~*~

"How are you doing? What can you see?" came Matthew's voice through the speaker embedded in Breylyn's ear, the sound scratchy and almost unreadable.

She sighed, answering, "Not much of anything…would you at least give me a few minutes to actually see something before you panic?" She was clearly irriated, and Matthew could sense that even through the intercom.

"All right…just give me a signal if it gets to be too much for you."

Breylyn didn't bother to answer; she simply switched the off switch on the speaker. All that she could see was a barren wasteland, with some sort of odd-shaped rocks protruding from the ground. She began to walk, the sand crunching beneath her heavy boots, and her eyes scanned the area for signs of anything other than desolate landscape.

Suddenly, a bit of movement caught her attention, and she turned only to face…something. The creature before her was covered in shining emerald scales, with a pair of slender horns peering out from beneath its crown of crimson hair. "What do you want?" it asked coldly, its onyx eyes deadened beyond recognition.

Breylyn wasn't frightened in the slightest; instead she merely smirked at the sight of it. "Does it matter? I came to help you…" she said easily, knowing by the mere sight of it who this was.

"I don't want your help! Your kind are all the same!" the creature thundered angrily and so loudly its voice shook, but she could see that it was beginning to shrink.

"You haven't spoken to me yet…how would you know if I can't help you?" Breylyn asked, crouching beside the creature as it began to take human shape once again. The form of a naked man curled into a fetal position appeared before her, and she forced her fact to soften when he looked up.

"What did you come for?" he asked her, his voice sounding childlike and lost. Breylyn had to force herself not to laugh, but instead reinstated her concentration to get this over with and get out of here.

"I came here to talk to you…about Sarah," she said calmly, gingerly reaching out a hand to delicately touch his shoulder. He want rigid for a moment, but soon he managed to relax enough to respond.

"What about her?"

"I need to know where you kept her…or where you buried her," she said quietly. She knew she had to keep her voice even or she would never get the information she needed.

"I-I don't know if I can remember where she is…" he stammered, his eyes sincere and scared as he closed them and began to shake violently.

She let out a sigh of frustration, and asked again, "I need to know…it's important that I do. You could redeem yourself if you tell me what happened to her." A wave of disgust washed over her, knowing that bargaining with this idiot was as low as she could go.

"I think that she may be in my basement…you have to understand that only he knows where she is," he replied when suddenly he began to quake even harder, as though something unpleasant had crossed his mind.

"What do you mean, he?" Breylyn asked confusedly, genuinely bewildered and not liking the emotion at all, trying to keep her expression even. All at once the man began to scream and convulse more violently than before and she quickly scrambled to her feet to avoid being hit. "Gerad? Are you okay?" she asked quietly when he stopped, leaning down to rub his shoulder.

The creature again reared its head, knocking her to the ground and pinning her with its heavy body. "You want to know where Sarah lies?" it asked in a lilting mock, leaning down and rubbing its face across hers as a lover would. Breylyn felt the bile rise in her throat, desperately trying to buck the creature from her, but it was much too powerful. "You will find her where I left her…in the place where birds refuse to fly and men dare not tread for fear of burning death…in the place where the Phoenix dwells," it said finally, laughing in triumph before adding quickly, "And do not ask the weakling for things he doesn't know…you will poison his mind from my influence…"

Breylyn did not hesitate before pushing the button at her side, and in a vortex of swirling colors she left the world behind and found herself lying on the lab table, sweating and trembling.

~*~