I am brother to dragons and a companion to owls. My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat. -Job 30:29-30 In a secret sanctuary in Africa, hidden from the eyes of the world by some of the most sophisticated computer technology known to exist, a pact was being concluded between beings of great power and influence. Leonardo, master of the place, sat comfortably in a favorite chair behind a magnificently carved wooden desk that would have commanded a small fortune on the open market if any collectors of antiquities knew it existed. Leonardo had once feared he would be forced to sell his precious collection of art and antiques to serve his plans, but his dealings with Renraku had made it unnecessary to part with any of his favorite treasures. The corporation was more than willing to give him billions in exchange for mere scraps and crumbs of the technology Leonardo had at his command. He was at ease here in his stronghold, and his simple garments showed their quality in the rich texture of the fabrics and the delicate artistry of the stitching. They were made from natural materials worked by hand, worth enough to feed a family in the Rox for a year or more. He slouched a bit in his chair, elbows resting on the table in front of him and fingers steepled in front of his face while he thought. Across the table, Leonardo's guest finished examining his collection of drawings and diagrams. She was a feast to his artistic eye. Her features were classic and regal, with a long neck and a face composed of planes and angles, sharp cheekbones and delicately pointed chin. Her hair was unbound and flowed like an auburn waterfall nearly to her waist, and her lips were a delicate shade of cinnamon, while the same spicy scent lingered in the air around her. The entire picture nearly demanded a portrait or a statue to capture her sublime beauty, all the more amazing because Leonardo knew it was only an illusion. "Well?" he asked after a long moment of silence. The woman looked up from her examinations. The only flaw in her image was the eyes. They were a deep amber, like no human or elven eyes created by nature. They were more like the flat yellow eyes of a reptile, but where a reptile's eyes were cold, hers were warm, burning with a powerful fire deep inside. Leonardo found those eyes fascinating although he suspected others would find them disquieting. "Your plans seem to be going well," she said, her tone noncommittal. But Leonardo could see she was intrigued. He had successfully baited the hook. All that remained was to draw in his catch. He acknowledged the compliment with a slight incline of his head. "The work is difficult," he said, "but not as much as it once was. I have made many, many improvements on the original crude designs over the years. So many that magic is hardly needed except for the most basic and most delicate work. The power of machines and programming provides the rest." "Impressive. And what of the inhabitants of your masterpiece?" "That, too, is progressing," he said. "I have been combing the Matrix and compiling information on possible candidates for my community. The best and brightest of humanity will be gathered under the aegis of my shelter when the time comes." "It must be difficult to choose only a few to survive and leave the rest to their fate," his guest responded.

Leonardo found it a strange thing for her to say. It was almost… compassionate. "It is, but some sacrifices need to be made. These are dangerous times." The woman nodded sagely. "True. I am still not certain your predictions are accurate," she said. "I have heard whispers in the spirit world telling that the danger you fear may be past for a long time to come, rumors about a great magic to keep the cycle on its natural course." That statement was more of what Leonardo expected. The arrogance, the certainty that no one like himself could be right when she had not noticed the danger. "I am certain, dear lady," Leonard said with a note of irony at the title he offered her. "And if I am wrong, then it is only a matter of time. One cannot cheat Fate, as we both well know." "True. What you propose has merit," she said. "I have recently considered what role I am to play in this world, or what role Fate has cast me in, perhaps. The death of Dunkelzahn and his legacy to the world have given me much to consider. You and I are rare among our kind, Leonardo, two of the few who are interested in the welfare of others. You through your work and me through mine. I hope we might be able to offer more than shelter from the storm to those in need of our gifts." "Then we have reached an historic moment," Leonardo said, rising from his chair. The woman rose also, taller even than the tall and willowy elf. "Yes. We can set aside the differences between our peoples and work together for a mutual cause. It is time the ways of the past were considered in light of the future." The woman touched her fingers to her chest just above her heart, and Leonardo returned the gesture. "Will you join me in a glass of alamestra to celebrate our new alliance, Lady?" he asked as he poured some of the iridescent liquor into a crystal goblet. The woman smiled and shook her head. "No. I must return to my own affairs across the sea. Your cousins near my domain have been restive of late and I do not like the idea of being away for long, with the elves of Tir Tairngire

ratting their sabers. In the future, it will be best if we communicate through the Matrix." "That is my preference as well," Leonardo said with a smile. "You can be assured of complete privacy with my network at our disposal. There will be no… unfortunate security breaches as there have been in the past with others." "Indeed?" the woman said with raised brows. "And here I had thought you responsible for them, oh, Master of the Matrix." "Not I, fair lady," he said with a sweeping bow. "I suspect one of the Children of the Matrix." "The otaku? I didn't think them clever enough. But no matter. I look forward to our next meeting, Leonardo." "As do I, Hestaby." Leonardo touched his fingers to his chest again, and Hestaby returned the gesture before drawing the folds of her robe around her. He then tapped a hidden control panel on the surface of the antique desk, and his servant Salai appeared at the door of the chamber. "Yes, Master?" Salai said. "Please escort the Lady Hestaby out, Salai, then I will have some instructions for you." The handsome young man bowed deeply and left the chamber with the dragon-lady, leaving Leonardo alone with his thoughts. His plans were going well. The scraps of advanced technology he fed to his corporate lapdog Renraku had them thoroughly in his power. They had foolishly managed to lose the toys he'd entrusted to them and were now banging on his door with their hands outstretched, begging for more. And Leonardo planned to give them more once he had secured his plans for the future. The great shelter would be prepared for the coming of the Enemy, and the best and brightest of metahumanity would survive, with Leonardo as their savior. He would even have the pleasure of making an alliance with an old enemy to further the cause. He took a long draught of the alamestra, savoring its spicy taste for a moment before allowing the warmth of the liquor to spread throughout his body. He downed the rest of the glass quickly and poured himself another. He was in the mood for a celebration. Perhaps he would gave Salai other instructions once his assistant finished escorting Hestaby out of the complex, but for now he was content to bask in the glow of his own success. The elf's thoughts were interrupted by movement here in his private chambers. A figure materialized out of the shadows in the far corner of the room, cloaked in those same shadows to appear as little more than a silhouette. Leonardo turned sharply to face the strange intruder. "Who are you?" he demanded. There were few beings in the world who could enter his personal sanctum unbidden and Leonardo's mind began working through the list of possibilities. "Why, Leonardo?" the figure said in a deep voice. "Why have you turned your back on the traditions and purpose of your people to pursue this mad course? Why have you interfered in affairs you would have done well to stay out of?" "I knew this day would come," Leonardo said. "That there would be those who would object to my plans. I have done only what was necessary. They are coming. They are always coming, and there is nothing we can do to prevent it. It is the cycle of nature. When they come, the world will be destroyed and everything slowly built back up over the millennia will be swept away like dust by a giant hand. All that lives will be devoured to feed their endless hunger, or twisted and tortured to create new delicacies of pain to satisfy their jaded palettes." His voice trembled as he recalled those same tortures inflicted on a world he once knew, a world long dead. The shadowy stranger was unmoved by the tirade. "You have gone too far. You have revealed too much. Your obsession with the life of Da Vinci has gone past fondness into madness." "No!" Leonardo shouted. "DaVinci was brilliant and accomplished more in a mortal life span than others have done in a thousand times that. It is only fitting to acknowledge such a brilliant lifetime when others consider him no more than another brief life among the herd." "I might have been able to forgive your various… eccentricities, Leonardo. Your playing at savior with humanity, your delusions of artistic greatness, your uneven temper, and your grudge against a religion you consider corrupt. I have tolerated them before. But you have interfered with me, and that, I cannot forgive." "Forgive?" Leonardo said. "What do I need of your forgiveness? I am master here. You can do nothing against me!" He paused for a moment and smiled. "Have you come by yourself or did they send you to kill me? Who was it, Aithne? Lugh? All of the High Princes of Tir Tairngire together? No matter. You can take their dreams of a new elven nation and play at empire-building all you want. You have no chance of overcoming the resources I have at my command here. This is my place of power. Show yourself to me before I see you die." The intruder stepped closer and Leonardo prepared for an attack that did not come. The figure only laughed. "The Princes of Tir Tairngire do not command me. I command them. Always must I work to keep my foolish children under control." The figure drew aside the veil of shadow to reveal the features of a man with pale golden eyes and long, white hair swept back from a high forehead above a face whose features seemed carved from stone. They were features Leonardo knew well, even as he knew the name that escaped unbidden from his lips, no more than a whisper. "Lofwyr…" "Yes, Lofwyr. And I have not appeared here to kill you, little elf," the great dragon continued. "Not all of us strike with tooth and claw, Leonardo, and the venom of my kind is still the most potent there is." Leonardo felt a terrible chill overtaking his limbs, which began to tremble at the dragon's words. He looked down at the glass of alamestra still in his hand and hurled it at Lofwyr with a cry of rage. The goblet shattered in the air before striking the regal form, splattering shimmering rainbow liquor across the floor. Lofwyr was unmoved. Leonardo tried to call upon the magical powers at his command to save himself, to strike at his enemy, to call for help, but there was nothing. No power flowed at his command. No magic came forth to strike down the arrogant dragon-lord. The stone-cold face only gave a faint smile at his struggles. "Salai," Leonardo called out in a croaking voice as his throat began to tighten. His sophisticated communications system, the most advanced in the world, failed to respond and the magical poison robbed him of any power save the ability to stare in horror at the creature who had done the unthinkable: struck Leonardo down in his own stronghold. Lofwyr's reptilian eyes were flat and cold as Leonardo fell to his knees with a gasp of pain. "You were always one of my favorites, Leonardo. I enjoyed your wit and your imagination once, but you have gotten above yourself. Many of you have. Others have tolerated this show of rebellion and I have gone along with their wishes, but only so far. Your little games intruded upon the operations of Saeder-Krupp, my corporation. I am Lofwyr, and my plans are not to be tampered with by such as you. "The theft of the warhead was your first mistake. You were a fool to imagine I would not take notice of a rogue nuclear weapon. No matter that you wished only to paint it with the Papal Seal and convince a ragtag band of a nonexistent conspiracy. As if the Catholic Church fought its battle with nuclear weapons in place of words and ideas. I was almost prepared to overlook that bit of foolishness. "But your second mistake was dealing with Renraku, placing yourself in my game. I was forced to expend some effort to correct the… imbalance your interference caused. As it is, the ripples are already spreading. The horns of war will sound and I will have to waste valuable time protecting what I have built from being brought down. I am most disappointed." The dragon-lord turned away from the elf and glided across the chamber to the antique desk. Lying paralyzed on the floor, Leonardo heard only the gentle tapping of fingers on the surface of the desk, covered with a touch-sensitive polymer coating of Leonardo's design, a direct link into the sanctuary's computer system. There was a chime of acknowledgment from the system, and Lofwyr tapped the desktop once more, starting a core dump through the communication system of Leonardo's secret stronghold. "Your lesson in humility has begun, my apprentice," Lofwyr said. "I hope you and your kind will learn the perils of defying your betters this time." Without another word, Lofwyr turned and melted back into the shadows of the room. Leonardo heard the distant rustling of leathery wings as Lofwyr assumed his true form, then the sound of screams and roaring flames as the dragon began destroying the elf's secret headquarters and the stockpiles of technology and lore hidden there. All of the great artworks and breakthroughs he had created would be reduced to ashes, save for anything Lofwyr decided to loot for himself. The great work would never be completed and humanity would be doomed by the arrogance of a dragon. As the light in the room blurred and faded, Leonardo looked up into the eye of one of the hidden security cameras and thought he saw someone, or something, looking back at him before the monitor light on the camera winked out and Leonardo's world turned into blackness.