High Knight la'Kefroumpoi took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes a little. Silas stood silently in front of him with his hands behind his back. After a few moments, Gigandet sighed and put his glasses back on.
"And this is directly from Dr. Mitchell?"
"Yes."
He slammed his fist onto the table, making Silas jump.
"Dammit!" he yelled, running his hand over his mouth. "Shit... Shit, Silas!"
"Are you... blaming me for this?"
"No... It's just that of course it would happen to you on a secret mission, not on one given to me by the Superior Grand. Trying to do the paperwork on this is going to be a bitch."
Silas narrowed his eyes at his superior. "You're pissed off because you have to forge and manipulate some paperwork? What about me!? I've got a dragon egg growing in my stomach and according to that weird kid, he said it's going to be the same size as an actual dragon egg! Do you know how fucking large that is?!!!!" he screamed, leaning over on the table.
Gigandet threw his hand over Silas' mouth.
"Shut. Up." He snarled, glaring at him. "Don't shout that out loud..."
Silas pulled his face from the High Knight.
"Oh, I'm sorry, will it cause a disturbance for you, High Knight?" he mocked.
Gigandet made a face at him. "I'm going to excuse the attitude for the mere fact that you're still in shock that this is real." He sat back down. "As for the leave of absence, I'm going to have to figure out a way to get around the questions the Superior Grand is going to ask me. You are one of our star knights, not just in my unit but as a whole of the DEU. Suddenly having leave when you don't have a family (that I know of) will seem suspicious and she will want answers. That's that I'm concerned about."
"You seemed to have some sort of knowledge of this weird phenomena, so why wouldn't she? And why didn't you let anyone in the squad know about this?"
"Well, that's the thing... Missions we get from the Superior Grand are scheduled after the brood month or at least when the dragoness is gone. That's why they come in clusters. One of the important jobs of the Scout Division is precisely to make sure brooding dragonesses aren't in their nests so that we can go in there. This mission... it wasn't set up by the Superior Grand. This mission was a secret one. One of our own knights found that nest and when we looked into it, none of the scouts from Unit 5 even knew about it. The dragoness had just laid her eggs and we couldn't risk it. So I took the call... and I screwed things up."
"Well what the hell am I supposed to do? I mean, I can't necessarily leave until I have documentation... Wait, did you forge the seal of approval for the secret mission?"
"Yes. I did. The leave of absence approval paper won't be hard to forge. As for you in general, you shouldn't have any problems... it's me that's going to have to lie through my teeth, my ass, and every other way."
"How long will it take you before you're able to get me an approved leave of absence? Forged or not?"
"Two days."
Silas rolled his eyes angrily and growled as he started pacing in front of the High Knight's desk.
"Is there nothing that can be done for me? Has there never been a case like this? I mean, if you knew about it enough to try to prevent it, then there has to be others that it's happened to."
Gigandet pressed his fingertips together, thinking. He could have sworn he had heard of a similar case not too long ago... He snapped his fingers. "Squad 5!"
"The Warriors?"
"I thought I overheard someone talking about one of their knights having to go on leave due to a strange but delicate issue. You might be able to look into it and see who it was that had to leave. If you find them, they might be able to help you out."
"If they aren't dead already." Gigandet made a face. "That kid from the cave told me that it may do this thing to us, but it doesn't provide an 'escape'. If it is what I think it means then he might be dead by now."
"I hope he isn't... I'm going to put you on light duty for the next two days while I find a way to get that leave of absence. Don't strain yourself too hard."
Silas sighed and left, grabbing the book he had put on the table.

************************

I, Avire Enicela of the Silverflame, write this down as documentation of the strange but true events beheld after the Battle of the Valley of Unknown Mystery.

The war between the humans, the Elves, and the dragons for the victory of the Valley of Unknown Mystery started off as any other type of battle would. The Elves and the humans wanted to expand their territories and the dragons seemed to be getting in the way. For this region, the Valley of Unknown Mystery was prime for building a marketplace as well as a small fortress atop the hills that rose above a deep valley below. In the valley, there were-

**************************

"Blah, blah, blah, about the stupid valley! Get to the part about the weird dragonesses and the men!" Silas grumbled to himself as he flipped through the pages of the book Azize had given him. Since he was put on light duty, he decided to just take it into his own hands and went to the bar. Maybe if he drank enough alcohol it would kill the dream he was having. As he waited for his meal, he decided to go ahead and see what the book said about his condition.

*************************

The humans decided to get back at the dragons once and for all for destroying their South flank, leaving virtually no one alive. They came up with a plan to sneak into Krellis and while the dragons were deliberating with their plan, they would destroy the eggs and show them how it felt to lose precious members. They selected a group of six men to do the job, picking out a particular nest that belonged to the underling of what the dragons called The Great Dragoness. They went over and bashed in all the eggs. While they were doing so, the dragoness that was brooding there came back and tried to defend her young. Within minute, though, the dragoness was slain and victory was to the small band of men. They came back to the camp, drenched in blood, and declared the success of the decimation of the nest.
The next day, a representative from Krellis came to the border of our camps and asked to speak with the commanding officers of both of our armies. Seeing that he was quite civil, we obliged and met with the representative. I was invited because I was the right hand of the commanding officer. While we sat around in a circle, the representative threw down what looked like a piece of broken eggshell.
"We are at war, but why would you do something so heinous as this?" he asked, looking at us in both confusion and anger.
The Elven commanding officer didn't respond, unaware of what had happened. Oddly enough, the human commanding officer seemed to be perplexed as well. It occurred to me then that what I had overheard were humans acting of their own volition and took it upon themselves to do this. The representative looked between the two.
"Will you not answer for your crimes?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." The human officer said.
"As do I." the Elven one admitted.
The representative sighed. "This is what's left of The Great Dragoness' servant's eggs. What's left of her body... well..."
The commanding officers looked at each other.
"I'm not sure I follow you."
"Someone snuck into Krellis and bashed every dragon egg in my ladies' servant's nest as well as killed the mother. I would like to know who did this horrible thing to our children."
"I'm not sure." The human officer said. "We never sent anyone... unless some acted of their own accord."
The representative stood up and breathed in. "I'll leave this eggshell as a token of what you've done. You'll also find the culprits soon enough. Your little covert operation will cost your men dearly. You're not even worthy of a proper warning."
He spit at the officers and left, not having another word.

************************

"Here you are, Knight von Lagon." The bar wench said, coming up to the table.
Silas moved the book out of the way.
"Let's make sure I got this correct: I have an order of shepherd's pie (double the lamb), three turkey legs, a loaf of bread and a small bowl of butter, two slices of blackberry cobbler, one slice of pumpkin pie, a large bowl of mashed potatoes with a boat of brown gravy, and extra boat of white gravy and a baker's dozen of biscuits, honey on the side. Does that sound about right?"
"Yes, thank you."
"Will you be expecting some more people? Do I need to get more silverware?"
Silas gave the girl a glare and she visibly shrinked back.
"No."
"O-okay..."
"While you're at it though, I need some salt, cheese, and that weird sauce that you have with that funny dish from Barsatran."
"The vinaigrette sauce?" she asked in confusion.
"Yeah, that."
"But you don't have the dumplings or a salad."
"I didn't ask you about what I ordered, I asked you to get what I ordered."
The bar wench made a face but shrugged and went to get the extra things he wanted. He started on his meal and opened the book back up.

***********************

A few days after this visit, the six men who went over and destroyed the eggs came to the high officers of the camps and revealed a startling revelation. All six of them had the same symptoms including nausea, fatigue, horrible nightmares, and bloated stomachs. The officers sent them to the medic and he also came back with some startling information. By all scientific accounts, it looked as if the six men were with child. At first it seemed so preposterous but as the days went on, the men's stomach grew and grew and it was quite clear by the shape that it was not something ordinary. In fear, the officers quarantined the men and tried to locate the representative from Krellis. After a week, they finally found him and brought him to the camp.
"What have you done to my men?" the human officer asked him. "They are having to be quarantined due to some strange sickness you've cursed them with. What have you done?!"
The representative asked to see them and went to the quarantine sight.
Seeming to have realized their fate, the quarantine sight was just that, a sight. Two of the six men had killed themselves, one shooting himself in the stomach and the other hanging from the rafters. Two had gone mentally insane (one screaming at the top of his lungs in a corner while the other scratched endlessly at his gorged stomach), one seemed catatonic, but the last one seemed alert. He was sitting in bed with a contented look on his face as he flipped through a book. He was leaning an elbow on his stretched and taut abdomen, its size like that of a sack of flour attached to him. Realizing he was being watched, he looked over and sat up.
"Captain." He said, looking surprised.
When he moved, his too tight shirt rose up and revealed the stretched skin underneath. Ashamed, the man tried to cover himself up again.
"Do you see?" the officer said.
The representative, though, was grinning from ear to ear.
"Exactly the way it should be. A life for a life." He looked back at the men. "You think that you have the right to rule the land, exterminating whatever species and race you like to get what you want. Not everything will bow to your whim, Human. This is a beautiful defense mechanism from our Great Dragoness. All of these men deserve what has come to them. But you," he said, pointing to the alert one. "I would like to study you."
"Um... I don't think that could be done, sir..."
"What would you do if we gave him to you to study?" the officer asked.
The young soldier looked at his officer in confusion and shock. "Sir?"
The representative turned to him. "You'd actually sacrifice your soldier?"
"What can we do to end this?"
"If you let me have your soldier, I will personally speak with the Dragon King about handing over the Valley of Unknown Mystery to you in a civil manner."
The officer thought for a moment and then agreed, shaking the dragon's hand. He took the young soldier, who screamed and begged not to be taken, and took him.

Two months later, a man was seen walking to the encampment from the fog. Upon seeing the man, it was revealed to be the one who was taken by the dragons. He was bloody, bruised, and his eyes had lost all feeling. He was walking slowly, carrying a cylinder in one hand. He got the encampment and collapsed while someone grabbed the cylinder. Within it was the documentation to hand over the Valley of Unknown Mystery and a small letter from The Great Dragoness herself. Contained in the letter was the very curse that had come upon us.

Blood from dragon, blood from man
Brooding mother and death's dark hands
Blood that mixes while in at its prime
Will cause great changes in due time
The loss of life will be renewed
The stomach of man will be caused to bloom
For a life you take, a life you must restore
A fulfilling end for the blood you have poured

*************************

"Silas?"
Silas jumped in fright, practically knocking his plate to the ground. He put his hand over his heart and looked over at the person who had called his name.
"Brantley..."
The young man smiled. "What are you doing here? They said that you had light duty today?"
"Uh... yeah..."
"Then why are you in the bar?"
"Light duty is just as it says, light. You know I'd rather be doing drills."
"Then... why aren't you?"
"I'm having a bit of an issue."
Brantley, Silas's longtime friend, looked over the side of the book to see what he was reading. He made a face and grabbed it before Silas had a chance to prevent it. He looked at the page he was on and made a face.
"What kind of bullshit is this? What are you reading?"
"Don't worry about it." he growled, snatching the book back. "What do you want?"
"I was coming to say that your sister wanted me to tell you that she is coming to visit you tomorrow."
"WHAT?!" he yelled.
"Yeah..."
"Why now?" he grumbled, leaning back in his chair.
Brantley's eyes immediately fixated on Silas's stomach.
"Whoa, what's going on here?" he said, reaching over and poking his stomach.
Upon feeling how hard it was, he made a face.
"Silas, are you alright?"
"What do you mean?" he said with a glare for poking him.
"What was that just now? I know you and you've got the nicest set of abs of anyone in the DEU. Am I to declare that you've gained weight?"
Silas made a face. "And if I did? What's it to you?"
"It's just so unlike you... are you depressed about something?"
"No."
Brantley moved his mouth to the side, his curious pale yellow eyes starting to become bothersome to Silas. He crossed his arms.
"You're annoying me."
"Is that so?" Brantley said with a smirk. "You don't like being told the truth?"
"You don't know what the hell you're talking about. This is something completely different."
"Something to do with that dragon curse that's in your book?" Silas didn't say anything and Brantley sat up straighter. "Wait, I was just joking..."
Silas got up, suddenly feeling nauseous. It felt like his stomach was stretching just slightly as he stood up as well and he put his hand on it.
"I'm not feeling well. If you'll excuse me..."
He left the bar quickly, leaving Brantley in confusion.