I feel much better now. My nose is clear and the headache's gone. This chapter is long and rather VERY important than it would seem.

Maenin City
Cetrulis Skyland
Central Space

"I'll see you soon, little Cenred." The voice rang through the darkness in Alec's mind. He was floating in the midst of it all, as the words repeated non-stop: getting slower and quieter every time, until it disappeared.

Hushed voices coming from around him caused him to arouse from his sleep. Alec tried to open his eyes, but pain shot through his skull like a knife piercing skin. When he released a groan, he heard hurried two sets of footfalls heading for him. He felt one side of the soft bed sink, before a gentle hand ran through his hair. It eased the throbbing he felt.

Soon, he felt familiar warm and wet flesh leaving a trail of liquid dripping down his cheeks to his neck. He didn't have to open his eyes to know it was his Draelings. He released a groan and used his arms to cage the triplets to his body, with his eyes still closed.

"Stop it you three," he mumbled with a smile. "My head hurts like...." He was unable to finish due to another grunt of pain leaving his mouth. He peeled one eye open, before the other followed. He found himself staring up at a wooden ceiling before the triplets' toothless smiles greeted him. He smiled back and rubbed their heads. Only then did he notice that his right hand had a bandage wrapped around it.

"What happened to you?" a voice said from his left. He turned his head to the same direction and found Gael looking at him with a deep crease between his eyebrows. Alec brought his bandaged hand to his head as a sting came from the effort at trying to remember.

"I...I can't remember," he said.

"I went looking for you when you were taking too long to leave the Simbhan. But after that, I heard a scream and the birds in the woods flew away in flocks. When I went to look, your Draelings came scampering and led me to you," Kreis said. He sat on the foot of the bed, and gave him the same expression Gael wore on his face. "You were lying there on the ground...on your stomach with a bite mark on your hand. It seemed to me that you bit it yourself."

Alec heaved in a lungful of air, as he forced himself to sit up. Gael assisted, and even though he didn't like it, he allowed him. His back rested on the pillow Gael propped against the headboard. He stared down at his lap before he spoke.

"I really can't remember much," he said. "I know that these three," he nodded at the Draelings, "ran off into the woods. I followed after them...and then...everything went black, and I woke up here."

Silence followed after that. Alec's hand reached out to his Draelings when he noticed their droopy ears and wings as they lowered their heads. He stroked each of their heads as he spoke.

"I'm not blaming you three, all right?" he said gently. "It's not your fault." They crawled over the bed and curled close to him. He smiled.

He shifted his head back to the two men when he heard them sigh. He tilted his head to the right as he stroked Midnight's neck.

"At least you're safe," Gael said. He patted Alec's shoulder before cradling Entiny in his arms and stroking her back. Compared to the other two, the grey Draeling got along well with Gael. Midnight and Leyan though, preferred Kreis. Alec shook his head.

"But we're going to have to send you back to the Academy first thing tomorrow morning," Kreis said. "It's not safe as I expected it to be."

"It's all right with me," Alec said. "I've got nothing better to do than follow you around or stay here."

The men laughed and Gael stood from his position. He walked across the plain yellow room, and stopped in front of a small dining table where three plates and food already lay.

"Come on," Kreis said. He stood on one side of the bed with a hand outstretched toward him. "You missed lunch, and you definitely can't miss supper."

Alec ignored the hand and only smiled up at him. He moved out of the blanket before planting his bare feet on the wooden floor. He stood shakily, before he grabbed hold of Kreis' shoulder. The man led Alec to his chair.

Soon enough, they were eating in silence with the exception of the clanging coming from their eating utensils. It was the first time Alec dined with other people except his dorm mates. He then once again realized that he had been cut off from people too long.

―――

The faint light coming from the crescent twin moons fell on Alec when he entered the balcony. He made himself comfortable on one of the wooden chairs surrounding a table. He felt a cool night breeze whizzed by and relished the way it caressed his face.

Down on the street below the terrace, people of all color, sizes, and origin flooded the streets, enjoying the last night of the two-day festival. Alec noticed that compared to earlier, there were many Draes outside. The adults were mostly on the ground, while some of the smaller ones propped themselves on top of roofs and looked up at the sky as they shook their wings. When he looked back down at the table, his Draelings sat there on their hind legs looking up at the sky as well. Iris and Asher were even out of their stables, and he could see them with the grown Draes.

"Are you feeling better now?" Gael asked from the doorway. Alec flicked his attention toward him, before bobbing his head up and down.

"I am just a bit worried what really happened and why I can't remember anything," he said. Gael stepped out into the balcony and sat on one of the vacant seats. Once again, he took Entiny in his arms and stroked her.

"You most probably hit your head," he said. "It will come back to you soon, I suppose." Alec nodded again as he stared back at the busy street.

"Why are there so many Draes out tonight? Aren't they usually in their stables?" he asked. Gael raised one of his brows, before allowing the grey Draeling to ease away and join her brothers on the table.

"It's the first quarter of the year," Gael said. "Don't tell me you don't know what happens every three months?" Alec remained silent and his brows met in the middle. He thought for a moment until he felt his mouth opening in surprise.

"It's the Preservene," he said. His guardian chuckled, most probably at his expression, before shaking his head.

"Even though those days are vital, Non-Draeyers tend to forget, especially ones that barely come in contact with a Drae," the man said. "But when you become a Draeyer, I doubt one will ever forget the principal role of all Draes."

"I haven't seen it happen before."

"That's because only Draeyers have the power to see what occurs. In a little while, when the moons are quarter closer to their peak, you'll see."

As Alec gazed around him, he felt tiredness crawl up his body. He rested his arms on the table and leaned forward. He tucked his chin in the gap he made between his arms, and watched Gael playing with the Triplet Draes, with a small exhausted smile. He then wondered what it is the Draeyers see during a Preservene. Stories of it being a beautiful sight on the black star-dotted canvas appeared in his minds. Alen had never spoke of it, and he assumed that he didn't really know much about Draeyers, except knowing famous ones throughout history.

As he continued to stare at the baby Draes, something caused him to completely open his eyes. He raised his chin out of his arms, and continued staring. Streaks of silver light wriggled and swayed around Entiny, Leyan and Midnight. The Draelings had stopped playing, and sat tall on their hinds as they focused their gazes up the firmament. He shook his head to rid the image, before he heard Gael chuckling. He turned to him and tilted his head to the right in question.

"You're not imagining things, nor are you half-asleep," he said. He lifted his chin and motioned it to the direction of the other Draes. Alec followed the direction and found the silver light surrounding the other Draes. The adults and a few younger ones flew up into the air. Iris and Asher were with them as well. From his chair, he watched as they created a circle. They soon circled clockwise, as more Draes flew up, causing the circle to expand. The silver strands coming from them glowed brighter and moved to the vacant center of the circle. It was as if some kind of force sucked the streaks to the middle. As the silver threads gathered, they formed a swirling ball of light. When it reached a particular size, one that could fit in at least two fully-grown Draes, it ascended higher to the sky.

When his eyes followed it, he gasped as he saw more of the silver balls soaring up the sky as well. He knew that some places out there, Draes were performing the Preservene, alone or in groups.

And they were all gathering into one gargantuan ball situated below the twin moons.

"Draes have two types of power. The first one is the Flame, the one they share with their Draeyers, but of course you already know that," Gael said. "The second one is the power responsible for keeping the Skylands from plummeting to the bottom of Kosmiks."

"Assuming it has one," Alec interjected. Gael nodded.

"It's called Antenier. It's also the power that sustains a Drae's life. But too much can cause illnesses to form, which is why they have to release the excess power stored in their bodies and share it to the skies.

"Draelings though, are still too young. They need all the Antenier in their bodies to continue growing. But when they're big enough, usually when they're ready for riding, they start to accumulate Antenier.

"It's quite powerful, that some had tried ...to take all of it for themselves. There were occasions, at least three Draeyers managed to draw out Antenier from their Draes, which wasn't supposed to happen in the first place. Antenier is for Kosmiks and Kosmiks alone, while the Flame is for us.

"Terrible things happen to people who sought for things that aren't supposed to be theirs," Gael said.

"What happened to them?" Alec asked. While Gael gave the small lecture, which he admitted enjoying, he found himself leaning forward with growing interest.

"They only drew out the Antenier once, and out of pure accident, but like I said, it was too powerful and addicting. They hungered for that power forcing their Draes to give it up to them. They went mad and...two of them ended up killing their Draes, while...the other was executed after being caught breaking the law, which protected Draes from all types of harm," his guardian said. Alec noticed his sorrowful voice at the mention of the last person, along with the glistening of his green eyes.

He knew he would be prying if he said it, but he was too late when the words escaped his mouth.

"You knew the person who was executed."

He watched for any sort of angered reaction from the man. However, he received nothing but a pained and sad smile. Gael took a deep breath looked up at the giant ball of Antenier forming below the moons.

"She was Eastina, my mother," he said. Alec fell quite and his gaze fell on his Draelings. Like they always did, they sensed the sadness coursing through him. They crawled over the semi-long table and approached.

He could still see the Antenier surrounding them, but never flowing out. The threads parted from the areas where he stroked his Draelings, only to return when his hand was gone. He looked up again.

The Draes had stopped circling. The last small balls of Antenier merged with the large one high above them. The sphere of silver spun. It was so big that it could obscure the twin moons easily. A bright light came from the ball, but not enough to blind, only enough to have Alec release a breath of awe from its beauty. The silver ball expanded, threads forming a large translucent dome which seemed to cover all of Kosmiks. Power rippled through the dome, resembling water flowing down from a waterfall. Faint silver light bathed the dark sky and he knew only Draeyers could see it. Minutes passed until the sky returned to the way it was before; starry and lit by the twin moons. The Draes returned to their respected places.

He took a deep breath, and he could feel the power lingering in the air all around them. It made the tiredness in him go away.

When he fixed his attention back to Gael, the air around them was still a bit gloomy. The man was busy stroking the youngest of the Triplet Draes with a faraway look in his eyes.

"I'm sorry," Alec said. This snapped Gael out of his trance. He tensed before turning to him with small smile.

"It's all right."

The atmosphere suddenly changed when Kreis burst through the doors with a laugh. He marched up to them carrying a bowl.

"Did I miss the Preservene?"

"Yes you did," Gael said. This time, he had a grin on his face.

"Oh well, no matter," Kreis said. He then turned to Alec. "This is for you, kid." He placed a blue bowl near Alec. "I did promise I'd get you more of your favorite earlier." Kreis then settled for the last seat.

Alec stared down at the bowl overflowing with big red juicy-looking strawberries, and his hand twitched as if wanting to pick one up.

"Just because I ate an entire bowl before doesn't mean it's my favorite."

"You ate an entire large bowl of it in less than 10 minutes," Kreis chuckled. "It was really obvious how much you liked them. Come on, don't be shy, and take one in your mouth."

Alec's cheeks puffed out like child's, not even noticing that he was doing it. Eventually, he relented and took one berry and ate it. A couple minutes later, his guardians were laughing at his flushed face and the empty bowl. Even so, he felt happy. Happier than he had ever felt since Crimson's death.