A low rumble got the fated duo awake. Therony doom-riddled face had to make due without Pepsi this start to the day.

"Come on Therony." Tesh called out as she hurried to the front seat. Her taller friend robotically rose and made his way to his seat. The gems which enclosed them in a designated pit stop now showed the path. She took a quick glance back and saw his aura remained that silver hue. Until he got his wits about him, she had to drive across unknown lands.

They were the last to reach the checkpoint but next to last to leave. They blazed past the motorcycle the other bard team rode. The warrior shot a cold stare at the still sleeping sable dragoness in the sidecar. The doctor on that team was up and starting up their vehicle.

The teams rushed into a series of wooded roads and flat grassy plains and because of this those at the back had the chance to close ranks. Their hot rod, one of the faster in the race, slowly reeled in the leaders one by one. They breezed up to third and only finding the King of Baron and another team a car length ahead.

Therony, where are we? She paused, their mindlink felt a bit different.

"We are in the elven lands, after the war with the Shadow Dragons a brief time of civil unrest settled here. It was the Nytefyres that managed to stop the trouble and gain control." Therony blinked, the sleep state steadily vanishing. He didn't realize how that answer came to light. Truthfully, the Guardian knew about the heads of that household only, in which he called the elfy pair. The warrior however, could not ask why she heard him clearly over the much louder volume of the race cars as if they ran silent. Her mind focused on the immediate quick turns that shot up out of nowhere.

They blew into along a coastal road, tearing up sands and water sprays in every direction. She knew something was up when the upturned grit and water splatter flowed around the hot rod instead of directly at them. "What's going on here?"

"A shield of air, use your other vision." He barely looked up.

The transition from her natural sight to one of his borrowed traits was flawless; the silver aura gathered the wind generated and worked like a constant draft, like they permanently remained behind another racer. Every spray which struck it and sailed straight back over a wide dome. That coupled with their already speedy machine enabled them to take the lead. A position they held as they crossed the next few checkpoints through the heart of the elvish lands.

"Think you can take over for a bit?"
"Yes."

The warrior easily could maintain control, but something didn't sit right with this situation at all. That something happened to be her friend in the back seat. She watched him best as she could from her spot. His eyes appeared glazed, despondent but Therony handled the car without trouble. Her aura vision saw no change either. It extended from him and enveloped their racer with ease, even as they broke from the established roads and headed toward the open waters.

Queen Vaughnen decided on something special for this years race. There was one really established road that ventured across the landscape and while most of the previous races kept close to this linking line, few places on the magical plane never saw this spectacle. Instead of heading into the mountain terrain bridging the eastern lands of the wise ancients to the western territories of the peaceful mountain dwellers, she took the race northward toward open seas.

The silver gasped, there was no way even their scientific machine could float on water, but that was where the next series of markers ran. Therony didn't show any worry at all and only gunned it towards the indicated path. "Are you sure about this?"
"Yes, Vaughnen would not place anyone in direct danger. The race course must have enchantments on it."
She didn't mind the water but was concerned about him and his dislike. As the hot rod completely left the sandy road onto its aquatic counter part Tesh expected something from him.

Nothing. He slowed their frantic pace down, his aura receding back no different than the tide underneath their wheels. She saw a series of rainbow lights the aerial gems crafted as they moved. A quick peek downward revealed large stones as well, making sure the road existed. Water shot up over the barrier and struck against their car and his face.

Rawr!?! Pocketshark's questioning features peeked out of the Guardian's pocket. A bountiful ocean was under their rubber and he wanted in. Arrrr aw rarr?

"I know you can keep up but I'm not sure..."
"Let him." Therony's neutral voice spoke up. "If all else fails I'll return him by a portal." His mind immediately got the picture of Pocketshark sent to a volcano with a kid's scribbling of the word sun next to it, complete with the backward s. The shark worried if Therony would transport him somewhere else instead back to them. "I would not do that now. I'm not mad at you."

If Tesh was currently drinking instead of staring her drink would sail out of her open mouth. Did her friend just say something nice about her pet? "Okay that's it... stop the car."

Therony and Pocket shark, the former just as shocked, looked to her.
"But the race..."

"Stop the car now!" The warrior did a great impression of her adoptive mother...

The hot rod skidded to dead stop in the middle of the road, thankfully a straightaway, and both dragons climbed out. Pocketshark had one big eye out at the border of Therony's pants pocket.
Tesh pointed to the sea. "Get in the water."

Both of them marched but, Tesh latched onto Therony's arm. "Not you!" His fishy nemesis didn't stop and dove into the water. He circled around, below the light racetrack they stood on.

"What's going on!" Tesh growled out of concern. Her ice blue eyes darkened.
"Nothing." He shrugged. "You said to stop."

"Therony. What did she do to you?"

In the middle of a speed race, arguing in the center of the track by far the worse place to do so, allowed their competitors to close the distance.
"Who did what?"

She noticed none of the usual quirks that made her laugh in him. The many nicknames of her standard ones. The vibrant body language he usually had... it was like when they were at his home again and he lost his flute. He just gotten some semblance of himself again from that. "That Twinie, what did she do to you?"
They dropped back to third.

"She did nothing to me. She would do nothing detrimental willingly."
Two more cars pushed by them, one of them being Baron's royal brothers.

"Therony, you talked to her last night and since then acted differently. Can't you see your aura is different too?"

He looked at his arms, then shook his head finding nothing amiss. "It looks the same to me." By far it did not appear that way to the warrior, but he saw this color before. The shadow elder, Amabai, revealed it to them. It's meaning of the curse and other things in between...

Another car zoomed on by. It meant the soul twin and the bard doctor currently held the now established last place.
"Therony... are you sure?"

"Yes. We need to hurry." He hurried back inside the hot rod and started the cooled engine.
Tesh watched his movements and wasn't sure as he was. Her friend was off more by than his usual norm. She climbed into the seat and he gunned it.

The accused saboteur watched from afar, Twinie, shook her head.
"Are you concerned about the race or him?" Cade asked, the current driver looked out to the sea instead of the road.

"He is different. I feel it. I'm certain she did also. What caused it? T was fine last night... let's hurry. I have a bad feeling about this."

Cade nodded, and hit the throttle. "Let me ask you something Unspoken. Is that feeling about him or the other bards?"

"I'm not sure..."