Hiro started looking through the glass cases, wondering where his father was.  There were so many!  He didn't know where they were, and it seemed Lady Moliira didn't know either, she said they weren't on Revaliir, meaning they were . . . somewhere else?  Not in the world he came from, so some other plane of existence?  Another planet?  It didn't really matter though, he wanted to find his father, free whatever creatures were here.  Hiro started smashing cases with the pommel of his blade, until he found one with what looked like a small, long bodied dog, a dachshund, which is a breed that originally developed for hunting badgers.  It's hair was long, but it also colored unusually, it was orange-reddish, with a weak aura of fire surrounding it.  Would have recognized that dog anywhere.  It was the only one he knew of.  It was a fire elemental dachshund, also known as a "Hot Dog."  It was HIS dog from the other world he came from.

"Oh Gods, Ember!  My baby!"  He smashed the glass to the cage, and ran inside.  Ember was just laying on the floor, appearing disheartened, depressed.  He hadn't had any attention, likely, in forever.  Hiro approached the dog.  "Ember, your brother's here!  It's Hiro!  Oh girl, what happened to you?  My good little girl!"  The hot dog turned its head weakly and wagged its tail.  He noticed it was also chained with a spiked collar to the ground.  Hiro quickly grabbed the collar, and removed it from his dog.  He pulled out a canteen of water, carefully giving her a good drink of water, then pulled out a bag that contained emergency, healing rations, a kind of bean or kibble-like food he carried around.  He held a couple of the rations in the palm of his hand, the dog, weakly looked at them, sniffed them, then gobbled them down.  Ember wagged her tail and started licking Hiro's face between cries of happiness and barks.  He scooped the dog up and held him in his arms.  "Oh Ember, I missed you too, girl!  I missed you so much!  How did you end up here?  Where's my father?  Can you help me find him?"   Ember followed Hiro out of the cage, and lead him toward another glass cage.

This cage was different from the others.  The ground under the cage was scorched black.  The cage itself was blackened with soot.  As if someone inside had tried to free themselves with intense flames many times.  There was a single soul sitting in this cage, wearing rags, facing away from Hiro and Ember.  Ember barked at the cage enthusiastically, scratching at it with her front feet, as if she was trying to get in.  The sign on the cage read, "Extremely Dangerous, Former Conclave, Fire Elemental, Phoenix-Tainted Homo Sapiens.  Specimen #00172 from World #DL0007"

Hiro knocked of the cage with the palm of his hand.  The figure turned toward them, the figure was almost unrecognizable, unshaven, with brown, red, and silver hair across his face.  But he had those intense glowing blue eyes.  The blue eyes he was familiar with, those these were wracked with intense sorrow.

"Dad!  Dad!  It's me!  Hiro!  Oh gods, I found you!  Let me get you out of there immediately!"  He started slamming against the cage with all his strength, using the pommel of his sword, but the cage wouldn't break.  He stood back and charged at the cage, slamming the blade of his sword against it with his full strength, but he was unable to break the cage, he merely bounced off, and the cage reverberated intensely with the energy he threw into it.  He then drew back his arm and unleashed a powerful wave of flame at the cage, but still the cage tanked everything he threw at it.

Hiro panted heavily, out of breath, it seemed his father had tried to escape many times, so they setup a reinforced cage that he could not break.  The cage itself seemed to have a glittery silver color, instead of the fully transparency of the others.  "Lady Moiira!  I found him!  We gotta open this!  It's fire-proof and shatter proof!"  The figure in the cage seemed cold and distant, looking away from the display of power Hiro used on the cage.

She heard Hiro smashing cases, and quickly found an old friend from what she could glean.  That was good, it meant they were on the right track.  Moliira kept searching, knowing there had to be some kind of master release mechanism in the cave.  She scanned the cells, curious as to what and who was kept in them.  But a question came to mind quickly.  Just who or what had put these entities here in the first place?  She heard the young man shouting again, she could tell he had found his father. 

Perhaps they would have to free everyone, one at a time.  But the Phoenix Knight she remembered would be a valuable ally, and he would not approve of those trapped here.  Hopefully the three of them could free everyone here.  "Stay back, Hiro.  I want to try something," she said, studying Sabishii's cell for a few moments.  The drow nodded to herself, she could tell what it was guarded against.  And what it was not.  Placing her palms flat against the glass, Moliira concentrated and dropped the temperature of the area as quickly as possible.  The frosted glass obscured the figure inside, and the drow drew one of her swords, a blade chased with frost.  Then she swung hard at the glass.

Surprisingly, there were no alarms when the glass shattered.  But the man inside only continued to stare at them dully, as if he had no idea just who was there to save him.  Moliira grinned, there was at least one was she knew to jar someone out of a stupor.  Grabbing Sabishii's arm, she hauled him out of the cage, then slapped him hard across the face twice.  "No time for moping, Phoenix Knight.  Your son is here, and there are people to help.  You coming?" the drow asked with amusement in her voice.

The man stared out through the blurry glass at a face that was trying to talk to him.  He banged at the glass, but he didn't seem to react.  He wondered if he was being pestered by some kid trying to spook him, as if he were some kind of zoo animal.  There was a barking noise, and the sound of voices could be heard, but he couldn't make out the voices.  They were muffled too much by the cage.  He stared at whoever was trying to break the cage, and looked away.  He didn't understand what was going on, the isolation dulled his emotions and senses.  What was his name?  They called him specimen #00172 from world #DL0007, or some crap like that.  Some weird creature visited him once and said he looked like a funny ape monster.

Suddenly, the glass cage shook and shattered with a blowing of cold air entered the cage.  Sabishii looked startled.  Was this a jail break?  Or was he going to be punished again?  if they caught him escaping, they'd beat him again.  They took most of his power, his magic every time he tried to escape, he eventually gave up, especially after all the beatings.  A dark figure entered the cage, they grabbed his arm, and started pulling.  What did they want with him?  He suddenly felt a hard blow across his face.  A woman talked to him, jogging memories from long ago.  He placed his hand on his face, which ached from the slap. 

"M-My son?"  He rubbed his eyes, suddenly things becoming clearer.  He was outside the cage.  He was outside the cage, and two people and an animal were staring at him.  He recognized them.  "Moliira?"  He turned to the boy that was now crying visibly.  The boy threw himself into his arms.

"Dad!  You're alive!  I was afraid I'd lost you!  It's been so long!"  Hiro looked up at him, tears running down his face.

"Hiro?!  You're alive?!  Thank the Gods you're alive!  I was afraid something terrible had happened to you!  They said you wouldn't have survived that fall!  They said you were dead!  Your mother . . . she's . . . somewhere else, I don't know.  But I've missed you so much!  I love you, son!  I almost didn't recognize you, you've grown so much!"  Sabishii could feel the tears flowing down his cheeks as he hugged his son tightly, for the first time in forever.  Ember jumped at his leg and barked happily.  Sabishii picked her up and hugged her too.  "I didn't forget about you either, Ember, you good girl."  After a good few moments of hugging, Sabishii pulled away and dried his tears.  "I'm sorry, thank you so much.  Hiro.  Moliira, you look well, thank you for bringing Hiro here and coming for me.  I'll ask for details about how you got here later.  I need a weapon.  They took mine a long time ago, I don't know if it's in the collection or what ever happened to it, but any sword will do for now."  Hiro reached into the air and channeled magic into his hand, summoning a spare broadsword and handing it to his father.

Sabishii drew the blade from it's sheath and studied it briefly.  "This'll do.  Thank you, son.  It'll do.  You've gotten stronger, and seem to have learned the art of item summoning.  Good job, son."  Sabishii stood tall and brandished his sword.  "Let's free these people, son!  There are people and creatures that've been here longer than I have!"  He started summoning his strength, flexing his muscles that hadn't been used in forever.  Mana that hadn't been channeled in a long time.  He summoned a flame to his hand experimentally.  He heard the stamping of many feet approaching the room they were in.  "I think they had a silent alarm attached to that cage I was in.  They got tired of me trying to break out so many times in the past, they made the alarm silent, and made the cage fire proof.  Guess they didn't expect ice magic to be used against it.  Hah!  We may have to take out whoever comes out from that doorway."  He threw the fireball at whoever stepped through the doorway, without even seeing who it was, or what they looked like.

She watched the reunion between father and son with a small smile on her face, though she listened more to their surroundings than the conversation.  The sound of boots was far off for now, so she let Sabishii and Hiro speak for a short time.  But Sabishii heard them before she could interupt, and the drow's face broke into a grin.  It had been awhile since she'd had a good fight, and there were plenty of foes.  It was just a matter of thinning them out a bit.  "I do not know that we would win against all those forces, but we should bring as many of your follow captives as we can back to Revaliir.  Hiro, head to the portal and guide the people we free to safety," Moliira said, quickly taking charge of the situation. 

Watching the fireball fly through the gloom to its target, Moliira grinned.  This would be fun.  "Sabishii, you make as much of a distraction as possible.  I wouldn't imagine you've lost your flare for destruction.  Is there a master release switch for the cells?" she asked quickly.  But before he could answer, green balls of energy were flying their way.  She grabbed the Phoenix Knight's shoulder and pulled him behind a cell next to his.  Peering around the edge of the cell, she could make out tall, armored forms bearing crossbow-like weapons.  They all looked the same, having humanoid features on their helms and cold glowing green eyes.  Oddly, their eyes matched the balls of energy that were again flying down through the cave.  "How much help will you need with them?" she asked, a mad glint in her eyes.

"But we just saved him, I should be the distrac–" started Hiro, but Sabishii looked at him with a serious look that turned into a smile.

"Son, don't you trust your father not to die after all this time?  I'll be fine, I promise, you're still a hero if you save all these people from long time of imprisonment,"  Hiro nodded, turning to guide all these people toward the portal.  He shepherded all the poor souls they had rescued toward the portal, throwing a few fireballs to cover their escape.

Sabishii looked at Moliira and grinned.  "Of course I haven't.  I'll keep them busy.  There's a panel against that far wall that has a master release rune for these cages.  It's like a big red glowing rune that screams 'do not touch.'  You'll be able to find it."  He narrowly managed to avoid being blasted by one of the guards as Moliira pulled him behind one of the cages.  The guards were large, armored creatures with glowing green eyes, armed with crossbow-like weapons firing green energy blasts.  Sabishii peaked from behind the cage, taking a look at the number of guards that were charging into the room.  They were not taking any cover.  They were cruel, but also stupid.  They thought their energy weapons and armor made them invincible, but they were fighting one really pissed off, armed and dangerous Phoenix Knight.

Sabishii jumped into the fray, setting guards ablaze with flashes of flames from his left hand.  He got close to one of the guards, smacking him in the face with the pommel of his sword, stunning his opponent, then slicing through his stomach with his broadsword.  The enemies turned to shoot their weapons at him, but Sabishii quickly phased out of the way, disappearing from their sight, reappearing behind one of the guards, holding the broadsword to his throat with one hand, and taking his other hand to his weapon, using the brute as a "human" shield, while simultaneously aiming the guard's weapon at his comrades and blasting them with green energy bolts, sending them flying.  He slit the throat the guard that he was using as a shield the moment his weapon ran out of ammo, then tossed the guard's body at another guard.  Hopefully Moliira and Hiro were going to be able to free as many captives as possible, before the guards became too numerous for him to handle.

She almost corrected the younger Kouen, but Sabishii answered before she could.  Before Hiro left, she quickly added "And you move quicker than your old man here.  Right Sabishii?" she said with a grin at the older man.  He did look older than Moliira remembered, but that was the way of humans.  She wondered how much different she looked to Sabishii, but it was a fleeting thought in the face of the fight ahead.  Squinting through the darkness, Moliira's eyes found the rune and she nodded.  Though she didn't know just who or what had been captured and held in the cells, she knew it was not a prison and they did not deserve to be locked up for gods only knew how long.

Looking at the guards, she had one more thing to say.  "I do not think this is a fight to win.  We get the people here out, and when we need to leave, we go.  Got it?" Moliira said.  She only started moving towards the rune once the Phoenix Knight agreed, she hadn't come all this way just to see him killed.  It would have been foolish for her to make a run straight for the release rune, and she planned carefully.  Already guards were starting to work their way around Sabishii, and she knew that she had to move quickly. 

Choosing a random pattern through the cells revealed something interesting to the drow.  One of the soldiers followed her, trying to track down the drow.  It only moved in a set pattern, one left, two right.  Sometimes Moliira moved three cells one way and two another, sometimes two cells then one.  She reached the button and slammed her hand against it without thinking.  The cells all fell away from their inhabitants… and instantly there was chaos.  It was clear that some had been there for quite awhile, but most were moving quickly, heading towards Hiro's shouts. 

A whisper of noise was all the warning she had, but it was all that Moliira needed.  She snatched the net from the air before it landed around her, and only grinned at the person who had tried to shoot it around her.  "You know, if you want to capture someone, you really should be sure that they cannot control the lightning as well," she said with a chuckle.  The female looked at her with narrowed eyes, and Moliira could tell that she was not a woman accustomed to being thwarted.  Cold black eyes stared at her from a grey-blue scaled face, and she could hear the woman hissing order.  Moliira turned and yelled to Sabishii "Time to go!" and started making her way back to the Knight.

Hiro laughed at what Moliira said about him being faster than this father.  Sabishii just playfully huffed.

"Psh, not everyone gets to stay an immortal deity, nor is everyone an ageless drow or elf.  Not like they provided me with a razor to shave my face with, or I would have slit the throat of the guy who gave it to me and escaped from my cage long ago."  Sabishii thought he aged gracefully, he kept in shape for years before he was captured here.  He was still in shape, just rusty, he wasn't able to train much here at all.  What Sabishii wouldn't give for a nice shave and bath right about now.  He would feel like a new man.  But first they had people to save, and a place to escape from.  Moliira looked the same to him as ever, at least physically.  Maybe things changed for her, maybe something beneath the skin.  He wasn't going to ponder about it for now.  He had more important things to think about.

A bolt of energy grazed his side, Sabishii winced, then punished the guard who managed to hit him by blasting him with a wave of flame from his hand.  More and more guards entered the room, and he noticed a woman with a net frantically trying to give orders to the guards.  He didn't know if this woman was merely the leader of the guards, or the head of this entire operation, but he'd seen her before.  He felt a burning anger toward her, as he'd suffered insult and injury from this woman.  She took something from him of great importance.

Moliira had released the rune that opened all the cages.  Hiro was doing the best he could to guide all the people and creatures that had been just released through the door.  He thought he saw Ember helping the best she could with her yappy barks, herding people through the portal.  It was pure chaos, and now that woman was covered by a net that Moliira threw back at her.  Moliira was telling them to get out of here.  Sabishii glared angrily at the woman, and was gone from the place he stood, reappearing in front of this mysterious woman.  He drew back a fist and decked her in the face.  He could have sworn he knocked a tooth or scale loose from her as his fist connected, her body hitting the ground hard.  He reached down and pulled something this woman kept sheathed to her side.  He was lucky she carried it with her.  It was a handle of a broken sword.  It couldn't be used as a weapon, but it was a trophy that she took from him.  Now he had it back.  The handle of his trusted sword, Temenos.  It was all that was left of the mighty weapon.  At some point, the sword was broken during the fall between worlds, despite the Phoenix Knight thinking the sword was near indestructible.  But at least he had the handle back.  With that accomplished, Sabishii blasted another guard that came toward him to protect that woman with an eruption of flame.  Moliira was making her way back to Sabishii, so he met her halfway.

"I'm ready to leave now.  I want to go to my new home."  He smiled warmly, and started off toward the portal with her.  Hiro and Ember were at the portal, it seemed all the people had exited, and they stayed behind to wait for Moliira and Sabishii.

"Dad, I got everyone through the portal.  It's our time now, quickly!  Before the guards get too numerous!  We can't hold them off forever!"  Hiro unleashed a few fiery bolts from his hand, piercing several guards that were chasing after Moliira and Sabishii.  Within moments, Sabishii, Hiro, and Moliira had reached the portal.  Sabishii and Hiro stepped through the portal together, into a blinding flash of light.  Sabishii was to be welcomed to his new home.

She only shrugged and grinned at Sabishii's response, he did have a point at least.  But now wasn't the time to debate those points, there was a mission to accomplish.  And he was doing his part quite well.  She could hear Hiro and Ember somewhere in the background, and Moliira was certain the boy would get his part done as well.  The people within the cages seemed to understand the nature of the rescue, and she was grateful they didn't have to argue with anyone to get them out.  Once Sabishii appeared at her side, Moliira knew it was almost time to go.  She only shook her head with a smile at his reaction, it would buy them them as well.

"Lets go then.  You might recognize where we are going… is the name Hoja Mesto familiar?" she asked as they ran for the portal.  Moliira could hear more boots behind them, and the woman shouting in an unfamiliar language.  But no matter the language, anger and aggression were always clear.  She watched the Kouens step through, and turned to look behind her once.  Waving a farewell to the woman, Moliira stepped through herself, back into the clear air and open sky of the walking city's grove.

"Xarann, close it, now," the drow said before leaning against a tree.  Sabishii's comment was wrong, and she had to take a moment to calm herself.  The adrenaline would leave her system soon enough, but she had prepared for that many times before.  "So, welcome to Revaliir, all of you.  You can make a home here.  This city is a good place to start," Moliira said, addressing the crowd that had been released from the strange cave.  There were another three dozen beings, and they all looked around at the grove in curiosity.  They came from different places, she could tell, and this city would be the best place to find common ground and a new start.

Sabishii and Hiro made their way through the portal, along with Ember, and everyone else.  Sabishii's eyes were blinded by the light of the natural sun above them.  He shielded his eyes briefly.  When his vision had adjusted, he saw a somewhat familiar sight.  A cobbled together city with buildings made from many different styles.  Moliira told them they were in Hoja Mesto.

"Dad, it's not just your home.  It's our home.  It's everyone's home!  All of you guys!  Welcome home!" Hiro said, mirroring Moliira's sentiment.  Sabishii turned and smiled at his son, looking around the town he was in.

"You're right son, it's our home now.  If this city is here, then does that mean Judge is here too?  Or his son?  Is Runya here too?  Oh god, I bet that bastard Dimitre made it here too, please don't tell me he's a Deity here.  Urgh . . ."  Sabishii suddenly felt pain from his side, the adrenaline rush from earlier was wearing off, and he felt an ache from the side of his body.  He fell to his knees, groaning.

"Oh!  Dad!  Are you all right?  What happened?"  Sabishii could hear the concern in his son's voice.

"I'm fine, I'm fine.  I got hit in the side by one of those magic weapons.  It aches, but just get me a bandage or healer or something.  I'll live.  It's just the rush wearing off," he said, reassuringly.  He pointed to the side of his body that had a burn mark through his tattered clothing.

"Can we get a healer over here?  My father's been wounded!  We don't need him to get an infection!"

"Hiro, I'm gone for how long, and  suddenly you're deathly afraid I'm going to keel over.  'Tis just a flesh wound, son."

"I'm just worried I'll lose you again, after just getting you back, Dad.  I don't want to you to die.  We lost Mom, you and Ember are all I have left."  Ember barked at the mention of her name, and started to shower Sabishii with wet kisses.

"It's okay, you won't lose me so easily.  I'm determined to see you become a grown man, a great hero in this land, and you're starting to look like one now," he said with a smile, petting Ember's head.

There was a smile on her face when Sabishii could see he was somewhere familiar, it was probably a steadying presence to the man.  The drow waited patiently for father and son to talk before interrupting.  Some of the people from the cells were already beginning to disperse into the city, and Moliira knew they would be fine.  she would of course keep an eye on all them, but Moliira was fairly certain they would be grateful for a second chance at a life.

"Judge died in this world, same as our old home.  Mendean was here for a time too, but he has fallen.  Runya, I do not know.  Now about Dimitre… you would be amused," Moliira said, her tone shifting from somber to vindictive.  She told the Phoenix Knight that both Dimitre and his daughter had been gods here for a time, but they had both fallen, and were slowly being forgotten.  "That is perhaps the worst thing for a being like Dimitre, as proud as he was, to simply be forgotten," Moliira said, a malicious smile on her face.  It wasn't often she took pleasure in the misfortune of others, but Dimitre had been only rude to her on every occasion their paths had crossed.

A woman with sky blue eyes and black hair approached, wearing clothes from another world.  One that the drow recognized.  It took her a few moments, but Moliira realized who the young woman was, and an eyebrow went up in surprise.  "I remember you, your father and I spoke on many occasions.  Sabishii is injured, he needs your help," she said.  The young woman only nodded, turning bright blue eyes on the stranger.  "I remember tales my father told me of the Phoenix Knight, never thought I'd get to meet you.  I'm Harmony, my father was Killian," she said simply before turning her attention to the wound.