Brandon and Jaina sat in silence in the living room, as Brandon looked longingly at the blank television screen before him. Just a few minutes before, he had sat back on the couch, one arm behind his head and flicked on the TV, knowing he had a full day and a half to relax in his own house. Unfortunately, he hadn't anticipated the shouts of confusion and surprise from Jaina. Even after she had quieted down, the constant circling she was doing around the TV was, to be honest, a bit distracting, so he turned it off.

"So, you really think we'll arrive in Igladia in the past?" Jaina had been uneasy about the whole idea from the moment Brandon had suggested it.

"Yep, except it won't be the past there. It will be the present." He was confident this time.

Jaina sighed, "I hope it works. Everyone must be so frantic there. Or..." She paused in thought, "have we even disappeared yet?"

Brandon thought about it too. "Well, you see, the moment that Senny caught me on fire..." He stopped mid sentence, a funny look coming over his face. "Hey!" He exclaimed, causing Jaina to jump in surprise. "Senny caught me on fire! What the hell was that about?"

Jaina looked thoughtful. "Hrmm, I hadn't thought of that in all the confusion. Quite unusual."

"Unusual?" Brandon exploded. "The commander of the king's army caught me, the king, on fire, and you think it's unusual?"

Jaina shrugged in response. "You can't trust the quiet ones."

Brandon got up from the couch and began pacing the floor. "What can this mean?" He scratched his head and continued talking to himself, "Why would Senny attack us?" He made his way into the kitchen and hopped up onto the countertop, where he did his best thinking.

Suddenly, there was a squeal from Jaina in the living room, followed by an "Arrrghhh!" from Brandon in the Kitchen, finished with a loud fwump!

The air was thick with dust. Brandon was on the floor, wincing from the pain in his backside. He began coughing and spluttering, and tried to see through the clouded air. "Jaina?" He coughed out.

"Brandon?" She called back through the dust. Brandon couldn't help but feel a little warm from hearing Jaina call him Brandon, rather than Tassian or Your Highness.

"My King?" Came a third and startled voice. All three fell silent.

Then, said meekly from the floor, "Yes?"

"Good gracious! Your Royal Highness!" Through the choked air came the image of Alistair; his hand plunged down and grabbed ahold of Brandon, pulling him upwards.

"Alistair! What are you doing here?" Brandon exclaimed, as he tried dusting himself off.

"I beg your pardon, Sire? The better question is, what in the name of dragon's eyes has happened?"

Finally, Alistair pulled him from the dust cloud and into the clear air in the hall. He looked around; he was back in the castle.

"We're back! Jaina, we're back!" He called back into the room that, previously, contained his four-poster bed. Jaina emerged, ash-covered and gray. "But we came back early! No, wait, we came back late!"

Alistair gave them both a bewildered expression.

Brandon tried to explain. "We're early on earth, but here, we're late. We should be two days in the past." He glanced at his watch to confirm his story but the face was smashed, the hands no longer moving. "...Unless? Unless it wasn't the Wednesday before the Thursday that I left. It must have been..." Brandon squinted his eyes in frantic thought. "It must have been the Wednesday before the Wednesday before the Thursday that I left! Maybe...? Anyway, we're back! And Senny caught me on fire!"

Alistair was at a loss for words. He couldn't decipher the nonsense spewing from his King's mouth in the least. He hurriedly lead them both to the small conference room, where Roary was waiting.

"Sit, sit." Alistair poured them both a goblet of wine and began his recount of the story. "I was on my way to your room, to catch up with Jaina, after she had left with Senny. I thought we could talk through our next moves, when I heard quite a commotion from down the hall. There was a great roar of flames, a shriek and then, nothing. By the time I reached the room, there was nothing but a great heap of ashes in the centre of it. Next thing I know, the ash is all stirred up, I can't see a thing and, well, here you are!"

Brandon stared in confusion. Well, now his time theory made no sense at all. According to Alistair, they were gone only a moment in Igladia but hours on Earth. Perhaps it was a magical property of Igladia that just couldn't be reasoned or explained in words, Brandon thought to himself.

"You say Senny did this to you?" Alistair continued, eyes wide. "Are you absolutely sure?"

Finally, Jaina spoke up, "Yes, it was Senny. But he was acting strangely."

"Well, I should say he was!" Alistair added.

Now that the excitement had settled a little, Brandon went back to the matter at hand. "Well then, we'll need to find Senny, of course; find out what's going on, but, in the meantime, what kind of progress has Tiffy and the Mightford's made on the potion?"

RATE THIS CHAPTER!

Author guidance for This story

The only thing to keep in mind with this one is the idea that the story should be able to end exactly as I've laid out in the first branch.

Everything that happens inbetween is completely up for grabs, so go wild!

As for length, it's hard to say how long it should be, as length will depend heavily on the events that take place and the various obstacles that must be taken care of before the end can be reached.

Potential Spoilers beyond this point : )

CHARACTERS
Brandon/King Tassian III - Our lovable protagonist who has found himself in somewhat of a strange situation.
Alistair Monk - Brandon's faithful advisor
Roary the dog - The friendly companion of Alistair, who can, incidentally, talk.
Tiffy - seamstress, court magician and a 'young' lady of the keep
Jaina - court physician and another lady of the keep, also a little fed up with Brandon for all this coming and going he seems to do in Igladia
Senny Grandon - Son of Robik Grandon, Chief Officer in command and head of the King's royal army and fleet.
Clover the dragon - the only dragon in Igladia that has not been greatly affected by the Ruby River.
King Kewn Guire - the enemy who happens to be waging a war in Igladia against King Tassian.
Lance & Chris Mightford - young brothers of Igladia who have their own ideas about how to solve the dragon crisis.
Tall, Dark, Hooded Man - Not sure what he's up to yet, but nothing good, we're sure.
Orange Dragon - no other information yet, other than he/she exists : )

SETTING
The Land of Igladia, in an unspecified time. (And Earth, briefly; present day)

PLOT (So far)
There is trouble in Igladia! Kind Tassian has returned to his homeland, looking much younger (and also wider), and is needed to save the Land from its troubles. All the dragons of Igladia have been warped of mind and sensibilities due to being tricked into drinking from the Ruby River. They are now being controlled and used as a means to take over the Kingdom.
Chris and Lance just might have a solution, but they still need a plan. What will Brandon do?

ADDENDUM
Want to listen to The Story that Ends?
One of the contributers to this story, our very own Fogcat, has recorded some of it.

You can have a listen here:
http://fogcat.podbean.com/

Enjoy!

updated Jul 4 '09 by Jillian