Morning came swiftly, and Tristan made sure to be up before the sun got too high overhead. Using his combination of Wing Glide and Dragon Leap, he was able to traverse the mountainous landscape with ease, and the regal, skyline-dominating destination he was going towards loomed over the horizon. Felicity had used Alter Form on him as soon as they landed, just in case someone came by them – though that was unlikely given how high and out of the way they were from the road. Pausing on a ledge of a cliff, he took in the picturesque sight before him while his essence regenerated.

A whole cluster of mountains had been seemingly cut off at the top. In the place of the rocky promontories were high castle walls, that were made of the same stone as the surrounding mountains, shaped into large blocks. Turreted towers ran the length of the walls, and in the center was an even taller peak, which had huge bridges held up by titanic, metal chains connecting it to the outer wall. And, the chains disappeared deeper down, implying that there were more structures lower down in between the mountains chosen for the massive fortification.

That highest tower pierced the skies and vanished into the heavens. Even Tristan's amazing Elvish sight was unable to see the top, and he wondered if it was some trick or illusion to demonstrate power, as he had heard of nothing so ridiculous in construction in his life.

Felicity was tapping her paws on the ground, looking at the distant fortress of the Parslile Demon House. "It is so big! I bet there are a ton of neat things to steal in there!"

"I wouldn't risk sending you in," Tristan said as he scratched her head, seated on the ground beside her. "They are essence-weavers, and for all we know, they have people with crucibles who are on standby with some type of sensing spells to find or detect intruders. Just give me a little to use Locate, and we'll find Eloise."

She sighed and shifted to her Elfanoid form, snuggling up next to him as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder. The sun began to rise in front of them, outlining the castle in a radiant glow, which also revealed the true height of the central tower, as Tristan's suspicions about it being illusory were confirmed. The rays of the sun pierced through the heights, and whilst still a huge construction, it did not vanish into the skies. "It's pretty," Felicity said.

Tristan nodded in agreement. The whole scene was like something out of a storybook his mother would read him when he was a child. The fantastical castle built upon the mountains, filled with dragons and a princess to save. He smiled a bit, knowing that he was going to be rescuing a woman from the castle, and that in some ways, he was already a storybook hero. "I wonder if they'll write stories about me," Tristan pondered aloud.

"Who will?" Felicity asked.

"Whoever writes stories," Tristan replied as he squeezed her ever-so-gently. "The mighty Tristan Winterbloom, last lord of the Fey Realm-"

"Don't forget your "dragon of the sea" title," Felicity added.

Tristan chuckled, "Right, I can't forget that. And yet, so many of my deeds are going to be lost to time because of the aliases I've used for safety."

Felicity put a hand on his hand and squeezed tightly. "You're going to be a historic figure one day," she said wistfully. "Definitely in the Fey Realm, maybe in other Realms. But who cares about being a hero from history when you're alive and still making history?"

Tristan chuckled, "Yeah, that's true. I just can't wait until I can do everything as who I am. Once these assassins are dealt with…and I can be me. Not Marius Lestrange, or Markus Anorox, or the half-breed Joseph."

Felicity smiled and ran her thumb along the edge of Tristan's gauntlet, "I like you as you. And your half-breed Bhant form isn't bad."

Tristan squeezed her hand gently, "I have enough essence, I'm going to Locate Eloise and her gear." Closing his eyes, he took a few deep breaths as he spun his crucible and poured the power into the amulet holding the Locate spell. Once more, Logos' eye opened in front of him in a black space.

"Ah, You are here once more," Logos said, the eye widening slightly.

"I need to know the location of Eloise Serre, my Citadel of Essence advisor," Tristan said.

Logos' eye narrowed, and the world around Tristan began to be painted in with broad strokes until he was looking into a large dungeon cell, somewhere deep underground, with massive chains that looked like they would keep someone far larger constrained. Eloise was chained to a staple in the floor, with plenty of room to move around the large space. But, she was laying on a tuft of rotten straw covered with a simple cloak.

Tristan averted his gaze from her, as she was stripped down to her skivvies and barely modest. "I've seen enough. Show me the way to her," Tristan said.

"You also sought her gear, I believe?" Logos asked.

"How'd you know- nevermind, you probably know everything I'm thinking while we're talking."

"Astute observation," Logos said with delight. "I will show you now. And you owe me the essence. Spin your crucible further, push the essence into the amulet upon your return to your body." The world once more fell to black, and Tristan saw the painted environment of some type of armory, or guard outpost, that was completely empty of people. But plenty of gear was stashed there; chests upon racks upon stands holding armor and weapons sized for Demons and even larger creatures. His eyes settled on one of the chests.

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"Thanks, Logos. I'll send you the essence once I'm out of here!" Tristan said with a slight wave goodbye.

Logos' eye closed, and Tristan found himself back in his body – standing up – and hands pointing in the same direction. At the citadel, but towards its center, about halfway down the mountain. He instinctively knew his right hand was pointing at Eloise, and his left was pointing at her gear. Spinning his crucible once more, he fed the essence into the artificed spell to pay Logos the essence for the information.

Felicity had stood up as well, "So?"

Tristan spoke, "Right hand is her, left hand is her gear." He lowered his hands and took a breath, gauging his remaining essence. "Let me fill up to full, and then I'll use Greater Invisibility, and fly over there. Once we hit the rock wall, you can transmute a passage for us. We'll go right to her cell and break her out, get her gear…and then look around and see what we can find."

Felicity cackled with glee and shifted into her fairy dragon form, doing a few small loops in the air. "I can't wait!"

Tristan's essence full, he spun his crucible and poured it into his dagger, using Greater Invisibility. Felicity was hanging onto his horns for dear life, and he used the combination of Dragon Leap and Wing Glide to speed over to the now-shrouded side of the mountain which veiled their approach even further. Rolling his shoulders forward to slow down, he stayed in place, slowly descending, right in front of the sheer rock wall.

Felicity put her paw-claws forward on the stone, and muttered a spell phrase in a language that Tristan wasn't familiar with. The rock shifted into sand in a perfect, five-foot-diameter circle, and Tristan pulled himself in before letting his spells fade. Felicity had hopped off his head and kept flying forward, and each time her paws touched the end of the tunnel, it elongated and sand pooled on the floor.

They stopped several times on their journey, and Tristan re-checked their direction with Locate while Felicity recovered in between bursts. But, after a good hour, they reached worked stone. Felicity frowned as she put her paws on it. "I…huh…it's not rock."

"What's that mean when it comes to spells?" Tristan asked.

She shook her head, "Most solids like rock are crystalline lattice in structure – some teeny, tiny piece of their…well, what it is." She rapped her knuckles on the worked stone, "This is…spiral? The teeny, tiny pieces of the substance are more complex. I can't transmute them. This is above my Order capability…for now." She said the last like she had a vendetta against the stone and would beat it no matter the cost.

Tristan frowned, "Well, what are our options, then? If you can't get through with transmutation, then I think all we have is smashing it down." He spun his crucible and pushed the essence into his Pocket Dimension II amulet. Reaching into the extradimensional pocket, he pulled out the Starmetal Maul, flipping it around to the pick side. Felicity got out of the way, flapping down the tunnel behind him, and Tristan glanced back at her. "Question. If I am under the effect of Greater Invisibility, will my strikes be silent?"

"Yup!" she replied. "But not the reverberations caused by your strikes. So if someone was really listening, they might hear the…aftershock."

Tristan nodded and pushed the still-circulating essence into his dagger, turning invisible. Raising the maul overhead, he found a problem. "Felicity, I need a taller tunnel." He looked back at her, and frowned. "Right, you can't hear me right now." Dropping the spell, he repeated his request, and she quickly flew up above him, altering the tunnel further to widen it and increase the height to give him room to swing. Waste of essence on my part, Tristan thought as he re-used Greater Invisibility, knowing he was at half of his maximum essence. Bringing the pick side of the hammer back, he slammed it forward into the stone.

Whump! The dull shockwave spread from the impact point, and he saw the stone begin to crack under the tip of the impact weapon. Swinging again and again, he could see the stone shifting inward, and after a solid minute of swinging, completely broke the center brick out. Flipping the maul to the flat end, he made the hole slightly bigger by slamming the surrounding bricks out of place.

When the hole was big enough, he put the maul away and drew his sword, crawling through and entering the dungeon. Felicity flew right behind him, and he spotted Eloise staring at the wall, holding a shard of some ancient, broken shackle. Tristan dropped the spell, and Eloise's shoulders sagged in relief.

Felicity flew over to her and her paw-claw shifted to a small set of picks – the nails elongating to a rake tool – as she removed the shackles with practiced ease, "How are you?" she asked Eloise as she dropped her innate invisibility.

Eloise rubbed her wrists, and then when felicity had freed her legs, her ankles. "I…I want to go home," she said with a slight whimper. She grabbed Felicity and hugged her to her chest, sobbing. "Th-thank y-you."

Felicity wriggled against her grip, and let out a gasp, "Your breasts are suffocating me!"

Tristan averted his gaze, "Umm…Felicity, you have spare strandvine garments in your storage, yes? Mind giving them to her?"

Felicity grumbled back to Tristan, "Once she lets me go!"

"Shh," Eloise said, her demeanor sharpening and reverting to a bit more of a business professional. "Too loud," she whispered.

Felicity opened her storage dimension and threw clothes at Eloise, "Here. Pants and a shirt." She flew back to Tristan and whispered, "She does have a lovely pair to squeeze. But don't get any ideas!"

Tristan whispered back to her, "I'm a one-woman man. Plus, she's over five-hundred years old! Too large of an age gap."

Felicity nodded in response. "Want me to scout?" she asked.

"No," Tristan replied as he walked over to the cell door. "But can you pick this?"

Felicity scrabbled down his arm and hung off his forearm, picking the lock with her paw-claws turned into thieves' tools. The lock let loose with a click, and the massive doors began to open with a loud squeak. But, she stopped pushing, and reached into her storage dimension once more, pulling out a small sack of oil-berries that she quickly applied to the hinges. Pushing it open, the cell door opened much quieter than before.

Eloise joined the two, "Good. My gear?"

Tristan pointed to his left, "Down there. In an equipment or storage room." He was about to head that direction, when an intimidating, massive roar echoed through the halls, putting him on high alert immediately.

Eloise shook in fear, "I…that's new," she whispered.

Felicity frowned, "Now I really want to investigate this place."

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