" Must not... must not do that..."

Each syllable literally struck a chord of fear in Kalec, even though he was not one given to that emotion. The blue dragon tried again to call for the blade, but this time there was not even a hint of its existence.

"Must not do that..." the voice repeated."...or she will know..." She. There was no question as to whom the voice referred. It could only mean Sinestra.

"Who—who are you?" Kalec finally asked.

"I am her child...."

"Where are you? Let me see you!"

"I am here before you...." There was a deep amethyst glow and in it Kalec beheld an immense shape. It was dragon in form, yet seemed to flow as if not entirely solid. It resembled somewhat what he knew a nether dragon was supposed to look like, but was also more.

Shimmering orbs observed the blue dragon in turn. Kalec suddenly felt as if those eyes had been staring at him all the time that he had been unconscious and that notion sent new chills through him.

"What are you?" he asked.

"Her child..."

Kalec grimaced. He was not certain whether the vaguely-seen creature was as naive as he sounded or simply toying with the blue dragon.

He decided to try a new tack. "Do you have a name?" There was a pause, then. "I have a name.... She calls me Dargonax...."

"'Dargonax?'" Kalec's wariness magnified a thousandfold. He knew the meaning of that name from the tongue of his kind. Dargonax... Devourer...

"Do you like it?" the murky form asked. "I like it." "It is a...strong name."

"It means 'Devourer'... in the dragon tongue, she says," Dargonax added, quickly destroying any hope the blue had that the creature was ignorant of the foul meaning. "You are a dragon...."

Kalec surreptitiously tried to summon a magic blade, anything that he could use against the creature. Now the blue knew that he was being toyed with.

"I am a dragon, too...." Dargonax moved forward, the murkiness peeling back as just enough to allow Kalec to see that the shape was definitely that of a dragon, but not one of the nether one.Dargonax was much, much more.

But the mysterious dragon did not fully reveal himself. Indeed, he pulled back, growing once more akin to a shadow. Kalec had no idea whether it was some ability of his, some spell, or some trick of the pit, for there were unsettling energies in play around them and not all were directly associated with Dargonax.. .although surely he was affected by their presence.

Kalec wondered if even Sinestra understood what she was growing in this pit.

He steeled himself for what would surely be his imminent end. "We are both dragons, yes."

"Then we should be friends...."

The statement took the blue dragon aback. He could fathom no reason why Dargonax would need his assistance. Surely it would do him more use to swallow Kalec whole, an easy task considering that, in addition to being unable to use his inherent powers, the blue could not even shapeshift. He had already secretly attempted to do so more than once and the only explanation for his failure had to be something that his surreal companion was doing.

It occurred to Kalec then that Dargonax was surely only days— perhaps a few weeks at best—old.

How terrible would he be as he further matured? And did he even need to mature? The beast seemed already huge.

Krasus had warned Kalec against even pretending to deal with the blood elf and surely would have counseled against doing the same here, but the blue doubted that he had any real choice. Dargonax had dragged him down here in the first place, and the only reason that he had not devoured Kalec as he had the dragonspawn—for there were no signs of the corpses anywhere— was that the behemoth did truly need him.

But exactly for what was the question.

"Yes," the blue finally responded. "We should be friends."

"Good...good...and friends, they help friends, yes? Is that right?"

For a being who had likely never been out of the pit, Dargonax was already well-versed in many of the nuances of life. Sinestra had wrought something terrible.

"Friends help friends," he agreed. "Both help each other."

"So they do—" Dargonax broke off. Then, much to Kalec's shock, the other's voice resonated in the blue's head. She comes! Be silent and still!

Although still recovering from his surprise at Dargonax's ability to speak to him through his mind, Kalec nevertheless managed to obey. There was no need to ask just who the creature meant. Since Anveena's sacrifice, Kalec had become very reckless where his life was concerned, but he also still held tight to his sense of duty. He would not serve Malygos well by letting Sinestra know that he had survived. The blue planted himself tight against the wall and tried to summon the shield that he had earlier created.

But still nothing happened.

Then, he felt what almost seemed a wing cover over him. Kalec was immersed in shadow... shadow with hints of amethyst in it.

Barely a breath later, he heard Sinestra... and another.

"He is missing," she hissed at her companion.

"Your old friend'?" The other voice was that of the blood elf. "From the chrysalun chamber? How is that even possible—unless —perhaps his companion survived. Maybe he let the other out."

Kalec grimaced, caught between hope and concern. He suspected that they spoke of Krasus, which meant that the red had somehow escaped a chrysalun chamber of all things. That was all for the good, but now Zendarin had, by his mistaken notion, put into Sinestra's mind the thought that the blue lived.

"Dargonax has feasted on that one," Sinestra replied. Yet, there was a hint of question in her tone. Then..."Besides, the chamber was destroyed from the inside."

"I've never heard of such a feat! How could he manage that?"

"He is who he is: that is how he could manage the impossible! Make no mistake of it, my dear Zendarin; he is the one fact that I consider a concern."

"And yet you brought him here."

"He would have come," she retorted. "He always comes. He always interferes. That is his nature. The best way to deal with that was to make him come on my terms, at my urging." There was another pause, then, "He must be even weaker now and if I know him, he will have fled below. He knows that must be where to go. I want you to send your pet after him—"

"I'd do that, my lady, except that the damned beast hasn't responded to an earlier summons! The last I traced it, the thing was in the vicinity of the nether dragon and since then.. .nothing."

Sinestra let out a long, angry hiss. "How cunning! Korialstrasz must have slipped around and sought to free the nether dragon! Go! Seek your mageslayer—"

Kalec did not hear the blood elf depart, but assumed that he would be wise enough to obey her. The blue started to speak, but then sensed that his unsettling companion did not wish him to do so.

"My sweet child..." she cooed in a manner that turned the blue dragon's blood cold. Her fury had now been replaced by a malevolent confidence. It was as if she had become an utterly different being from the one the moment before. "Come to me, my sweet child...."

Dargonax moved upward, ever keeping his indistinct form between Kalec and the dark lady. "Mlssstressss..."

The shift in Dargonax's speech startled Kalec nearly as much as Sinestra's odd, abrupt change in attitude. The creature sounded much younger, much less developed.

Much less of a threat?

"My Dargonax...my firstborn of a new world... Is there anything you would tell your mother?" "Hungrrrrry..."

Sinestra chuckled. "Of course, you are. Fear not, my darling. Soon you shall be fed, fed as you never have been before, oh yes... but from thereafter, you must learn to stave off your hunger. There will soon be others to feed, brothers and sisters in multitudes...."