"This should be safe," the cat mage said, pointing to a small, flat place beside a spindly tree. The three conscious mages descended and carefully eased the elf to the ground. He simply lay there, exhausted, near unconscious.

As far as they could tell, this entire world was dead. The ground was a desolate wasteland, rocky and gray all over. The plant life was sickly, the trees seeming unliving and small, bushes more like rooted tumbleweeds, grass sporadic clumps of straw.

"Trolly-Molly! What a bleak place!" exclaimed the red-robed mage. "I haven't seen any animals or any flowing water, just brackish swamps." The elf moaned softly and slowly sat up.

"What - happened?"

"We escaped," the cat said softly, "and the whole tower collapsed behind up." He suddenly chuckled. "I just realized, I have no idea who you all are." That got a laugh.

"Perhaps introductions would be a good idea," the elf chuckled, slowly gaining strength. "My name is Dregan Za'Tayina."

"I'm Vivi Orunitia."

"Zentarou til'Cat."

"And I'm Orko," the red-robe finished.

"Well, I'm for one glad we all can understand each other," Vivi said gratefully.

"That does help," agreed Dregan. "Although for me it wouldn't have been a problem."

"Oh?" queried Zentarou. "I was about to say the same thing. I have polyglot." Dregan blinked.

"Me too!"

"What's that?" asked Orko.

"It's an ability that takes a long time to master," Dregan explained. "Those who have it have to first master many languages. Then, because the tricks to learning a new language are so well known to them, they only have to hear a strange tongue for a few minutes to speak it fluently."

"Although slang terms and regionalisms can still be a problem," Zentarou added. "And reading or writing it, save phonetically, is out."

"Trolly-molly, how many languages do you know?" Both paused, thinking.

"Lets see... I can fluently speak seven, read and write six, though I'm working on it," answered the cat.

"And I'm fluent in ten," Dregan said. They were all significantly impressed.

"Wow!" Vivi gasped. "I only know one."

"That's probably a good thing," commented Dregan. "Half of the languages I know are a result of racial separation, warfare, and isolation. You both only needing one language means your world hasn't faced such a rupture thank Tavanness."

"I never thought of that," Orko admitted.

"Hey, Vivi, what's that?" Zentarou pointed. Vivi held up the emerald.

"I forgot I had this. I fell on me in the tower, when that explosion knocked me in the closet." They all gathered around to examine it, and as Vivi held it out to Dregan, a small pouch fell out of his blue jacket. "Huh?" Orko picked it up, and cautiously opened it.

"It's... cubes." He spilled four, one inch square cubes out into the gray dirt. All had the same four pearly white sides, and two black ends. Dregan picked one up, murmuring a spell as he slid a hand into the embroidered pouch on his hip, and studied it.

"They're magical... planar magic..."

"Gate Cubes?" asked Zentarou, seeming to have heard of such a thing before.

"Something of that nature. And Vivi, that emerald is saturated in conjuration magic. It's some sort of summoning device." Vivi instantly sent to drop it, but a voice whispered to him suddenly. He looked at Orko.

"Did you say something?"

"No."

"Vivi," Dregan held out his hand. "Give it to me. The summons might be trying to make you call it, and we don't know who or what it is." Vivi hesitated as the voice spoke up again.

"The voice is saying... thank you..." That made all pause, then the gray elf rested his hand upon the emerald, but didn't take it.

"Summons can be tricky. Maybe it will talk to me too." Zentarou and Orko joined in, each finding a place to touch on the emerald.

"Four mages are better than two," Zentarou quipped. They fell silent, then, listening. Slowly, a sound invaded their minds. A noise like the rushing wind. Then came the voice that Vivi had heard, deep and resonating.

Thank you. Now I am free of those vile beings. My name is Natarstreyk'iklarya. It felt as if those syllables were burned into their minds. Call me if you have need. You I will gladly serve. Then it was gone. They removed their hands, leaving Vivi holding the emerald. All noticed the gold dragon within the emerald, instead of the previous battle pose, was in a curled, resting pose.

"Trolly-molly, did... did anyone else hear that?" Orko asked. Dregan nodded.

"That name... I think he just spoke his true name. It gives whoever summons him complete control." The elf smiled. "I don't think he's a threat. Why don't you hold onto it, Vivi? After all, he talked to you first." Vivi smiled brightly; although they couldn't see it, they could hear it in his voice.

"Sure." He tucked it into his clothes. "But what about the cubes?"

"Well, there's four of them, and four of us," Zentarou reasoned. "Why not each take one?" They did so.

"Don't press the white ones," Dregan cautioned. "Those could lead to who knows where."

"What about the black?" asked Orko.

"Those should be dead, is these are anything like the ones I'm familiar with. Pressing them shouldn't do anything... but don't press your luck, just in case." Each carefully tucked one away. Then they settled into a circle, facing each other.

"Now what should we do?" Orko asked finally after a moment of silence, in which they were all wondering that very same thing.

"I honestly don't know," Dregan replied, running a hand through his dull silver hair. "I don't suppose any of you know where we are, because I don't have a clue."

"Not me."

"No idea."

"Never seen it, even in my nightmares." Dregan rummaged through that pouch of his, extracting some shining gems, then attempted a spell. Nothing.

"Seems my planar magic isn't working," he mused, returning the remaining gems to his pouch and dusting off his hands. Zentarou, after looking at the gems curiously, pulled out a handful of his own and tried. His spell also failed.

"Mine too. Maybe something about this world suppressed planar travel." He tipped his head at Dregan. "Were those Soul Jewels?" Dregan blinked, grabbing another handful, and when they compared them, the gems were the same.

"Identical..." Dregan looked up at the cat. "You don't know what Sindaya is, do you?"

"No."

"It's my home, where mages use these to cast."

"Same on Talsdia, my home. Although for us, casters are more rare." The cat shook his head in amazement. "The same gems, the same spells - I recognized your fireball in the tower..." His eyes suddenly narrowed curiously. "You could cast without them! I remember you making us ethereal." Dregan shook his head.

"I used Soul Jewels. When I was taken, before I blacked out, I managed to grab a handful... and swallow them." Zentarou winced.

"Isn't that dangerous?"

"Well, it's painful, at least." Vivi nodded, remembering how Dregan winced when he tried to cast. "But I really had no choice. I had to do what I had to do." Suddenly, Vivi lowered his gaze, drawing the other's attention.

"Something wrong?" Orko asked, concerned.

"N-no." Dregan smiled gently.

"You can tell us. After what we've been through together, I'd say we're all friends here." Vivi looked up to see the others nodding in agreement.

"That last thing you said... it sounded like something one of my friends would say. I just miss them, and I know they're worried about me. I was going to meet them for a vacation when I was taken." Orko sighed softly.

"My friends are probably worried too. Trolly-molly..."

"And my family."

"Seems we've all got family and friends at home," Dregan said softly. "He looked at them all.”What are your homes like?"

"Beautiful," Orko answered first. "I live in Eternos City, with my friends. Really I'm from a world called Trolla, but a dimensional vortex pulled me to Eternia, where I met Prince Adam. He was just a kid then. Ever since, he and his family have made me feel at home, despite my fumbling magic. He's my best friend ever. Trolly-molly, we've been through everything together... well, I'd thought everything, until now."

"Gaia is wonderful," Vivi picked up. "Well, where I live is. There's four continents; the Mist, Lost, Forgotten, and Outer. My friends live on the Mist continent, where there's beautiful plains and mountains, and a desert and forests. They live all across it in various cities, but we've got airships that can go from one side of the world to another in just a few hours. My house is on the Outer Continent with other Black Mages like myself, and the Genomes. We've got our own village." He took a deep breath. "My friends are as close to family as I've ever known. They literally have saved my life, both physically and mentally, more times than I can count. They helped me to understand who I was."

"We're not too far different," Dregan commented. "I live in a lovely forest, in a tavern/inn that one of my best friends owns. There are eight of us total, six that live there, including myself, and they're my family, although only one, my sister, is kin by blood." He chuckled. "In fact, only three of us - my sister, consort, and myself - are the same type of elf. But we are family, and I'd trust my brothers and sisters with my life, any day of the week. They've pulled me out of more than one dark pit, chased away my Demons for me, more times than I'd care to remember, asking only my friendship in return."

"My home is a beautiful walled city," Zentarou said with a wistful sigh. "From the walls on a clear day, you can see for miles upon miles. I live there with my father, twin brother, his wife and their twins, my niece and nephew. To the south, my uncle lives in a city set in a rich forest. The guard towers of the city are actually huge, still-living trees that the elves long ago enchanted for my people when they settled there. You can go inside and climb the stairs the tree grew, to reach the top and see out over the entire woods." For a moment, all were quiet, thinking of home and family. Then Dregan took a deep, steadying breath, though his eyes - Vivi was now able to see that they were ruby red with golden flecks in them - were a bit over bright.

"I know we all have loved ones missing up, and that we miss, which is why we've got to figure out a way to get home."

"But how?" Orko asked.

"I honestly don't know." Vivi suddenly hopped up.

"The dragon! We can ask him!"

"What do you mean/" Dregan asked.

"He said 'You I'll gladly serve.' He must have served that Queen too." Zentarou suddenly gasped.

"Wait! It was a dragon that grabbed all of us... wasn't it?"

"It kinda looked like one," Orko confirmed.

"If he's the same one, Zentarou reasoned, "he'll know how to get us home!"

"Summon him, Vivi," Orko implored. Somewhat hesitant, but trying not to show it, Vivi pulled out the emerald and held it out to summon the dragon.