A cold breath through the dragon’s snout swept the hair from his face, now a tangle of wet ebony tresses around his bare shoulders. The ancient chuckled at Cersie’s mild dismay and shook his head. “Were we outside of my domain I would feel something more like the fear you wished to instill in me. You are ferocious and unpredictable but I would have you no other way.” He enjoyed these theatrics and found that they were not unlike his own in a way. Of course he couldn’t transform into a dragon at will, but his illusions gave him the power to play with the limitations of the surrounding world, to create and destroy in the dimensions of his own making. Playing at godhood. Practice, perhaps, for what he sought to achieve. With so many years of existence it was difficult to go on without some kind of goal in mind.<br/><br/><br/>“As I have said before. A change of residence is easy enough to achieve with the right hands in play.” He thought of the witch in his home. “Worry not. I do it more for myself than for you.” He gestured to the space around them, “This world is not real. It never could be. It is my sanctum... my escape, if you will, but in hiding here I imprison myself from the world. I let time pass me and learn nothing. I would see this undone now that I know of creatures such as you existing in it. I have been a fool it seems to allow things to go on as they have. My brothers and sisters take what they want and very few ancients remain who can establish balance among them. Perhaps it is time for a change.” The vampires did not want leadership, especially not from those beyond their time. They reviled him, but they would respect him none the less. Even the witches could perhaps be tamed. If it was authority and power they all sought, he would find a way to establish order through those values. He would bring them from the shadows and bestow their rightful place in the world.<br/><br/><br/>Iseulith pet the dragon gracefully as the stars shimmered around them. He was growing tired himself, holding the expanse together. “In not so many words I say that the humans and their gods have had their time. The world suffers under the mortal blight and the time to see them in their place is at hand. Perhaps true gods would placate them. The golden images they worship now are long dead or powerless and their memory serves as a poor reminder of their once great leadership. The world is due for a lesson in true strength, I think.”<br/><br/><br/>As Cersie’s draconic form shrank and brilliant scales and feathers shivered and drifted away into nothing the space around them also shrank until Iseulith felt his feet touch the solid floor beneath them. The walls shifted back into existence and the hazy steam from the bath drifted around them like a warm fog. The vampire listened to the elemental speak but he did not finish his thought, instead allowing the words to drift of into silence. Iseulith did not press the matter. There was much to be done. “Very pretty... though I imagine it would strike fear in the hearts of those threatened by it.” He flashed a fanged smile and reached out to pluck the man’s nose playfully. “You are a monster in your own right. Off with you now, I must sleep. The witch and I have work to complete tomorrow night and I must be in top form to compete with her.” He stepped over to the open window, looking out at the twilight and the approaching dawn. “Unless of course you would like to join me in rest. My coffin is quite comfortable and perfectly suited for two, if you wouldn’t mind the confinement.” He was only half teasing. To have the elemental nuzzled against him during his death sleep would have pleased him greatly. He had done so with various humans he had takin a brief liking to in the past. He did not imagine Cersie would be game from something so outside of his levels of comfort however.<br/><br/><br/>“If you choose instead to leave, you may join us after dusk. That is if you’re willing to join at all.” Little did the elemental know that if he chose to leave, Iseulith would have Utaa sent to watch him from the shadows. The blood link was one thing, allowing him to feel Cersie’s presence when he was in physical form but it did not allow him to see the man. Looking through the eyes of his familiar would give him some comfort. Cixathe would similarly be appointed to the witch during her brief stay.