//------------------------------// // Intermission IX: Dragons Make for Draconic Sized Headaches // Story: At the Twilight of Harmony // by Rammy //------------------------------// “Who needs enemies…” I shook my head at the whole Sentinel and He of Hourglass fight. “Yeah…” Storyteller chuckled in amusement. “Sometimes the ones that hurt you the most are those that are closest to you.” I nodded as I understood exactly what he meant. I shoved down some bad memories that threatened to surfaced and fouled up my mood. There was a question on my mind though. “He of Hourglass kept referring to the impossible choice and then in your narration during the exchange between Quartermaster and Scorpan he mentioned something called the something Principle… Quite frankly the whole issue with Sentinel hurting his hoard is confusing. I thought it was an impossibility...” “Is it?” Storyteller slyly asked. I blinked at that before my eyes narrowed. I had the feeling that I would need some pain medicine very soon. “Quartermaster was referring to the Override Principle or more commonly know as the Impossible Choice… It’s has to do when a dragon is faced with a choice between two or more conflicting codes. Which actually happens a lot… Adult dragons instinctively know how to handle code conflicts to the point that most don’t even think of anything of it which is one of the reasons why Quartermaster didn’t immediately realize that was what was going on with Sentinel. Of course, when those codes are of equal weight...things can get a bit dicey.” “But I would think maturity in a code would make that code have priority over a code that he or she is not mature in. Which doesn’t explain Sentinel’s behavior … Unless you are saying he’s mature in other codes other than the two mentioned: hoarding and clan leadership respect thingy… I don’t see how he could be able to… uh hurt… his hoard...” “You are correct normally matured codes have priority. But what if in order to live or follow a code you have to break the same code?” ‘In order to follow a code you have to break the same code’ what kind of nonsense is that!? I blinked hard trying to wrap my head around it but the more I tried to make sense of it the less it did until I just couldn't take it anymore. I was right; I would need some pain pills… “What!? That makes no sense!” “Two friends(who don’t know each other) send you letters with exciting news…” Storyteller calmly began a story. I silently prayed that wherever this story was going it would clear it up. I was really getting tired of all of the headaches this guy has caused me and I would really like my current one to not get any worse. ”They are getting married and they really, I mean really, want you to be their best colt. The problem? The ceremonies are at the same time on the same date but are on opposite ends of the world...” “So…” I slowly began as I tried to followed the stories logic in relation to Sentinel hurting his hoard. “You’re saying that in order to hoard correctly he would have to hurt his hoard even though that should be an impossibility as he’s mature in hoarding?!” “There you go… the conflict was in this case a conflict between the same code. Sentinel was going to end up hurting his hoard no matter what he did… because his hoard was filled with sentient creatures that had feelings and emotions. A murder by a sadistic psycho killer would really hurt… He of Hourglass was only partially right Sentinel did want to die but not only for the reason he thought.” “Of course, my first story is not one that would cause suicidal tendencies the next one might: Two great inseparable friends are plummeting to their deaths only one can be saved… Difficult for anyone much more so for a dragon… being mature in the code helps but if can only go so far...” Storyteller shivered violently. “Sentinel was lucky to be immuned to rage growth otherwise…” Storyteller went silent after that. Clearly we had touched on a difficult subject for him but I needed to know what that last line meant. That line had more weight than everything else and he just stopped mid sentence. I guess it would mean that I would need to push. “Okay, I keep hearing about this rage growth what in Tartarus is it?” Storyteller stopped and looked back at me or in my general direction. For a moment he said nothing before he then turned back towards the mountain and resumed his walk. “There are two corrupted growths a dragon can have,” He began, “greed and beast slash rage. Greed growth only occurs to dragons before their Choosing, hatchlings or whelps… and is reversible. Basically it occurs when a dragon ends up become greedy and start a hoard. The problem is that they are incapable of using hoard magic correctly and they end up hoarding anything and everything… because they haven't chosen a hoard name, the what they are to hoard, yet…” “Mention rage growth and the blood of the most fearless dragon will run frigidly cold. Outside of the very early stages it’s irreversible. Remember the dragon formally known as ‘Quartz’? Imagine that but the dragon having not a single sentient thought… no rhyme no reason nothing to hold back the carnage… A nice dragon like Scorpion… magically becoming something he’s not...” “Uh, Storyteller?” I slowly asked. I could sense that there was more he wanted to say on the subject. He was most likely struggling to find a way to say it if the way he dropped off was any indication. “Rage growths have multiple triggers… For example... remember when Sentinel was trying to explain to Twixt’d about normal growths right after Medallion’s first and Scorpion’s (then He of Music’s) second growths? You probably don’t remember this part but he was just about to explain about ‘He of Hourglass’ having some sort of growth problem he was interrupted by Scorpion’s, uh… ‘demands.’” Storyteller chuckled. I, myself, rolled my eyes at that. From what I recall ‘demands’ would be a light word… “The problem is that if those growths are interrupted in any way it can cause... complications. He of Hourglass first rage episode occurred shortly after what should have been his first growth. He had another one right after he should have hit his second… Once a dragon has a episode it becomes infinitely easier to get another and another and another... He of Hourglass, at this point, has had several… Rage and anger as you’ve heard are the the typical catalyst hence the name.. With the escalation of the war… it, uh… yeah...” I shivered a bit. It wouldn’t take a literary genius to put two and two together… He of Hourglass would not survive the war… He would be brought down not by a sword or claw but by becoming a rage fueled monster. Wait, he said ‘corrupted growths’… does that mean that those two growths were once something other than what they are now or are they growths that were added that are a mockery of the true growths? I vaguely recall that right after Sentinel received the hoard gem from Quartermaster and his mate where he wondered about the way Sentinel and Vorac influenced each other and if that was what rage growth was like before it was rage growth. Either way it’s a lot for me to take in and I’m still confused on many dragon aspects… Not only that, it’s clear that I was missing too many pieces to get an accurate picture. Still, it's something to think about... I was so engrossed in my thoughts that I didn’t even realize the passage of time nor the rapidly closing in mountain face, the shadow produced by the mountain, nor the fact that Storyteller had stopped near the ‘peak’ of the mountain. It was only when he spoke that I finally snapped out of it. “You may want to stop glazing over in thought or daydreaming, whichever one has you clueless to your surroundings, from here on out…” I nearly jumped out of my hooves from the suddenness of hearing Storyteller voice. He had (and myself) and been silent for sometime. I looked around to see that we were standing on a circular stone slab which was definitely not natural. I looked over to see the ‘top’ of the mountain was only a short distance away. I looked up to see the mountain taking up want seemed to be the whole sky. For a split second I felt dizzy. I swallowed hard and forced my gaze back down(?). “Yeah... try not to look up it can be very disorientating.” No, duh… I thought as I rolled my eyes at the obvious. “Okay, how are we getting up or down or whatever this mountain?” I looked around but not up. I could see no sign of the supposed stairs that Storyteller mentioned in the memorial garden. The only thing remotely stair like was the stone platform we were currently standing on. It was, however, possible that they could be on the other side of the peak. “As I said before… We take the stairs.” “What stairs?!?” I snapped, gesturing around. “These.” Was Storyteller’s answer. He stepped off of the platform and as his foot, hoof, whatever came down it stopped. But not in mid air. Where once there was air now there was a stone slab hovering slightly above the platform. Just like a stair. Several more stone slabs appeared, each hovering in the air creating more stairs. I blubbered out a few incoherent syllables before my vision faded to black. The last thing I heard was, “Really!? Of all the things…”