(OOC: This wasn't the next part I was gonna write, but I figured I'd answer Shadow's question, and anyway I've got about three stories going on so I can do any one of them - though the "next" one is concerning Aerlin.)

Thrakkiss was instantly on his guard. Years ago, Tal'n was sent to hunt him down and return him to Phyrexia, where Thrakkiss had spent more than enough time as a prisoner. He was not of a mind to return to that artifact hell.

"Tal'n! So you've caught up with me at last."

"You have nothing to fear from me any longer, Thrakkisss. SSSLAYER isss more likely to possse a threat than I am."

An uneasy silence hung in the air until Nitsud broke the mood. "Well now, gentlemen. Thrakkiss, if I may introduce Kay-ti, the elf girl?" He nodded in the direction of "Siran." She gave a brief smile, but nothing else to betray her own wariness. She had been hurt by strangers already, and here was another.

It was then that Thrakkiss saw the elven ears that unmistakably differentiated her from Siran. Slowly, realization rose within him like the sun cresting the horizon after a long night's journey on the dark side of the world. This was why he had been drawn to Siran Drauka, for she was given shape in no less than that of the woman standing before him! Already, his mind was racing.

Recollections surfaced before plunging under once more, memories of other times, and other people. Once more he recalled the faces of those who had stood with him and against him, and he realized quickly how few people were involved in the ancient conflicts which had ultimately threatened to destroy the world. It was always those people, with a few new ones to replace the old. Even those now were dead for the most part, or otherwise gone. Of that core, was he the only to remain?

He of course knew much of Kay-ti already, but how she survived Armageddon, he did not know. They had met before was it really that long ago? at its conclusion, when Tara fixed what had been broken.

"We've met before," Thrakkiss replied to the introduction. Kay-ti's eyes narrowed, then widened in recognition and, almost, fear.

"I suppose we have," she said. "This is all so confusing. A minute ago I had no idea who you were, but now I remember...By the GODS! I remember!" Kay-ti collapsed in a fit of sobbing as thousands of lives died again in her memory, destroyed in her presence by Acytuib while they both were controlled by the Dark Heart of the Wood.

Thrakkiss did not know exactly what ailed her, but assumed it was a guilty conscience with all blissful illusions violently removed. He almost felt compassion for her, but not quite. After all, he had labored against the destruction she and her son had caused, and that made them enemies, of a sort. And that reminded him of...

An explosion rocked the Eradicator. Claxons began to sound and weapon systems whined as they prepared for battle. Drones swarmed everywhere.

"It's Acytuib, he's come for me," Kay-ti mumbled.

"No, it's SLAYER. He's the one," Tal'n concluded. "I can smell him from here."

Thrakkiss remained oblivious to the argument. His mind was focused on something much more urgent than the attack on the Eradicator, but both were entwined.

I have found you at last, Thrakkiss. Now, you will die!

Beyond the hackneyed dialogue, Thrakkiss knew that voice and sensed its power. He bitterly recognized what had taken a true goddess to destroy that he could not. Then as now, he had been one of the few capable of even putting up small defense against the Dark Heart of the Wood. Stopping Shadow and Fatestop was just going to have to wait.