any stranger he'd start screaming! 

"Freeze!" he shouted, pointing his bastard sword at the surprised group who'd seemed to have appeared out of thin air seconds ago, "Advance and be recognized!" 

The clicks of the automatic riffles carried by the others behind him tell the Sivak that the men were ready to start shooting if these strangers so much as twitch wrong! 

That's just about the time when the next "then" happened. 

It was similar music to the funeral music.....but it was coming from everywhere and nowhere at once. Before Roland could answer Slith (or admonish Astra to pay attention to her surroundings for her Father's.....and Mother's sake), the ground rushed up and hit him and everyone else on the face of Krynn! 

The Unforgiven II

Lay beside me, tell me what they've done
Speak the words I wanna hear, to make my demons run
The door is locked now, but it's open if you're true
If you can understand the me, than I can understand the you
Lay beside me, under wicked sky
The black of day, dark of night, we share this paralyze
The door cracks open, but there's no sun shining through
Black heart scarring darker still, but there's no sun shining through
No, there's no sun shining through
No, there's no sun shining...

What I've felt, what I've known
Turn the pages, turn the stone
Behind the door, should I open it for you....
What I've felt, what I've known
Sick and tired, I stand alone
Could you be there, 'cause I'm the one who waits for you
Or are you unforgiven too?

Lay beside me, this won't hurt I swear
She loves me not, she loves me still, but she'll never love again
She lay beside me, But she'll be there when I'm gone
Black heart scarring darker still, yes she'll be there when I'm gone
Yes, she'll be there when I'm gone
Dead sure she'll be there...

What I've felt, what I've known
Turn the pages, turn the stone
Behind the door, should I open it for you....
What I've felt, what I've known
Sick and tired, I stand alone
Could you be there, 'cause I'm the one who waits for you
Or are you unforgiven too?

Lay beside me, tell me what I've done
The door is closed, so are you're eyes
But now I see the sun, now I see the sun
Yes now I see it

What I've felt, what I've known
Turn the pages, turn the stone
Behind the door, should I open it for you....
What I've felt, what I've known
Sick and tired, I stand alone
Could you be there, 'cause I'm the one who waits,
The one who waits for you....
Oh what I've felt, what I've known
Turn the pages, turn the stone
Behind the door, should I open it for you.... (So I dub thee unforgiven....)
Oh, what I've felt....
Oh, what I've known....
I take this key (never free...)
And I bury it (never me...) in you
Because you're unforgiven too....
Never free....
Never me....
'Cause you're unforgiven too....
Oh

Something dark and evil is there.....and Slith and the others look from where they lay..... 

"Chaos...." Slith whispers weakly, somehow recognizing the being before them...

This is not good.

But before the dark "diety" can speak.....two more figures arrive from thing air. 

1. "We need to talk," a strange man in a odd leather coat says softly, looking angrily over at Chaos.

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