Alaris hangs back and shares a glance with Caio, cocking an eyebrow and silently asking, Hang back or get between them before Shiva loses it again?

Nikolai sighs and takes Shiva's hands in his own.

"Shiva, Ling made her choice when she chose to leave us and go to Valentine, but me? I don't have a choice in this. I am a servant to Shahar's will. Shahar who has blessed me with great freedom to wield his power to my own ends... and now he has called upon me. Were I not to hold up my end of that bargain, I would at best be stripped of the magic that he has bestowed upon me. Then how should I help you or Ling?

Shahar's goals and his knowledge are greater than you, or I, or any of this. I must carry out his will. That isn't your fault though. It has nothing to do with you, and you? Look at you. You don't need me to protect you anymore. You've grown so strong and you have Alaris and Astrid and Caio to fight besides you, and they need you to watch their backs too. You'll never truly lose me though and, one day, the trio infernale will be reunited once more.

For now, it's time for us to see who we are in our own right. It has been ever since Ling left. You've been doing it without even thinking about it and, you know what, Shiva? You can do it without me. You've already proven that."

Nik releases Shiva's hands and she looks down to see the mysterious ring from the other world in the palms of her hands. The weight of the metal with all its meaning and responsibility feels like it will pull her to the ground and then Nikolai's arms are wrapped around her in a farewell embrace.

Caio returns Alaris’ glance and gives the slightest shake of his head. Let them be. 

Shiva's eyes fill with tears as she grasps Nikolai's hand. "Thank you, Nikolai. For everything that you've done for me. It's hard to think about just how much has changed since you, Ling, and I started watching out for each other. But you're right, none of us will ever truly lose each other. And soon, we'll be back together with lots of new stories and we'll be drinking and yelling and getting kicked out of taverns just like the old days." She manages a weak smile as the tears stream past her cheeks. She registers the ring placed in her hand just as Nikolai wraps his arms around her, and she closes her fist tightly around the mysterious piece of metal as if it held her heartbeat. 

She stands silently in the embrace till they release one another, then wipes her eyes and smiles as if it were any other day. "Stay safe out there. I don't wanna have to start any wars over you mortally offending some noble." Looking down to the ring, she contemplates it, then slides it onto her left middle finger.

Nikolai smiles sadly back at Shiva as he releases her and pulls himself up into the saddle.

"Always," he tells her quietly, before spurring his horse into a gallop off down the road.

Shiva slips the ring onto her finger and a sudden sense of vertigo takes her, as though she is falling backwards out of her own body. She looks at her friends and their visage splinters into a thousand variations, each walking different paths with different fates. Time grinds to a halt and yet motion nearby catches the tiefling's eye. She glances up and sees a face that is both familiar yet entirely new watching her from above. Perched atop the roof of the Hearthstone is a lanky man with short, red hair and raven wings that sprout from his shoulder blades. He's lazing casually on the tiles above the entrance and wears a smirk and a pair of dark eyeglasses.

The quiet farewell is cut short as the powerful vertiginous force is enacted upon Shiva's body. Growing unfortunately familiar with out-of-body experiences, she moves with the current in order to avoid any ill effects. Once she's gotten her bearings, she regards those close to her and the thousand refractions they each exude, unsure of what to make of them or what to do. Just as she is about to speak to Ki-Tanra, she spies the winged figure above and experiences an inexplicable sense of recognition.

She sighs heavily as she looks to the strange person expectantly. "If the Collector sent you, tell that ******* that he can bill me for Énbarr."

"The Collector?" The winged man remarks, his accent reminiscent of southern Breanne. He barks a laugh in response. "No, nothing so pedestrian. All that he and I share is the path less trodden."

Straightening the jacket of his suit, Shiva's mysterious conversation partner swings his legs forwards over the edge of the roof, resting his elbows on his knees while he cups his face.

"Tell me, whatever became of our little Ling?" He asks with interest.

Shiva narrows her eyes as the stranger speaks with a familiar cadence, and her body language grows defensive at the mention of Ling. "Ok, so who are you? And what do you have to do with Ling? I've really had my fill of plane-hopping recently, so if we could jump to the point, I'd really appreciate it."

The man on the roof pouts demonstratively.

"Well, that's no fun. You've got to play the game, my dear."

He leans back again and crosses his legs, arms parted against the roof.

"As for me, Ling called me Dagon, so I suppose that you may as well do the same. Your friend and I were acquainted in another life. Another me. Another her. She possessed the ring that you now wear on your finger."

Shiva releases a fraction of tension from her muscles as Dagon shows a bit of levity. She then speaks the words that Ki-Tanra simultaneously echoes in her mind. "So you're from the other world?" She looks down again to the ring. "Or another version of you, as you said. None of this makes much sense to me, but can you tell me about this ring, Dagon? Seems to be the only thing that kept its form along the journey here."

"The ring is a key," Dagon explains, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world, "a singularity. It brought her here, to you. It brought all of them here... but it calls to its home and that call grows louder. Loud enough that I heard it and others soon will too. Others who, perhaps, might be less sociable than I," he adds with a wink.

"Um...so it's some kind of beacon that's going to draw horrors from other worlds to us? Is there anything we can do to change that?

"May I?"  "Sure."  "And can it get those of us who are just visiting back home?"

"You could send it home," Dagon offers in a sing-song tone, "along with all your new-found friends.To do so would require a phenomenal power source though... similar to the one that brought it here."

Both Shivalas reflect on Dagon's words. "Such as Azrael's runestone?" 

"I have one quick question."  "Go for it."  "Could the ring be...molded? If I filled it with enough of my own demonic magic, would it cease to be a beacon, or become something worse?"

Dagon gives Shiva an impassive stare and rolls his eyes.

"Not everything can be solved with brute force, my dear. Kuzno's ring is a fulcrum in time and space. A dimensional inversion point. If you used it to channel the power of the abyss, then I imagine that that's exactly where it would take you. As for the runestones... one might suffice, yes, though it need not be Azrael's, if that's even what he calls himself in this era."

Shiva rolls her eyes in return. "Fair point. Everything seems bent on teaching me that lately. Anyway, there are other runestones? The Collector sent me to retrieve Azrael's in return for sending our Others back home with it. Are you saying that we don't need that faceless creep?"

Dagon hops down from the eaves and claps his hands twice in quick succession, stalking in a circle around Shiva as clouds of darkness billow out from his wings. A cyclone of pitch black swirls around the tiefling until she is enveloped entirely, standing on a featureless plane, staring into infinity. Only Dagon remains and he claps his hands again, just once this time, causing four points of coloured light to wink into existence; one black, one green, one purple and one red. The lights float and bob in the air above Shiva, evenly spaced around a circle ten feet across the middle. As she inspects each light more closely, she can see that every one has a distinct, regular shape. The black light is octahedral, the green light decahedral, the purple light tetrahedral and the red light is a cube.

"Four elemental runestones hold Arden in a delicate cosmic balance," Dagon explains, continuing to circle Shiva, and the runestones begin to slowly process along with him. "In a bygone era, lost to time, they were once held by dwarves, humans, elves and dragons..."

As Dagon speaks, the runestones flip in colour from black to clear, green to white, purple to silver and red to blue.

"...but the runestones were taken from them and claimed by Israphel, Michael, Azrael and Gabriel for their master."

With each name that leaves Dagon's lips, a silhouette outlined in white appears in the sky. First short and stout, then tall and lithe. The third is obviously draconic and the fourth shrouded in a hooded cloak. Each figure looms over its runestone from behind and the glowing gem promptly returns to its previous colour.

"When they were defeated, the runestones vanished from the world... until now. Someone, or something seems to be waking them up."

Shiva nearly draws out her claws at Dagon's sudden movement, but relaxes as he launches into his explanation of forces far beyond anything she had ever conceptualized. By the time that Dagon has finished, she is quite simply flummoxed, standing there with her mouth sightly agape. "I...I'm a merc from a backwards area of Breanne. I don't know what to do with this information."

She falls into thought again, then looks to Dagon with determination. "So, will it tear Arden apart if we take one of these runestones? And where would we look for the runestones of the others? And what do you think this thing is that's waking them up?" 

"We're alright, hun. You're asking the right questions. Your world really is as large and terrifying as mine."

Dagon shrugs and dark canvas dissolves along with the images of the runestones.

"What you do with it is up to you. Many have tried and failed to claim this power. You would not be the first. Regardless, whatever has transpired, I felt the ruby, amethyst and obsidian runestones all echo its call. From Khaz a Grungron, to Beschcadik, to the Obsidian Maw, beacons of light lit up the sky with beams a mile high. Only the illearth stone remains lost to the shadows."

Shiva slowly begins to nod. "Ok...bien compris. So what part do you play in all of this?"