Arex leaned back in his seat and thought for a moment. "Ah yes, the gauntlet...to truely explain it I'll need to tell the story of how I got here, I was going to explain it later, but now seems better than keeping you all waiting. About two months ago, if I remember correctly, things are still fuzzy from that night... Said Arex, as he spoke a cloud of white began to form above the party, its image was like looking into the memories of his own mind. Exactly as he saw them.<br/><br/>"It was a dark night, it was on a ship as I recall, I was going to a land called....aurora...I was standing on the deck of the ship in the night when several men also came up on deck." Arex continued the image changing to show several of the Royal Guard and Logan surrounding the king. "A man calling himself...Logan approached me..."<br/><br/>As the King told his story, the cloud mimicked his story with the images of his memories, many of which were incomplete, a symptom of the amnesia most likely. Each hero watched intently of the Kings betrayal that night.<br/><br/><div align="center"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;"><em><strong>****Flashback****</strong></em></span></div><br/>"Logan what are you doing up? We don't reach landfall for another few days, and whats with the Royal Guard, whats going on?!" Demanded the King standing firm in his stance on the deck. Logan approached slowly. "I'm sorry brother...But you are not strong enough to lead Albion anymore, there have been to many mistakes on your part.." Said Logan without emotion. Arex clenched his fists and took a step forward<br/><br/>"How dare you, Im the only reason your not a dead body on the lawn of the Castle!! Yelled Arex, the guards not moving or Logan.<br/><br/>"I know, but to ensure that Albion is to survive...you must be brushed aside" said Logan raising a pistol from behind his back and pointing it at the King. The guards moving in on the Kings side, taking him by surprise, pining his arms behind his back.<br/><br/>"You sonofabitch, I'll see you hung for this!!" Yelled Arex still trying to fight his captors. "Take his magic armor off, we cannot have his significant other knowing of what is transpiring." Logan said, nodding over to a guard, which Arex did not recognize, but each of the heroes knew, his image burned into their minds. The ones who had declared them traitors Captain Vorhess....<br/><br/>"Im sorry sir, I tryed to tell you..." said Vorhess as he stripped the armor from Arex quickly.<br/><br/>"I once trusted you with my Army, my Security...I once trusted you with MY LIFE VORHESS, How can each of you forget your oaths so quickly!!" Arex screamed at him and the rest of the guards, who did not react. Arex was quickly stripped of his armor and his crown which Logan put on his own head. Arex took this measure of self importance as a chance to act. Quickly jabbing both the guards pinning his arms behind his back, Arex was able to break the hold and take one of the guards swords from its sheath. Charging at Logan with all the might he had. The guards then quickly raised their weapons and fired, several missing but several making their mark. The heroes sitting and watching could almost feel each of the shots impact onto Arex's body. Several shots now filled Arex's torso and arms. Forcing him into a bloodied and beaten state. Only standing up at the edge of the railing with the last shred of his strength, His vision failing him. Logan walked up to Arex one last time and delivered the final blow. Firing his pistol into his own brother's lower abdomen, the old railing failing to hold his weight anymore. Arex fell backwards into the cold water below, shot, bleeding and defeated as a King. The last words he spoke before passing out he spoke were ones to his own friends.<br/><br/>"Forgive me my friends............I wasn't strong enough....." He said before Arex passed out from the pain and the memory cloud vanished.<br/><br/><div align="center"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;"><em><strong>****End Flashback****</strong></em></span></div><br/>Arex paused for a few moments, the memory of the traumatic moment still fresh in his mind. "When I awoke, I was on a beach on an island I did not know, barely alive or even able to talk. Everything prior to that memory are just snipits of clouded moments of conversation with each of you and a few others that I cannot recognize. Thats when I saw the Dragons overhead. To be honest I thought I had died and was in the afterlife. That was until I was healed somehow and was taken before the Elder council and given a choice. Be healed and sent back to my own world or take the challenge of the Gauntlet and prove my worth to the council so that I may stay."<br/><br/>"The gauntlet is a series of challenges, unique to each and every person. It is a test of worth to the community but also a mind trip for yourself, it makes you challenge yourself and be reminded of the choices you have made in the past, both good and bad. But the first stage is always the same for each. You have to enter the Chamber of a Thousand memories. A seemingly endless cave path, that has a magical propriety that forces you to relive every painful moment you have ever had in your life. It trys to make you question and second guess the choices you have made in life, from the most miniscule fights to the most serious of crisis'. Making you relive your entire life in a few minutes. Although for me, since my memory is so clouded, much of the memories I did not understand nor comprehend.<br/><br/>"After that there are two more challenges. Each would be unique as I said. My two were a battle with an Eldar Dragon. I had to survive five minutes in an arena against a full blown dragon and survive. Then I had to have a debate with another elder dragon about what a leader's responsibilities were, along with other questions. It seemed as if there was no right answer to his question, each time I answered he would question the choice in its entirety. Making me second guess myself on several questions. It was through these ordeals that I proved both to myself and to the people of this land of my worth to them. At the end of the trials I was given the elders blessing to stay in the city as a citizen.<br/><br/>Arex then took a quick sip of wine from his glass and paused for a few moments as the appetizers arrived. A salad and bread combination.<br/><br/>"A few days later after I was starting to settle in as a new person. The elder dragon I fought during my trial, Athkore, began to fall into his final hibernation stage, he was the second oldest dragon in all of the world and no one knew he was so far gone in his age. I felt terrible that I had made him spend the rest of his remaining energy fighting me. But he told me that he had watched my progress as a person and he had to see for himself if I would overcome my own troubles. I attended to his needs as the sleep overcame him. He then offered me something that only a few dragons in all of the past had done before, He offered to bind his soul to mine. I would carry his strength and power and become a dragon myself. Able to take on the world in what he predicted would be my 'troubled' future. I did not understand until each of you came here. I agreed and the ceremony was a long and painful one. Through the soul binding process I had to basically relive each of Athkores memories, reliving his thousands of years of history and wisdom. Once it was done Athkore's body was no more and I took on his name and responsibility to carry on his legacy."<br/><br/>Arex said then exhaling a large amount of air.<br/><br/>"Im sorry if I rambled, but each of you has been kept in the dark for to long since you got here, I needed to leave everything on the table."