As the moon slowly rose into the night sky, the light seemed to create a calming aura. However, appearances are deceptive, and the ring around the glowing orb clearly foretold something entirely different; a warning of great danger to come.
That was all on Amelda's mind as his gaze focused on the white sphere in the heavens far above. The light shinning through the temple pillars cast long shadows over the great stone floor, and the young man couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding at what lay ahead.
"Amelda, yo Amelda! Wakey wakey!" Varon goaded as he snapped his fingers in front of his friend's face. "Anyone home in there? Come on, we've got an audience with dragon boy and you need to be awake. Show some respect."
"Then you better take your own advice Varon and call Dictator Seto his proper title instead of that nickname," Raphael scolded as he turned away to walk down the corridor towards the central altar of the temple, calling to the other two men without looking back. "Unless, of course, you want your head on a pike."
The cheeky male merely struck his tongue out at the other's retreating form before following suit, with the redhead walking behind him. Their footsteps echoed along the passageway as they continued on, before stopping just long enough for the guards to open the large bronze doors that lead them to the inner sanctum.
Upon entering, the torches bolted to walls cast eerie shadows behind them, but also illuminated the many carved dragon images on the walls. The beasts took many shapes and forms, but were all still terrifying enough to give anyone nightmares. However, they could not compare to the image above the high altar.
Though uncompleted, the golden tablet depicted another dragon much bigger than the rest of the images. The wingspan stretched along the entire length of the wall, claws spread aggressively, its long, scaly body curving from the tail right up to the three long necks attached to its shoulders. The heads were still missing, along with the slab of the chest where the heart would be.
"I trust you have brought me what I asked for," a commanding voice hissed, the figure standing in front of the altar turning away from the carved idol. He wore long ceremonial azure robes with a tall headdress that hid most of his brown hair. However, his icy blue eyes spoke enough for him: Do not get in my way.
The group knelt down in respect to the man, their heads bowed. After all, no one ever did anything to upset the Dictator of the Dragon Kingdom. They valued their lives too much.
"We have it here my Lord," Raphael spoke, holding out the golden slab. "Did you foresee our success, since you already knew we had the item?"
"No, I just knew that you wouldn't dare return here without it." Seto smirked, taking the treasure in his hands and carrying it back to the altar. He only had to mumble a few words in the ancient draconian language for the piece to rise by itself out of his grasp. It rose higher and higher, until it finally slotted into place on the wall, the image now revealing one of the three necks of the dragon with a head.
"Excellent. Only three more pieces, and then…" the ruler spoke, his cold eyes burning with determination. "The Blues Eyes Ultimate Dragon shall arise again!"
The Dictator laughed to himself in pride before beginning to utter more ancient draconian words. Once he spoke the incantation, the newly acquired tablet glowed lightly and in a sudden flash, a piece of parchment fluttered down to the floor.
Amelda had seen this many times over. Whenever a new part of the Blue Eyes was added to wall, Seto would repeat words he and his comrades couldn't understand, and every time, a clue would appear to reveal where the next artefact was hidden.
Picking up the parchment, the male walked down the altar steps and stood before Amelda. Without a word, he handed over the clue, as well as three pouches, which jingled as Seto placed them in Amelda's hands.
"That's your pay for your recent success, along with a little advance for your next mission. Now, find me the rest of pieces quickly. I don't like waiting," he stated firmly before turning around and waving a hand at the three thieves. That was always a sign they could leave, which they were always glad of. With a final bow, they retreated from the sanctum, the large doors slamming behind them.
"Wow, he's really getting anxious isn't he?" Varon chuckled once they were outside the temple in fresh night air. "Not so much as a thank you, cheek!"
"Shut up or you're not getting your share, moron," Raphael retorted, while Amelda handed each of them one of the pouches, their equal cut of the profit for the job.
Meanwhile, the silent member of the group was busy reading a verse on the parchment:
Careful where you seek, danger lies ahead,
Beyond thy lands life, not lying on the bed.
Your prize in the sun's protection, yet light shall never reach,
Under the wing, where a poor man chose to preach.
"Any idea what all that means Amelda?" the blonde asked as he read the clue. "With such an elaborate hint, I guess this next piece must be hidden somewhere not many would go to look for it."
"Beyond the lands life? What's that mean anyway? They couldn't just say where they put the damn thing…" Varon huffed, while Raphael rolled his eyes and glared at the brunette.
"Because they don't want any simpleton to wield such a powerful creature," Raphael retorted, leaving the shorter man to hold up his hands in defence.
"Beyond the river," a mumbling Amelda said, gaining the attention of the other two men. "The Great River is the life support of both kingdoms! Without it no one would be able to survive in the desert. And it has to be way past the river since it says it's 'not lying on the bed'. It must mean the riverbed."
"So it's past the river," the cocky blue eyed thief muttered, pulling out a map quickly from his pack and gazing at it intensely. "That's means we're going back into the Magician Kingdom then?" he asked, to which the redhead began nodding.
"But where exactly, that's the question?" the largest man spoke.
Tapping his fingers on the paper, Amelda bit his lip in concentration, trying to think. There had to be something he was missing.
'It says it's "in the sun's protection",' he pondered. 'That has to be a representation…or symbol of some sort…' he wondered, looking back at the sky above him to see the moon rising further in the sky…
"That's it!" he cried suddenly, giving his two friends quite a shock.
"What's it? What are you talking about?"
"I know what it means! The sun's protection!" he exclaimed, pointing to the sky. "Look, what does the moon mean to the Dragon Kingdom?"
"Well," Raphael muttered, looking at the glowing orb. "It's a symbol of their power. They attack at night when the moon is out because they're strong then…they draw strength from it."
"Exactly. And if the Dragon people use the moon as power, who do you think uses the sun?" Amelda asked his two friends, who suddenly displayed looks of realisation.
"The Magicians, of course!" Varon said, hitting his forehead for being so blind as not to see it. "So, it means they have the next piece of the dragon tablet, but where are they hiding it? Where is this place of 'protection'?" he asked, looking at the other two…and watched a grin appeared on the grey-blue eyed man's features.
"What place is more protected, than Atemu's palace?"
There was unfortunately not much for the magician girl to do during her break. At first, she tried to speak with Pharaoh Atemu, whom she fondly called 'Prince', but he was busy discussing strategies with Mahaado and several other High Magicians. Then Mana tried to coax some of the servants to talk to her, but they were all busy preparing dinner. Of course, the guards were not allowed to speak while on duty, so she was once again alone.
Luckily, she did have something she could do. She "borrowed" a few scrolls from the palace library and innocently snuck out to the training grounds.
Located behind the palace was a small temple. It had been in disuse for quite a long time, since another temple had been built elsewhere for the commoners to worship. But for some reason, this place had not been taken down, the stones still left the same as they were. Not even the other mages cared to visit it, so Mana had more or less claimed it as her place to practice high-levelled, "forbidden" magic.
The spells in the scrolls were not really "forbidden" – they were just supposed to be too advanced for a mage to handle, not without a teacher's guidance. Challenging though this magic persisted to be, Mana was determined to learn as much as she could. In her mind, these spells would be able to protect her in battle, so that she wouldn't end up like her parents…
Upon entering the darkened sanctuary, Mana snapped her fingers so that tiny balls of light illuminated her path. There was no one else with her and nothing much inside but dust and old pieces of building material.
She smiled up at the statue of the Guardian of Magicians, which was the centrepiece of the temple. "Hello! Today is the day that I am going to figure out one of these spells!" She walked off to the side, to a cleared area with plenty of space for practice. "Master Mahaado will be so proud of me, won't he?"
As she took out a scroll from her pack, she sat down cross-legged on the floor. Then she unrolled the papyrus and concentrated on the symbols painted there, her lips forming the words without speaking them. Incantations were powered by the intentions of the magicians who spoke them. Without intention, without focus, the spell would collapse and take the magician's strength with it. So Mahaado was right about paying attention, but she didn't think that the simple spells were such a big deal.
And if she could use these powerful spells, she wouldn't have to bother with the smaller ones.
Hours slipped by without Mana's notice. Even though her memorization of the spells became better, she still couldn't summon the magic to work for her. Eventually, her eyes started to droop and her back leaned against the wall.
"Just a few…more minutes," she yawned. The little magic lights faded. Then her mind drifted off into dreamland, her hand still clutching the scroll.