The city in the sky was awaking for yet another day. The smell of fresh-baked bread mixed itself with the odour of progress evaporating from the chimneys of the industrial belt of Scamall. The Mistbelt, the district where the most common purists were living, was not protected from the intoxicating smog caused by fabrics. A clear throat free of dust containing unknown remains would cost the average citizen an enormous sum or a career in the right places. For those working in places, where clean air is not mandatory but essential, the inner sanctum was the place to be, protected by a gigantic glass dome providing perfectly filtered air for its citizen. Dross made a mistake the evening earlier to open the window over Raja's bed: his awakening provided immediately the docket. The progressive heavy air, that was only an issue in the morning hours, when a downwards draft pressed the smog through every opening possible, undulated through the open window falling directly into Dross' sleeping face. The feeling of a cold, gloved hand hindering him from breathing changed Dross' neutral dream into that of a nightmare he sought to escape as quickly as possible. Hitting against the air he fought against the blanket and sat up in the bed breathing heavily. Dross needed a moment to make out where exactly he was as the memories of the past day were flooding back in. Mumbling and grumbling he scolded himself harshly:

"You were only 20 years absent from your hometown and already forgot Rule 1 of the Mistbelt? Shame on you Dross, shame on you."

He closed silently the window and stood up from the bed that was now in dire need of clean-up. With a wrinkle of his nose, he removed his focus from his resting place, stretching his arms and legs in a morning fashion. While loosening up his shoulders, he peeked around the room searching for his dear host. He found her not soon after napping on the fluffy carpet covered with a blanket. Dross sighed feeling bad about the fact, that he currently was occupying her only bed, this had to change immediately. It was going against his principles to take advantage of a lady, even if it was in that particular case, not his fault. Deciding to make her a surprise as a small token of thankfulness he decided to cook coffee for the both of them . . . and take out the now polluted sheets. Quickly taking care of that and preparing the coffee in the kitchen Dross picked up his diary from the shelf and sat down on the kitchen chair. He wanted to quickly write down all that what was happening on the last day . . .or was it days? Flipping the pages to the most recent entries Dross suddenly felt something small, which was apparently stuck between the pages. That was not there the last time he had written his most recent entry. With second doubts he turned the page to his final entry just to find . . .another entry? This entry was written in a font that was not his own: crude yet elegant. And written with dark red ink. Dross suddenly felt cold again, his legs were shaking. That was not ink, the letters were written with . . .with blood! His blood? He was sure, that he was the only person down in the sunken city . . .or not? That was the doing of a person unlike his own and he was sure it wasn't the work of his host. But there was still something behind the text, a medium-sized coin or something of that size. Dross turned the page.

The smell of fresh coffee was wrapping itself around Raja's tiny nose. She instantly opened her eyes, threw the sheet from herself and jumped up from lying on her back without using her hands. She was happy thinking back about the past day. Her paragon woke finally up after five days of waiting, told her a thrilling story about his journey and then shared his feelings with her allowing her to snuggle with him all evening even after he had calmed down. She was a little bit embarrassed by herself about her lack of tact slightly taking advantage of her guests weakened state, but she was at least able to hold herself back from more. Would have been easy yesterday to steal a k- no! It was fun while it lasted, but now she had to go back to give Mister Dross the respect he deserved. He was, after all, a much more powerful and wise individual than she was. Following the veil of good smell in the kitchen he met up with Dross, who was sitting at the table inspecting closely a pendant of some sort . . .or more holding it against the light without any intention of changing position. Strange behaviour, that's for sure, but maybe with a reason attached. She snuck past him, taking an already readied coffee from the small kitchen corner sipping it carefully:

"Excuse me, Mister Dross?", the panther jolted up upon hearing his name.

Wha? - ", realising it was Raja his fur straightened again, "Oh, pardon. It's you. I - I was in thoughts and forgot to wake you up after finishing the coffee. How was the night Raja?"

"Lovely, I bought that carpet solely for exactly that situation.", Raja changed her focus again on the pendant, trying to make out what it was: "You are holding something interesting there, Mister Dross. What is it?", her eyes lightened up, "It is a relic of the past you found in Sepernius? You have to tell me everything about it. When - Where - Wh -"

"No idea!"

"What do you mean with 'No idea'?", Raja was confused, "It is from you . . .or not?"

Dross laid the pendant down on the table and took a huge sip from his coffee before answering. A veil of confusion was drifting across his face:

"It is from my Journal. Was stuck between two pages full of writing I haven't written. So yeah, it originates from Sepernius . . .or a place I visited in the black area of my memories. And this amulet is strange. Made out of a material I have never seen before."

He slid the Journal over to Raja's side of the table. She took it carefully as if it was a relic itself holding it aloft only with her fingertips. Questioning she looked over to Dross:

"I wasn't able to bring myself to read it. I am honest, I am afraid of what the message has to say. What happened in my mental absence? So please.", he focused her with his captivating citrin eyes, "Can you read it for me?"

Raja couldn't help herself but comply with his calling for assistance. She had a weakness for men who don't act all high and perfect all the time. She turned to the last pages and immediately knew why Dross was afraid. It was written with blood. Splatters of dried up dripping blood were revealing that quite clearly. And there were scratch marks as well . . .she looked closer inspecting the markings. Could be from a claw of the size of Dross'. Quite dubious. She cleared her throat:

"Let me see . . . Convenient, it is written in the elven tongue. Question: Are you able to read or write Elvish, Dross?"

"I can read it, yes, but never came around learning to write it.", he curled his whiskers, "So, what does it say?"

"It says . . . god is that an outdated dictionary the author was using. One moment, please. I understand. There we go! Ehem. When you are reading this, young panther, you will already be back in Scamall, where the other piece of me got hidden away. I hope you had a good journey as my powers are currently not that what they once were. But enough chit-chat. I, Chóros, need your assistance in setting things right -", Raja interrupts herself, "Chóros, as in one of the two moons orbiting Prius? Chóros and Aetas? What the? -"

"What a strange message. That means I returned to Scamall because of the help of an unknown being, named Chóros . . .is that the same being, whose voice I heard in my dreams the day before . . .who said something about that his gift was getting moved away from me.", Dross looked at the pendant again, "Raja? Please continue."

"Sure, Mister Dross. Ehem. I am unsure how long I am now down here, maybe a year, maybe ten, maybe thousand or more. But I do know, that one we can trust is still around. Please bring this pendant to an individual who is called Terminus. He will know what this "Piece of Heaven" means and what to do with it and further with you. I felt in our brief time of connection that my nephew is quite important to you. So please, tell him and only him where you found me. I am counting on you, Dross Hegraven! End of message."

Raja was collapsing slightly, seemingly trying to hurl the meaning of all those words, but especially one word: nephew. She knew that the Eternals were mortals, who turned themself through an, for everyone but them, unknown technique into immortal beings. But again, nephew!? Does that mean, that the person, who had written that sentence was already alive over 5000 years ago!? She looked helplessly over to Dross, who was still swaying the Piece of Heaven on his paw. With a shadowed face, he looked over to the door and then to Raja:

"It seems that my goal to bring my lifework to Terminus just got updated with an additional question. Raja, you don't have to go with me to question our god, but I would love to know you at my side. As strange as it sounds, but I am barely able to hear the pendant silently calling out Terminus' name.", Dross stands up determined to leave, "Thanks for the hospitality and for nurturing me back to -"

He got interrupted by Raja covering up his mouth with her Hands. With stars in her eyes, she looked up to his saying:

"No farewells, friendo! I am hooked! I will be damned if you should be able to remove my company until this is concluded. Can I?"

"With pleasure.", Dross grabbed softly the hands resting on his cheeks, holding both with his paws, "Let us both search for answers!"