Rain fell in sheets over the destroyed mansion, the fire hissing and sizzling through the storm. Wind bellowed through the forest only fuelling the flames. The forest glowed red as the heat spread out with the flames, engulfing anything that got in the way. But it was beginning to dwindle, the rain and storm slowly winning the battle.

Ragin felt the water slowly seeping into his clothes. A drop of water ran down his forehead and fell from the tip of his nose, causing an almost irresistible urge to sneeze. But he couldn't move. The magic that held him was not something he would be able to escape even if he was able to access the energy of an entire army. It was hopeless.

Akaysha sat nervously behind him, her tail twitching anxiously. He couldn't feel her thoughts or feelings, the ring blocking any mental communication, but he could see it. He could see her fear, see her anger as she glared upon the man that had dared use her true name against her. He could see her wanting to pounce, wanting to pour fire from her mouth until Tharin was but ashes. Instead she held her own rider, her own partner of heart and mind, in place in order to save the man she so despised.

Tharin stumbled over to his half burnt throne, collapsing onto it with an exhausted huff. The exhaustion of trying to break both his enemies minds, as well as hold up his wards against Ragin's onslaught had nearly killed him. He could feel his head growing heavy and his body falling limp, but the perverse satisfaction of his accomplishment kept him awake. So he just sat there, not saying anything as the rain began to kill the fire burning up what was left of his mansion. Akaysha stayed where she was, simply holding Ragin still with her magic as she was ordered to do.

After a couple of minutes of tense silence Tharin began to laugh. It started of almost like a giggle, as though the man had had such a funny thought that he couldn't help but have a physical response. But then it grew louder and louder, the hysterical sound mixing in with the steaming fire and sweltering rain, the wind picking up the sounds and mixing them together like a band. Tharin laughed and laughed until he struggled to breath, his hand holding his stomach and tears in his eyes. As his laughter died down he spat up the bile that had begun to gather in his mouth, coughing as he tried to catch his breath.

"What's so funny?" Ragin gritted his teeth uneasily.

"Oh... haha... it's just," Tharin tried saying, his mirth still not quite gone, "It's just... you know... the ridiculousness of it all."

Ragin glared at him, which his enemy must of found equally hilarious as he began laughing again. It took Tharin another minute or so to calm down to an appropriate level for speech. He got up from his throne and began to limp toward Ragin.

"Akaysha dear," he rasped, "Pin him against a wall or something, and trap him so he can't escape."

Almost immediately Ragin felt his body moved. Akaysha dragged him with her magic, as he was picked up and helplessly tossed against one of the remaining pillars. The fire around it instantly went out, which he suspected was Akaysha's doing, and his back pressed against it. The wood of the pillar suddenly grew up and around his arms, legs and chest, trapping him against the pillar.

"You know... it's just funny," Tharin's speech was broken up by the occasional uncontrolled laugh, "You have been... one of my most successful employees... but also... the greatest pain in my arse!"

Tharin slowly walked toward Ragin's prone body, laughing as he talked, "You... have, single-handed, dealt me more damage... than any one person... or group... has ever done. You... stole my dragon... pushing my work back years. You... you disappeared to a place... where even I... where even I couldn't find you. For months I might add. Then... then when you did appear again... killed every assassin I sent to find you. Then... when I finally do the job myself... you somehow still survive... and come back... throwing the power I gave you... back in my face. You... destroyed my home... killed all my body guards... revealed my operation to the world! But... despite all of that... I now have you... trapped here... with everything you hold dear in my grasp! Isn't that just hilarious! You've taken everything away from me! Now... now I get to do the same!"

He fell away into another bout of laughter. Akaysha growled, but Ragin held silent, a cold tingle of fear running down his spine. He looked at his dragon, and she looked back, each other's worry plain for the other to see. Whatever Tharin had planned would not be good for either of them. Their only hope would be stalling until the riders found them. It shouldn't be too difficult, not with the burning mansion revealed for all to see. They couldn't be too far away now.

"Of course," Tharin began to speak, rambling his thoughts, "I'm going to make Akaysha kill you. That's poetic don't you think. She saved your life... only to kill you. The only problem is how would I do this? It has to be painful of course. Maybe... maybe I could make her shatter each individual bone in your body, one at a time until your begging her to stop. Or maybe she could make your skin burn like liquid fire while your insides slowly melt. Maybe... maybe I could make her eat you! Oh that would be fun. What do you think dear? Your final meal being your own rider!"

Akaysha's growl turned into a whimper. She took a couple of steps away from him, looking to the sky. An idea seemed to come to her and she opened her wings, ready to spring into the air. She was stopped however as Tharin's voice thundered her true name, forcing her to stop in her tracks at his order. Ragin's head hung, tears springing to his eyes. He hated how Akaysha was being treated. He hated how he was hopeless to stop it. They shouldn't have come. They should have run back to the riders while they had the chance.

"Now," Tharin cracked his knuckles, "Where should we start? A foot? A hand? A leg? What do you think dear dragon? What part could we start with that would make this as painful as..."

The man trailed off as though he had just come to a revelation. Again he chuckled, but this was not hysterical or amused as it had been before. This was a controlled and triumphant one, one that spoke of a plan that was far more horrifying than anything he had suggested so far.

"Never mind," Tharin said, turning to gaze at the trapped rider, "I know something far worse... something far, far worse. And it would help you repay everything you owe me."

Tharin reached up and with a single swipe pulled the ring from Ragin's hand, revealing his mind to everyone around him. He instantly pulled a mental shield up, expecting the man to attack him mentally again, but was astounded to find no such attack in coming. Tharin simply tossed the ring to the side. Ragin slowly reached out his mind to his dragon, and Akaysha welcomed him in. They didn't speak, allowing the wash of emotions to fall over each other. She was terrified, disgusted. She couldn't think of anything worse than what Tharin has already suggested. Ragin attempted to reassure her, but it was hard to do when he had lost all hope in getting out of their predicament alive, especially when, according to Akaysha, the riders were still hours away.

"That's right. Console each other why you can," Tharin laughed as he noticed the two looking at each other, "I want you to feel every shift, every move of dear Akaysha's mind. But, Ragin, I also want you to understand. I want you to understand everything I'm about to do."

Ragin turned his gaze to Tharin, trying to use his words to get them out of this situation, "Tharin please... if you let us go we'll do anything you want. We'll fix up the mansion. Destroy the riders... anything."

The man laughed, shanking his head and completely ignoring Ragin's offer, "Oh Ragin... Akaysha dear, shut him up will you."

Roots from the wooden column curled up and around Ragin's mouth, forcing him to be silent. He felt his dragon's silent apology as she obeyed their enemy's every whim. He sent her the reassurance that he didn't hold it against her. There wasn't much one could do when someone knew their true name.

"That's better. Now, where were we?" Tharin said, "Aah yes. You wanted to know how Akaysha got her magic, didn't you. Well, it started from an experiment of mine a good number of years ago. You see, I've always wondered... well, the ancient language is the language of truth right? You can't lie while speaking it, directly anyway, and every noun in the language is not just a word but also directly related to the thing it describes? Like, brisingr is fire and fire is brisingr, and all that. But the thing I've always wondered is, what if that were to change."

Ragin frowned, wondering what he was getting at.

"I see you're confused. Let me give an example. Say someone changed the word for fire from brisingr to... adurna lets say. Now, adurna is the word for water as you know, but if someone changed it to be the word for fire what would happen. Would the meaning of the word simply change, or would fire change with the word?" Tharin grinned as he saw Ragin's eyes widen at the idea, "Of course, changing all the fire in the world to water would be way too difficult. Can you imagine the amount of energy that would require! It would be impossible. So instead I started small. I'm sure you know about the way elves sometimes change their features to certain things. Yes, of course you do. I began to experiment with that, and through that I discovered something very interesting. As long as you know the true name of something, it is possible to change it to something else. For example, well lets use Akaysha. Within every dragon there is a kind of gate that, with enough stress from a certain source will allow them to use wild magic. The name of this gate in the ancient language is Vlexpra. Knowing this I managed to change the Vlexpra within Akaysha to a ladrin Vlexpra. Now that its true name has 'open' as part of its meaning, Akaysha no longer has to experience the stress required to use it. It does require a rather complex spell, which you will see soon enough."

Ragin's face darkened in thought, though he was still confused at what Tharin was trying to get at.

Tharin gave the rider a dark grin, "Oh Ragin, I thought it would be simple for you to understand. You see, as long as something has a true name... and you have knowledge of that name... you are able to change it... however you will."

As understanding dawned on him he gave Akaysha a fearful glance. A snarling hiss left her mouth as she caught onto his thoughts, her fear increasing a hundred fold as they began to understand the implications behind Tharin's words. They both watched as the man walked away, picking up something from behind his throne. Ragin quickly recognised the bag as the one that had housed the egg he had left with Tharin. They watched, confused, as he pulled out the turquoise coloured dragon egg from the bag, and walked back over to them, placing it on the ground.

"This is what you came for right?" Tharin said with a smirk, "Well, I don't really need it anymore. You, Ragin, have given me a full grown dragon after all. So instead, Akaysha, would you get rid of it please? Destroy it for me."

Both the dragon and rider looked at each other in confusion. After all the effort Tharin had gone into in order to retrieve the egg... now he just wanted it gone. Akaysha let out a whimper. She had really wanted to retrieve that egg, not only to save the hatchling inside but to also return it to its mother and hopefully restore some of Ragin's honour. It was the only thing that would be able to get him back.

"Destroy it," Tharin ordered harshly, this time using Akaysha's true name.

Unable to disobey, the dragon let out a mournful keen. A pulse of dragon magic left her and the shell of the egg shattered into a thousand pieces, the shards flying everywhere. Left in the middle was the small, frail body of a hatchling dragon. It lay unmoving on the ground, seeming startled at the forceful destruction of its home. Its turquoise scales were dull, and its head was far too big for the rest of its body. But it was alive, and it blinked, letting out a warbling trill as it gazed around at the far large world around it. It didn't get much of a chance to do anything else as Tharin walked over to the baby and stamped his foot on its head, crushing the hatchlings skull.

Ragin gritted his teeth and Akaysha snarled angrily, but neither were able to do anything against the brutal murder of the baby dragon. Ragin could feel the guilt rush through Akaysha. He could feel her blaming herself, despite not having any control. His stomach turned at the sight as Tharin laughed again, turning toward Akaysha.

"Now my dear, let's make you into what I want you to be," Tharin told the dragon, using her true name once more, "But I will need you to lend me your energy. This is quite a taxing spell after all."

Akaysha grudgingly opened herself up to the man, a flood of energy moving into him. He let out a satisfied sigh, closing his eyes and relishing the power of the dragon as it flooded through him. Seeming to reach an epiphany, he spread out his arms he began to chant, flooding himself with the ancient language, letting the song of the spell take hold. Akaysha flinched as Tharin weaved her true name into the song, encasing it with magic as he began to use her own power to help cast the spell.

With every word he spoke Ragin's fear grew. He couldn't understand the entirety of the spell, but what he did caused goose bumps to rise in his skin and his body to run cold with terror. It was a spell of forbidden magic, one that violated the very essence of the one it was turned on. It was designed to twist, prod and take apart, piercing the soul like a lance in someone's heart. It spoke of change, forceful and horrific, a change that would break the person apart and put them back together as something entirely different.

Akaysha began to shiver as the magic dug into her. Ragin felt the magic seeping through her soul like a parasite. It was like she was being pulled from her own body. She hissed, lowering her head and closing her eyes as she tried to fight the spell, but to go against her own self was impossible. Every time Tharin spoke her true name it was like her soul cracked, causing very real physical pain to break through her. She suddenly screeched, the noise sounding less like a dragon and more like a mythical banshee, the sound echoing fearfully through the rain and wind.

The next time Tharin spoke her true name it was different. The difference was slight, but large enough that Ragin felt tears spring to his eyes. He felt the change as though it were a sword in his side, for the fundamental change made to Akaysha's soul was that she no longer loved her rider. That part of her had been ripped out and tossed aside like mouldy bread. And he could feel it. He could feel that all the love she had for him, all the care and concern, the aspect of her that couldn't imagine life without him was gone. It was as though she had never loved him in the first place.

But Tharin didn't stop there, continuing to chant the spell without failure, weaving in her new true name as he did, using it to both control her and as the centrepiece for the continuation of the spell. The next piece Tharin removed from her soul was her love for flying, which cascaded into her like a brick, causing her to scream to the sky once again, her entire body shuddering and her thoughts falling to pieces. Ragin cried out with her, struggling against his bonds to try and free himself. But they were too strong, and he hadn't the energy to call upon magic to help him.

Slowly Tharin continued, ripping in and tossing out each part of her soul like removing rotting fruit. Every piece of her he removed, both negative and positive, forced her to cry out in agony, Ragin experiencing every moment of it. He had never been in so much pain. Tears fell from his eyes only to be washed away by the rain, his throat raw from screaming into the gag. He tried to reach out to Tharin with his mind and beg him to stop, but he couldn't focus on that as every moment he felt the connection between Akaysha and him pulse in all new torment.

Still Tharin didn't stop. He got rid of her longing to be accepted, her love of being a dragon, her joy found with her rider, her very appreciation for the bond of rider and dragon. He got rid of it all until all that was left was her pride in the magic she held so close to her, and her pride that she was the most powerful dragon in the world. Then his words seemed to switch course, as instead of taking away her soul he began to add new pieces into it. By this point she was exhausted, and only groaned as she began to be changed yet again.

Ragin thought the worst of the pain was over, his dragon already stripped bare of anything that made her his, even if they still had the rider bond, but he was wrong. The first thing Tharin forced into his creation was such a deep seated hatred for anything living that it became a black cloud in Ragin's conscious, forcing him to unwillingly distance himself from the dragon, or at least as much as he could. The next thing Tharin began to weave into her was an undying loyalty to him, a loyalty that forced her to obey his every whim and command, no matter the consequences. That was quickly followed by Tharin adding a special hatred for Ragin in particular, so that as much as she had loved him before, she hated him now. That was followed by a bloodlust so strong that it was as if killing was more important to her than eating and sleeping. Then it was a love for causing misery and pain to anyone that was not Tharin. Then it was a desire to see the entire world washed in her dragon fire, burning as the forest did around them.

Only then did Tharin release the spell, leaving the dragon as a twisted horror of what she once was. Ragin's head hung in defeat, sobs racking his body as he felt the dragon turn her gaze upon him. It was like she seared him from head to foot with just his gaze. His bindings suddenly tightened to a painful amount, another branch sprouting from the pillar and wrapping around his throat. It pulled his head back, forcing him to look at the dragon. He blinked, fear sparking in him as he realised she had moved right up to him, her snarling maw inches from his face.

'Akaysha...' he said weakly to her, 'Please hear me.'

'You will die,' her voice sounded exactly the same, but the amount of hatred and emotion packed into that single line caused more tears than he had to give. It was like all the love he tried to send her was only drowned out by a storm of hatred so strong and powerful that it swallowed him.

"Be careful my dear Akaysha. Unfortunately I do not know how to severe the riders bond. If you kill him you will also die," Tharin told her.

The dragon swung her murderous gaze toward Mr. Foeswarn, but instead of attacking him she simply bowed her head in reverence.

'Master, Eragon knows how to severe the bond. If we go there can I be separated from this uselessness?' she asked, allowing both to hear.

"Of course my dear," Tharin told her, "But there is something I wish you to do first, dautr abr dauthi', my daughter of death. First, you shall burn Alageasia to the ground."

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Hey guys! New chapter! This took a little longer than I expected as I had much more to do than I thought I would... but that chapter was an intense and difficult one to write. It was longer than I expected it to be, and it was a little painful to write in all honesty. As much as I love making my characters suffer this was almost too much. Either way... I hope you enjoyed? Comment what you thought and what you think will happen next. The next chapter will be out pretty soon probably. See Ya!

Pennator^^