Chapter Five – detonate
“Wait? Princess?” stuttered Aeden Mythflame. “And you’re Suriyah?”
I nodded. “Surprise.”
“And why are you here? I lost contact with Howard a year and a half ago,” asked Ambrose.
“I broke contact,” I admitted. “I didn’t want to remember you at all. I was going to shatter my destiny.”
“And play right into Titan’s hands.”
I stopped. “What?”
Ambrose quickly explained how my father had been used, how Titan had wanted Dragonspyre back the way it was.
Now I’m more stunned and afraid than ever. “He was never evil?”
“No.”
“Wow,” muttered Aeden. “And I thought I had family issues.”
I gave a little laugh. “I’m okay now, I guess I should’ve expected something like that.”
“No one should have to expect something like that!”
Suddenly the door was thrown open. “Headmaster! Headmaster! I must speak with–” Blaze Thunderthorn froze, looked from me, to Aeden, to the Headmaster, back to me and stuttered, “Huh?”
“I’ve accepted my destiny,” I said, looking him square in the eye. “And now only one person stands in the way.”
“You’re looking at me. I hope you don’t mean me.”
I laughed. “Yeah, you wouldn’t stand a chance. No, I mean the dragon, Titan.”
His mouth dropped open.
“Hmm, I see a look of determination in your eye Blaze,” stated the Headmaster.
“Well I-”
“The Princess, a warrior, and philosopher,” mused Ambrose, looking at me, Blaze, and Aeden. “You are missing a healer.”
“Thank the Storm Lord you mentioned that. I don’t want to be stuck with all guys,” I muttered.
“Wait, I’m coming too?” asked Aeden, dumbfounded. “But, I’m only an Adept.”
“And I’m only a Magnus,” I retorted. “You helped me see the truth in my life. Now you should see the truth for yourself.”
“Thanks… I guess.”
“Who would you like? I’ll call them up immediately,” said he Headmaster.
“Kalia,” I said instantly.
“Who?” asked the Headmaster.
Blaze laughed. “Kathryn? Kathryn Willowbright? You met her when she pushed you off the bridge on Triton Avenue!”
Aeden smiled. “Really?”
I scowled at Blaze. “So? She’s my best friend.”
Ambrose smiled. “Kathryn Willowbright, Level forty-eight Theurgist.”
A moment later, Kalia was opening the door. Her blonde hair with green highlights was on top of her head in a bun. She was sporting Dragonspyre style clothing, dyed green and gold. “This better be a good excuse Headmaster sir, I was practicing Centaur, and I was…” She trailed off. “Oh. My. Storm Lord. Suriyah?”
I gave her a sarcastic smile. “Nice to see you too.”
Suddenly she was giving me a bear hug. Then she backed up and she smacked me upside the head. “Stupid! I thought you had died! Idiot! Stupid idiot!” And then she was hugging me again.
“You’re stupid to think I would die that easily,” I laughed. I put her at arms length. “But I need your help. I have a mission, a really big mission.”
She looked over my shoulder. “With them?”
I turned. “That’s Blaze Thunderthorn and Aeden Mythflame.”
“Yeah, I know Blaze, annoying Diviner. I’ve seen Aeden I think, don’t know him though. What mission anyway?”
“I need to fight the dragon, Titan. The whole deal three years ago was his fault.”
“Ah. I see this is too long of a story to tell now.” I grinned. Kalia had always been understanding. “But you need to tell me everything after, okay?”
I nodded. “Fine.” Suddenly remembering something, I turned to ask the Headmaster, only to find the room empty of his presence. I sighed. “He’s gone.”
“Figures,” muttered Kalia. “He does that a lot now. You turn your back for three seconds and he vanishes into the mist.”
“I just wanted to ask for my prize.”
“Prize?”
Blaze started laughing. “You don’t forget do you?”
I shook my head. “I won that fight fair and square, plus ten time over.”
“Wait, what are you talking about?” demanded Kalia. “Tell me!”
“Suri – I mean, Suriyah won the duel as the Death Student Representative at the Seven Schools Party,” explained Aeden. “The prize was massive experience, four training points, and powerful equipment for her school.”
As they talked, I scanned the room, looking and wondering where Ambrose would’ve kept it. My eyes fall on a chest in the corner. It was made of ebony, had a peculiar design on it, and had the Death School symbol on the lock. Kneeling down, I popped it open.
“Sweet,” I muttered.
Blaze, who had also been looking with me, glanced over my shoulder and whistled as his eyes widened. “I wish I had won.”
Besides the bottle that held the shimmering, golden liquid of experience and the four training point cards, there was full gear for a level thirty Death wizard. The robe was black with bone white trimming, and a scarlet sash was tied around the waist. It was the style of a trench coat flared out a little, coming down to my knees, and had long sleeves that folded up at the ends. Two sets of brass buttons marked the difference between being able to put the robe on, and putting away spell cards and an athame. The status was five hundred health, ten-percent Death power, twelve-percent Death defense, six-percent Death accuracy, and five-percent power pip chance.
The hat was like that of a top hat, but on the tallish side and also very black. A dirtier shade of white was the color of numerous seed beads that glittered in the candlelight, forming the pattern I had seen on the chest. It was difficult to make out, but it looked like vines of some sort, as though they were climbing the hat. The inside of the hat was soft satin the color of scarlet. The status was two hundred health, seven-percent Death power, nine-percent Death defense, four-percent Death accuracy, and two-percent power pip chance.
The boots were tall, coming up to just below my knee. They were loose, made of lightweight leather, but stiff enough so as to not fall down. They were the color black with trims of white on the sides, like white daggers flying through the night. Two, small, leather loops were on each side of the boots, each blood colored, and when pulled they acted like leg reinforces if the wearer were to jump from a great height. The status was three hundred eighty health, ten-percent Death power, ten-percent Death defense, seven-percent Death accuracy, and four-percent power pip chance.
And what was even better was that the entire outfit was reinforced with spider’s skin.
“Guess you’re not the only one to think of it,” I said, smiling up at Blaze, holding up the jackets so he could feel the material.
He rolled his eyes. “Darn, just as I was planning on monopolizing the industry.”
I gave a little laugh. Turning back to the clothing, I gently stroked the inside of the hat, enjoying its soft texture. “It’s like he was thinking of me,” I whispered, referring to Ambrose.
The athame was beautifully crafted, its blade of strong steel with an onyx handle and dark gold scabbard. The scabbard was inlaid with other various gemstones, the largest ones were opals and rubies. The status was one hundred ten health, ninety-eight mana, and eight-percent power pip chance.
“He’s definitely going with the black, white, and red theme,” commented Blaze. By now the others had come over, and were also marveling at the clothing.
The ring was an ivory band with a belt of black marble, rather simple to say the least. The status was ninety health and seventy mana.
The necklace was elegant. It was a bright silver chain with thin silver bars that supported black and red bars. There were about forty or so bars total, and the ending result was an intercrossing pattern of red and black. The status was forty mana, two-percent power pip chance, and gave a spell card for Stormzilla, Earthquake, Helephant, and Centaur.
And lastly was the wand.
It was a staff actually, slightly taller than I was. It was a simple black rod that shed off a blackish purple, slightly sparkling, mist. It drifted off from about mid way down, rolled around on the floor for a moment before dissipating. Its status was one-percent power pip chance, and gave seven cards, a different wand spell of each school, each doing ninety-five damage.
“This is awesome,” whispered Aeden.
“I wonder what the Legendary stuff looks like,” added Blaze.
It was true, compared the higher levels, this was nothing. But to me, a level thirty-three? It was the best in the world.
“I better put this on,” I said. “Kalia, help me.”
Aeden was about to say something, stopped, seemed to think it over, and closed his mouth. Blaze patted him on the shoulder. “You’re learning.”
As we stepped into the room that Gamma was usually found in (except he wasn’t in at this time, thank goodness) Kalia asked, “Why do you need my help?”
I shrugged. “I don’t, but I need you to talk. What have I missed? What’s changed?”
She started pacing as I pulled on the robe, transported my spell deck, and pocketed the athame.
“Well, where do you want me to begin?”
I thought about it. “Blaze.”
Her mouth dropped open. “Blaze? The son of the guy who’s guts you hate?”
“Yeah,” I responded. “Pretty much.”
She rolled her eyes. “I was going to say something else, but changed my mind.”
“Good choice.”
As I adjusted the hat, she started talking. “He was pretty depressed after the whole ordeal ended. Wouldn’t come to school, was hardly ever seen out and about. Most thought he was going to drop out and become a shopkeeper. That is, until the first Seven Schools Party. He appeared, he looked angry, and he battled Mariah Stonepetal, remember her? Don’t know what the rivalry was, but lets just say it ended in an overkill.”
As I put on the second boot, I say, “All Storm wizards do overkills.”
“Yeah, but this was different. She had… what? Nine hundred health? He did damage up and over two thousand.”
My eyes widen as I stop adjusting the necklace. “Really? He was only a level seventeen!”
“No, by now he’s level twenty-four. Anyway, he had learned the Feint spell without anyone knowing, as well as Balance Blade and Dragon Blade. It was insane.”
“Was he picked for the Vita Mort?”
Kalia shook her head. “That was new as of this year. It has never happened before.”
I nodded. “Alright. Anything else?”
“Well, he became more social after that. I tried talking to him, about you no less, but he got really angry and threatened to take me to the arena.” She shrugged. “I wasn’t afraid of him, I was a much higher level, still am. But Storm is powerful; good friends, bad enemies.”
I nodded, thinking of how I didn’t need a dueling circle to take out my grudges.
“As for your Pyromancer friend, seen him around. Hear he has an awful immune system and is always catching autoimmune diseases, so he didn’t start school until this year, that’s why he’s such a low level.”
“I see,” I said as I finished dressing myself. “Alright, all set.” Gathering up my old clothes, I tossed them in my backpack and headed out with the staff swinging in my right hand. Back out in the room, Aeden was flipping through a book, and Blaze was examining a small glass bottle. When he looked up and saw me, the bottle fell from his hand.
Aeden jerked up at the sound of the crash, look at me, and he exclaimed, “It’s like it was made for you!”
Blaze was mouthing something to no one in particular; Kalia mouthed something back angrily. He glanced at her, cast his eyes sarcastically skyward, and then brought them back to level with mine.
Trying to stop the heat creeping up my neck, which would be painstakingly visible against my pale skin, I walked forward and grabbed my cloak off the chair back it had been thrown over. As I struggled to put it on, Kalia moved to help but Blaze beat her to it. As he gently adjusted it to fit comfortably on my shoulders, I tried to distract myself with Aeden’s comment.
“You're right, it fits perfectly too.”
An awkward silence fell around the room, and I shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. Finally Kalia exclaimed, “Well lets not sit around procrastinating. We have a dragon to fight!”
The Commons were still empty, as was the Ravenwood Court Yard, but we didn’t have much time before the bells rang and students would pour out of the school doors. Feeling like blood on a white shirt -- aka, obvious -- I tried not to shudder. I reminded myself I was over this, I wasn’t hiding anymore.
Letting Kalia have the honor of opening up the door to Dragonspyre, we all sprinted through the Basilica and into the Atheneum. Cyrus wasn’t present; after all, he was the Myth professor and everything.
“I’m gonna fix all this,” I said to myself. “This is going to be my new home.”
Kalia gave me a sideways glance. “I get you're not telling me some things, but as long as you tell me later…”
I smiled. “Or what?” To think that the one time that I could run my mouth and not regret it I simply could not find the words. I wanted to tell Kalia so badly, but we didn’t have the time.
She smiled back, devilishly. “I’ll throw you over the bridge on Triton Avenue again.”
“You should’ve seen the look on the Kraken’s face,” added Blaze. “It was hilarious. The look on your face was as well.”
“Yeah, you should’ve seen the look on your face when you recognized me after I kicked your butt at the duel,” I snapped. “Not that was hilarious.”
“Um, guys?” said Aeden, but no one was paying attention.
“I can’t believe I didn’t see you there!” exclaimed Kalia. “I was there. I fought in, like, four duels.”
“You make a lot of enemies,” I commented.
“Yeah, but at least I don’t have a dragon after me,” Blaze interrupted.
“Guys?” Aeden was saying.
“Fire, a cheating school I say,” Kalia said. “So well balanced in damage and defense they’re hard to fight. My first few duels here took so long, I went back to Mooshu to finish up side quests.”
“What about Storm?” I asked. “They have super damage.”
“But low health,” complained Blaze. “That’s why we’re powerful, so we can kill the monster before it kills us.”
“Yeah, same with Life,” added Kalia. “Low damage spells, so we have high health so we have more time to–”
“GUYS!” yelled Aeden, interrupting her. He pointed frantically up at the mountain. Thick, black smoke was pouring from the top, and lave could be seen trickling down the side. Kalia gasped, Blaze’s eyes widened, and I tried to stop shaking. The comedic mood from seconds ago vanished in a heartbeat, and suddenly I felt sick.
This was what we were up against.
“Titan’s up there,” I said quietly.
“The mountain’s like a bomb,” Aeden said. “There’s some sort of pressure underneath. That? That’s just the preface. We have to stop it before it blows, or this whole world will go boom.”
A volcano preparing to explode... Titan had to know I was here.
I was about to ask how Aedan knew that, and then remembered he was a Fire wizard, of course he knew. And if he knew that then maybe he would know about Titan.
But before I could ask my question, the nearest building besides us collapsed, and out of the swirling dust came Nightmare.
I rushed forward so the others were behind me. I stood firm, glaring. This, at least, I knew how to handle. “What?” I snapped.
The part of the billowing smoke that remotely resembled the head cocked a little to the right. “Not even a hello?”
“What’s your problem?”
There came a menacing laughter. I glanced at the others. They were staring, scared stiff, at the smoke as it coiled and shifted around us. They could hear it too.
“I have no problem. It is you who have a problem. Going to duel a dragon?” A metallic tentacle launched out of the side and made a flicking motion at Aeden, who flinched away. “Quite the powerful party you’ve got here.”
“What do you want?”
“I merely want what you want: to be rid of Titan.”
“Really? I thought you two made a wonderful couple.”
Again it laughed, though this time it was a little bit more… lighthearted? I would think it impossible for it.
“Why would I want to be with the one who enslaved and tortured me? I’ve known all about your… family issues, little princess. Titan’s time is at an end. But only one thing keeps me from blowing the mountain into the ground.”
“And what’s that?”
“Your father.”
I sucked in a breath. “He’s here?”
“Has been since it ended three years ago. Working out of his mind. I would know all about it. I only escaped recently, and got out just long enough to warn you. It is time to fulfill your destiny.”
My mouth turned up a little at the corners. “So, you were rooting for me all along huh?”
Nightmare’s smoky form recoiled into a smaller form, wrapping around itself so most of it was gathered behind it, rather than floating all around. “I want to see Titan gone as much as you do. The only thing that stands in my way is your father, and if I harmed him in anyway I would have to face your wrath.” The monster paused. After a moment he continued, “and I don’t want that. Again. Even the Legend Monsters whom you’ve never met are scared of you.”
I shrugged. “Well, I do have a reputation to maintain.”
The monster grinned, showing the dark blue flames of its insides. “Then I will take my leave, but I have one last message to deliver, from my friends.”
“Shoot.”
“If you free them, we are all on your side.”
Before I could comment on this proposition, Nightmare was flying quickly away and through the grand doors to the Tower of Archives. Silence descended on us, and when no one had said anything for a while Blaze spoke up. “Well, where are they being held?”
I whipped around to face him. “You can’t be serious.”
He shrugged. “Well, I wouldn’t exactly want the Legend Monsters after me.” Finally noticing my glare, he added, “Personal opinion. All up to you.”
“It kills me to say it, but…” began Kalia, “I agree with Blaze.”
I rolled my eyes and looked over at Aeden. “You gonna team up with them against me too?”
He shrugged, as if saying what-can-I-do?
I sighed. “Fine, you’re all right. It’s just out of my way. Where are they anyway?”
“I can feel Cyclone,” said Blaze. Under my questioning look, he added, “It’s a Storm School thing.”
“Right.”
“You’re right,” said Kalia. Her eyes were closed and her hand was pressed against her temple. “There’s some pull through there.” She pointed to the Tower of Archives. “The Emerald Specter.”
“I feel it that way too,” confirmed Blaze.
Huffing, I said, “How come I can’t do that with Nightmare?”
Kalia shrugged. “A higher level thing?”
“Sure, cause I can’t do it either,” said Aeden.
“Well then, what are we waiting for?” I made a move to go in that direction when the sky was briefly illuminated above our heads.
“Look out!” yelled Blaze, but I can barely hear him over the roar of a giant, flaming piece of rock that flies out from the volcano. He jumped towards me and knocked me to the ground as the rock the size of twenty Helaphants crashes into the doors to the Tower of Archives. Rocks go flying and a fire began to blaze along the top of the stonewall.
Before the rocks even stop falling, I tried to get up but something heavy was on top of me. Then I remembered. Suddenly gripped with fear that something may have happened to him, I heaved him off me (as well a couple of large rocks). He looked like he was out cold, so before I even knew what I was doing, my hand was cracking across his face. It was to wake him up, but at the same time I hated that he had protected me. Wasn’t I the one who was supposed to be doing the protecting?
Blaze’s eyes fluttered open. “Storm Lord,” he muttered. His hand found his cheek which was rapidly turning bright pink. “You hit me.” He gaped at me. “That hurt.”
“And this doesn’t?” I held up his left hand, whose fingers were bent at odd angles. He stared at it, as though dumbfounded.
“Those do hurt. A lot,” he admitted. I rolled my eyes and quickly summoned Pixie. It saluted me and quickly went to work healing his fingers. It only took a couple moments, and then it vanished in a burst of green sparkles. “Lets find the others,” I said.
“Why did you hit me?” he asked as I help him to his feet.
“Oh believe me, I’ve wanted to hit for a long time.”
“So? Why now?”
“It was a good opportunity.”
His free hand felt his cheek again. “It still hurts.”
Feeling slightly guilty, I amended. “Sorry.”
“Wow, sorry from you. I’m honored.”
“Don't get sarcastic, I’ll hit you again.”
“And I don't doubt it.”
“Hey! Anybody alive!” I heard Kalia yell. I could just make her shape out through the dust.
“Yeah!” I called back. “I’m with Blaze! Where’s Aeden?”
“Here,” said a voice, and another shape detached itself from the ground, and stood up shakily. “Got a Troll to cover me.”
“I got a Treant, but he caught fire and ran off.” Kalia shrugged, we were all close enough to see each other now. “What was that?”
“It came from the volcano,” I answered. “It destroyed our only way into the Tower of Archives.”
Aeden looked at it dismally. “It’ll take forever to move all that rock.”
“Not if you use Helaphants, Bone Dragons, Storm Lords, any kind of large spell that has hands,” I explained.
“None of us know those spells,” complained Kalia. “None of us are at that level.”
“Treasure cards,” I responded.
“Yeah, from where?”
I pointed behind her towards the library. “It has to have treasure cards in there of some level like that. You guys go look, and if you find anything, use it to get to the tower.”
“And what about you?” Aeden said.
I flinched. What was I going to say? This was bad enough as it was, I couldn’t risk them getting hurt. This was my battle. This was my destiny.
“I need to go find Titan before he launches another meteor-thing. And find my father. This was never a team thing really, I just couldn’t get here by myself,” I said.
A chorus of complaints and exclamation arose. I tried to hush them furiously. “Shush you guys! We don’t have time to do one and then the other. In a matter of hours this whole world might cease to exist. We don’t have that much time to move the rocks, and scale the mountain.”
“Fine, but you still can’t go by yourself!” Kalia said stubbornly. “I’m the highest level, and a healer, I should go with–”
“No, I should go,” interrupted Blaze. “I know Dragonspyre better, and a Life wizard can’t fight a dragon–”
“So? Suriyah can fight, I’ll heal her.”
“Yes, but how to do you get to the Crown of Fire?” Kalia was about to answer, stopped, and glared at him. Blaze smiled, “Exactly.”
I lifted my face from my hands where I had been shaking my head. “We’re wasting time. I’m leaving, so make up your minds.”
I turned and started making my way towards Dragonspyre Academy. I really hoped no one would follow, that would be the best outcome. I heard muttered argument behind me, and then footsteps running to catch up.
“So… Have you ever been to the Crown of Fire?” inquired Blaze.
Dangit.
I shook my head. “Only as far as the academy.”
“You went there a lot right?”
“All the time. Father always had business trips there, and I always wanted to come along.” I shrugged. “Truth be told I loved it here.”
“I liked it here too,” agreed Blaze. “It’s sad that Titan woke up.”
“Yeah. Speaking of which, I was going to ask Aeden if he knew anything about Titan, being a Pyromancer and all.”
Blaze smiled. “I had thought of that. After I last saw you I went to the library and researched him. And you know what I found out? He’s virtually immortal.”
I let out a heavy breath. “Great, my job just got a whole lot harder.”
“But here’s the hitch,” he went on as if I had said nothing. “He has one weakness, but no one knows what it is.”
“Did the book say?”
“No, I just said no one knows what it is.”
“Then how do people know he has one?”
Blaze shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m not saying the book was lying or anything, the information seemed pretty legitimate.”
“Hmm, then there’s one last person we can ask.”
I veered off on a side street. “Where are we going?” Blaze called at my back.
“Rodin Blackspark,” I responded, picturing the giant, barrel chested man in my mind. “He was a silversmith, though he mostly dealt with obsidian. He knew a lot about dragons and their nature. He got a lot of requests to come teach at various schools, but he always declined.”
“Why?”
“I don't know. He liked his job?” I turned again. The street was narrower here, and the buildings packed in tightly. The light became dimmer, and I could barely make out the house numbers.
“Thirty-four, thirty-six, thirty-eight…” I looked to the right where the odd numbered houses were, and smiled in relief. The house was still here, but were the Blackspark’s? “Thirty-nine.”
Worry swirling in my stomach, I eased the door open. The handle was rusted, and the wood was charred and rotting. Inside was very dark, and I couldn’t see anything.
“Got a light?” I asked.
A resplendent purple light flared up behind me, giving a violet glow around the small landing. Before me, broken stairs led up. Walking as carefully as I could, I made my way to the second landing. There were only two doors, one to the right and the other to the left. Taking the right one, I check the nameplate next to the door. Sure enough it said: Blackspark – worker of silver and black rock.
“What’s black rock?” asked Blaze.
“The original term for obsidian.” I gently tapped on the door that was hanging half off its hinges. “Rodin? It’s me, Suriyah.”
No answer. I looked back at Blaze, who said nothing. Swallowing, I eased the door open and it creaked loudly. My heart flew up my throat and I started shaking. Yes, I was very hyper nervous right now. My emotions may be under control but they still leaked out in moments like these. Maybe suppressing them was a bad idea...
The first thing I spotted was a candle burned down to nothing but a pile of wax. It was on a chair next to a table that was on its side. A piece of paper covered in dust was next to the candle. Scared of what I might find, I picked it up, dusted it off, and read it.
I’m going out to find more candles, and some clean water. I might be a while, eat dinner without me. Don’t worry; I’ll be home by tonight. –Rodin
The note dropped from my hand and fluttered to the floor. Please tell me this couldn’t mean what it meant. I looked around the room again, taking in the ruined room. They had been evicted, or worse, kidnapped, but it was clear no one had left without a struggle. I feared for Rodin’s wife and daughter.
“Suriyah, you may want to look at this.” I walked stiffly over to Blaze, who was gazing at the floor. “I think there was a… a fight or something. See the disturbance in the dust?” I followed his pointing finger. Yes, it looked as though someone had been dragged. Several people in fact.
But it wasn’t dust.
I suddenly realized it was ash.
“He had a family. A wife and a daughter,” I said. “Titan’s minions, the Draconian, must’ve come for them. Rodin was the best weapons and armor smith in the Spiral.”
Blaze raised the light and shone it around to get a better view of the place. “The place is trashed, it’s like they were looking for something.”
I nodded. “Probably were.” Swallowing, I started crawling around on the floor, searching for the secret compartment Rodin had told me about many years ago. The only reason I knew was because I had helped him make the box that stored the object the Draconian had probably been looking for.
My fingers finally run over the faint carving of the Divination symbol. Bringing my face close to the ground so I could see, I lifted the surrounding floorboards and pulled out the box I had helped make, which was wrapped in canvas. “This is a Flamewing Coal Heart,” I said, “the rarest substance in the universe. Indestructible.”
I sat back on my knees as Blaise asked, “Nothing can harm it?”
I nodded. “Yeah, and it can melt anything, except magic of course.” I turned the box in my hands. “The box must have super powerful enchantments on it, otherwise this whole world would’ve been burned, no need for Titan.”
“Where does one get a Flamewing Coal Heart?”
“Not get, born. Breed a Flamewing Dragon with a Coal Spider, and thus is born a Flamewing Coal. Take its heart and voila, you have a Flamewing Coal Heart. The problem, of course, is getting a dragon and a spider to breed together. Don’t ask me about the details, this only the second time its ever been done in history.”
“But you said that nothing can destroy it, and it can destroy anything.”
I nodded again. “So what?”
“Don’t you see?” Blaise exclaimed, growing excited. “You can use that to beat Titan! That’s probably why the Draconian were looking for it, because it was the only thing that Titan couldn’t stand.”
My eyes widened. “You’re right!” I jumped to my feet. “You’re brilliant! I’m sure that if Rodin were here he’d want me to take it.” I felt a little bad taking it without his permission, but the needs of the few outweighed the needs of the many in this case. Hugging the box close I added, “Now we have to be careful not to get caught.”
“Of course not. Now lets go.” He jumped up and was out the door, I close on his heels. Back out on the street, we began running towards the mountain that was now spitting even more ash and gas.
“We need to get out of this canyon,” panted Blaze.
“Why?” I had to yell for him to hear me.
“Because otherwise the toxic gas from the volcano will suffocate and kill us. Carbon dioxide gathers in low places.”
“Oh great!” I replied sarcastically.
Soon we were through the tunnel and into Dragonspyre Academy. A huge landslide had wiped out the all the schools except Fire and Death. We quickly covered the steps to the tunnel that would take us straight up to the Crown of Fire. However, we only find it to be flowing with spitting lava.
Blaze groaned. “This wasn’t here before!”
“Yeah, and neither was that.” I pointed to a large crack in the cliff, something as wide as I was and about seven feet tall. Walking over, I glanced through it, trying to pick out something.
I knew, of course, what lay behind the academy -- a secret chamber for spell testing and dragon caring. An eighth type of magic, called nothing else but Creation, had been explored in the days before the Dark Epoch, and my mom had helped with its experimentation. It was meant to be a pure combination of Life and Death magic, but unfortunately the experiments had never gotten far.
Wait.
Of course.
Dragons.
“Come on,” I said with some excitement, and dragged Blaze through the hole. The chamber inside was half collapsed, but the torches were still blazing. They were made of Eternal Flames from the Flame Guardians in the Chamber of Fire in Krokotopia. Normal torches often went out when knocked down by an explosive spell or rouge dragon. Using Eternal Flames, the place stayed alight no matter the circumstances.
Broken glass, overturned tables, metal instruments, and fallen torches were strewn all over the floor; as well as some nasty, clear, gooey liquid, and broken dragon eggs. The entire room was abandoned.
“What is this stuff?” asked Blaze, kicking at a broken jar that had spilled a gooey liquid.
“Don’t ask,” I replied.
“Alright. What are we doing here?”
What were we doing here? Did I really expect to find a dragon in here? The place was obviously abandoned, but I still had hope. I was choosing to believe in my destiny, now, so surely the universe would guide my ascent to my battle with Titan.
Before I could answer, a great racket came from our right. We spun to face the noise. Blaze flung his hand forward and a sphere of purple light flew over to illuminate that side of the room.
“Whoa,” muttered Blaze.
A dragon with dark amber skin was attacking the wall like a moth at light. It’s wings were stretched out and also clawing at the wall. It’s back was to us, revealing its menacing dark gold spikes and horn tipped tail. After a moment the dragon turned and welcomed us with a ferocious snarl.
“It’s wounded,” I observed, motioning to its bent wings. “I wonder how long it’s been here?”
“Too long,” responded Blaze, whose voice actually sounded slightly shaky. “We should go–”
“No,” I interrupted. I slowly started approaching the crazed dragon. She -- you could tell she was female by her horned tail, which was meant to protect eggs -- looked like a teen, about the size of three crafting stations. She regarded me with fiery golden eyes. I felt like I should know what kind of dragon she was, but the name didn’t come to mind at the moment. Taking in her broken claws and scraped underbelly, she had been attacking that wall for quite some time.
“Maelyn,” I said softly.
“What?” asked Blaze.
“I’m naming her Maelyn,” I repeated simply. I looked the dragon in the eye. “Can you take us to the Crown of Fire?” Maelyn looked at me blankly for a second, then her eyes cooled down, and she nuzzled her broken wings. I smiled. “I can help you with that.”
I walked over to one of the overturned tables and inspected the ground. Finally, I came back a couple of first class tools and canvas reinforced with iron. I had never worked on a live dragon, but it couldn’t be that much different than fixing a broken clockwork, right? Okay, maybe not exactly the same, but I had always had a knack for fixing things.
Making soothing noises, I bent down next to the dragon and looked over the wing. It was fractured, as though it had been trampled on. Gently, I moved the various bones back into place and began sewing in the canvas, which would act as a cast. Maelyn whined a little and tried to lamely pull away, but she wanted her wing fixed as much as I did, so she didn’t make any move to harm me.
Once finished, I stood. “It’s only temporary,” I explained to Blaze. “I can only do so much in ten minutes. But she can fly, she can take us.”
“You have got to be kidding me,” muttered Blaze.
Putting my hand on Maelyn’s neck, I guided her out of the chamber, with some difficulty, but thankfully dragons were lizards and could fit through nearly everything, and out into the open. The sky had gotten much darker.
“We’ve used up too much time,” I stated. I swung my legs over Maelyn’s back. “Hop on.”
“You have seriously got to be kidding me,” Blaze repeated, but climbed up behind me all the same.
“Alright, Maelyn, take us to the Crown of Fire.”
Snorting and reeling her head back, she took off into the darkening sky. As the wind rushed our faces, I could smell ash and burnt wood on the air. How much time did we have left?
By
Emma Dawnrider
