Zaydn: "meh, it wasn't like I had much better to do at the time...."
(Night Fang coils her warm, plated body around Shademaster. She licks his hand. Zaydn raises an eyebrow.)
Zaydn: "She sure likes you... Eznier, there is a fresh bed up stairs if you want. I made sure there is nothing a live in there to bother you. Are you going to stay down here, Shademaster?"

Zaydn: "Alright."
(he turns off the lights and lets the fire smolder. He heads up to the third floor and sits on the roof. It finish hail and now just rains. He looks up at the cloudy night sky and sighs. Down on the crag, the giant hail pock-marks the ground. He sits up there all night.)

(She sleeps soundly with him. Zaydn remains dreary. Zaydn goes inside and wakes up Eznier.)
Zaydn: "...It's morning..."
(however, it is darker than ever outside.)

Zaydn: "I'll get some fresh water..."
(Zaydn goes outside and begins the long climb down to the very bottom of the crags, to the mist, where the true vicious creatures of Caelia dwell in the deep fog.)

(She coils closer to Shademaster happily.
Zaydn reaches thr bottom of the crag. You can hear rushing water. He inches away from the crag slowly. You can see a thing in the dense fog. He passes by sharp, jagged rock that would impale you if you fell on them. His foot touches the colder-than-ice water. He quickly recoils from it and pulls out several large canteens. The water will give you frost bite in a matter of seconds. He finishes filling them and slowly begins to climb back up the crag. A stone gives way and he slips a little, causing the canteens to clank. Horrified, he flees up the crag. Something ancient and sinister stirs in the mist. It bashes the crag, causing it to shudder and shift. It starts going after Zaydn, and he climbs even faster.)

(The creature lunges at him and misses. It slams it's massive body against the crag, causing it to sway. Zaydn just keeps scrambling up. The creature roars mightily.)

(Zaydn climbs out of the mist. Hurriedly he pulls out some flash-bombs and hurls a bunch of them down at the beast. He closes his eyes and keeps climbing. They explode in a blinding flash and the creature roars with frustration.)

(Also, Night Fang flees and hides in a dark corner, hissing.)

(Zaydn finally reaches the top of the crags. He grabs Ezniers' arm and yanks him inside the house. He tells Yenra to fly away as fast has he can. Zaydn turns off all of the lights and puts out the fire. He doesn't say a word, but carefully watches outside through the blinds on a window.)

(The crag rumbles slightly...
Out of the mist, the ancient creature rises from the murky depths like a levithan....)
Zaydn whispers: "....Drakon..."
(The massive beasts' head is as long as two football fields. It's maw is gigantic. It searchs the crags with it's search light-like eyes....)
Zaydn wispers: "Close your eyes! Don't make eye-contact, or you'll be petrified! ...that's how it capture it's prey.... by freezing them solid..."
(the Drakon scans once more and irritably returns to the mist...)

(Zaydn sighs, slightly relieved...)
Zaydn: We're not going anywhere until nightfall now... not with something like that right outside my front door... at night is a fine time to travel anyways... here on Caelia, us Caelians are the night time predators. We are what goes 'bump' in the night. Well.... most of the time that is..."
(He goes over to a old self and pulls out a dusty book... the Encyclopedia of Caelia.
He flips to the page of the Drakon and starts to read it out loud)
Zaydn: "The Caelian Drakon is also known as the Bane of Caelia.... It will pertrify any who gaze into it's eyes..."
(he looks at the photograph below... then he shows it to them...
It is a real picture... of a Drakon rising up... and biting a Daelian Drake as big as Yenra right in half...)
Zaydn: "Only a handful of people have seen them and lived..."

Zaydn: "Once... The rider of this Drake could only watch helplessly as the partern of his mind & soul was eaten alive. They shared even memories, pain, happiness..... He was diven mad with revenge and slew the beast later. He died right after wards bevause ha had nothing else to live for. His revenge had been completed. The bones are accually not far from here... perhaps we'll fly by them later."

Zaydn: *sigh* "Such is the way of the world... he didn't k.iil himself, his heart just gave out. He couldn't stand to be alone... Rider and Drake always have a bond. They always share thoughts... imagine living like that then one day having it all torn away, tearing you to peices. Feeling the life die away as if it were your own.... that's what it.s like to loose your Drake... It's a terrible feeling..."
(Yenra is still flying)
Yenra: "My wings hurt still from flying yesterday... I need to land..."
Zaydn: "No. Not while that thing is still nearby."
Yenra: "I'm sooo tired... pleeeease...?"
Zaydn: "NO! NOT UNLESS YOU WANT TO DIE! ...just glide as much as possible and stay near the clouds. You can come down in the afternoon, but no sooner."

Zaydn: "..wow... even I've done that... just look at the chair you are sitting on."
(the chair is carved from lrage bones.
Zaydn sits in a different chair and a cute, tiny lizard crawls onto his arm. He watches the tiny lizard until it reaches his hand. It crawls onto his finger and looks at him cutely.)
Zaydn: "Oh, how you have forgotten. For generations, I bet your kin have used my home as a refuge from the Crag Crawlers. Night Fang doesn't bother going after you because you are simply too small. But you have forgotten your place, your role. You have forgotten about ME."
(he swallows the little lizard whole)

Zaydn: "That reminds me... Guess what scientists found when they took a sample of the dead Drakon's DNA."

Zaydn: "The creatures that are closest related to Drakons... are Caelians... our DNA is over 70 percent the same... That beast out there is my disant cousin... heh... funny how different we are, though..."

[Let's continue on the painting I did of several Crag Crawlers]