With the morphs guarding the ruins dead, Luke and Yuko head into the Dragon's Gate with Patrick and Quana. They hope to find answers inside…

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Chapter 6: Dragon Ruins

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After dealing with the morphs outside of the Dragon's Gate, Luke and his party continued onwards into the structure itself. While the stone was slightly faded due to age, the temple still held a mystical air about it. However, there were some areas that seemed damaged. Some cracks were visible on the floors and walls from attacks that had been fired in the past.

"There's definitely some strong magic energy in this place..." Yuko mused softly, more so to herself than out loud. Was this the power of the dragons? It was baffling.

"I think some of these marks were left over from that battle against Nergal," Luke commented, examining the cracks. "That must have been quite the epic battle. I wish I could have seen it."

"Don't look now, but I think we're not the only ones here," Quana spoke up, her bow already at the ready. "I think there's more morphs in here. I can hear footsteps."

"I just hope this is the last of them," Yuko said as she readied herself. As she spoke six of the creatures emerged from the still intact rooms that lined the wide hall they found themselves in.

"Two axes, lances and swords," Luke noted. "There might be more hiding in the rooms."

"At least they should be easier to deal with, right?" Patrick asked. "We just need to pick them off one by one and that should be the end of it," At least he hoped it would be that simple.

"We'll have to, this place has stood for centuries, we don't have the power to simply collapse the structure," Yuko noted. An axe user charged and she fired off two blasts of elthunder at the creature, which disintegrated it.

"No more time to talk," Quana added as she fired off an arrow at a charging ranger swordsman.

As the ranger was hit by the arrow, Patrick dashed forward and impaled the morph viciously with his spear. The creature burst into black dust, signifying its death. Luke wasted no time in launching his own attack, sending out a fireball at one of the lancers. Yuko shot a bolt of normal thunder at the lancer and finished it off.

"Three down, three to go," Quana remarked. The remaining morphs weren't going to just stand there and let themselves get killed, however. The myrmidon darted towards her, slashing its blade. The archer girl was forced to jump back to evade the attack.

Yuko was caught by another axe fighter. She shouted in pain as the axe cut into her side and she struck back with elthunder. Luke was quick to strike as well, plunging his sword into the creature's chest. Patrick also attacked, stabbing his lance at the myrmidon who attacked Quana. It managed to dodge the attack, though. Quana backed up and managed to plant an arrow in the morphs skull, slaying it in an instant.

The last fighter didn't last too much longer, quickly put down by a combination of Luke's sword and Yuko's thunder. "Well that's done," Patrick remarked. "But do you think that's all there were?"

"Probably not, so let's be careful," Luke advised.

"There might be more at the portal," Yuko said. "The sooner we clear them out the better," She added as she took off for the back of the hall.

"She's really impatient, isn't she?" Quana commented, amused.

"Seems like it. But she's right; the sooner we get rid of them, the better. Let's catch up!" Luke remarked.

Yuko slowed to a stop once she reached the bridge in front of the now sealed dragon's gate and peered across, "It looks like about a dozen more and... Look out!" she jumped aside as a massive bolt of lightning struck where she had been a second ago. She turned to see four morphs standing on small platforms sticking up out of the void. "Long range magic."

"If only we can find a way to knock them down from those perches..." Luke said, frowning deeply. Having those mages so high up like that would make it very dangerous to try and counterattack, even impossible at the current distance.

"I can handle them," Yuko said.

"But how. Do you have your own long-range magic?" Patrick asked.

"No, I have these." Yuko spread her wings.

"Just be careful," the tactician advised her. "Quana's arrows can't reach that high, so we'll be counting on you to take them out. We'll handle the troops on the ground."

"I will be. You should stay out of their range until I deal with them, unless you can withstand their magic." Yuko flapped her wings and took off out over the void, heading for the magic that had tried to bolt her.

As the foot soldiers approached the remaining trio, the battle broke out anew. A fighter jumped up and slashed its axe at Luke, who managed to jump back out of the way. He retaliated with a slash from his own blade, cutting deep into the morph's body. Quana quickly finished it off before two lancers appeared and attempted to impale Luke on their lances. Patrick defended his friend with his shield which allowed the tactician to incinerate the lancers with his fire magic.

Fortunately for them, Yuko's approach to the platforms diverted the attention of the mages. One massive bolt of lightning struck her but she weathered the blast, a little scorched, as she came in under his range and blew him off the platform with a bolt of elthunder. As the mage fell, Quana acted. Drawing an arrow, she let it fly true, letting it pierce the morph as it plummeted. The only remains were the black dust that scattered away to the wind. Patrick took a blow from a myrmidon but spun his lance and ran him through, the morphs dissolving to dust on his lance.

"I don't think there's too many left, but keep your guards up." Luke advised his teammates. He couldn't see around the corners, but he was careful about advancing. He didn't want to end up on the wrong side of a blade.

Yuko dodged another bolt of lightning and flew after another of the mages. She got close enough to blast him with elthunder, disintegrating him. She smirked and scooped up the discarded bolting tome from the dust pile. She opened the book and tried to cast the spell, but it fizzled. "Need more practise," she commented before she took off again.

With more of the long range mages being picked off it was safer for Luke and the others to advance. Sure enough, there were still a few morphs remaining, as a knight approached and stabbed a lance towards Luke. The tactician managed to evade, while Patrick immediately engaged the opponent.

"There doesn't appear to be a leader," Quana noted as she shot two arrows at the knight which stuck in its armor.

"Maybe we already killed their leader - that sniper from outside." Luke commented as he cast a fire spell, blasting the knight.

Quana watched the knight crumble to dust, "It's possible," she mused. Another flash of lightning indicated that Yuko had taken down the third long range mage.

"Seems like we're almost done here..." Patrick remarked. "But just what are they doing here?"

"Maybe they were just left behind by those two we saw at the entrance," Luke speculated.

"Maybe..."

"But just what goal did those men have here?" Quana wondered aloud with a frown.

"I wish I knew, but I don't have the foggiest idea," Luke admitted.

Further speculation was stopped when two lancers charged at Luke. One missed hit stabbed but the other managed to strike him through the side. The tactician let out a cry of pain as the lance hit him, wincing a bit. Patrick was quick to leap into action, stabbing towards the lancer who hit his friend.

Yuko flew right at the last of the long range mages. This time the mage was ready for her and it shot a last of fire at her. She retaliated with two bolt of elthunder, striking it down. "Last one," she said aloud before she turned back to the bridge and flew towards her companions.

Quana feathered one of the two lancers in the throat with an arrow. It didn't have much of a chance to recover as Luke finished it off with a sword stroke, reducing it to dust. Patrick took a hit to the side, but he managed to finish off the other lancer as well. "Is that all of them?" he wondered, looking about.

"Two more at the closed portal," Yuko said as she landed amongst them.

"That's all? Then we're almost done," Luke said, relief in his voice. There were so many morphs around and he was surprised they weren't completely outnumbered. Perhaps it was because the morphs themselves weren't very strong at all.

"Then let's finish this," Quana said as she sighted down the bridge.

"Yeah, let's," Luke agreed. Though he hoped the two remaining enemies wouldn't be too tough. Fighting this much was exhausting.

Yuko landed next to Luke, "That's it for the mages, how many are left?" she asked.

"Only two enemies left it looks like..." he replied, indicating forward.

"One of them should be a commander," Quana said as she fired an arrow at an approaching armored morph. The arrow stuck but the armored morph kept coming.

Luke quickly lashed out with a fiery blast from his tome, sending it towards the approaching enemy. His attack did significantly more damage than Quana had, but it still failed to stop his charge.

Yuko sent one more blast of lightning at the knight, finally destroying it. "Alright, that just leaves the boss, whoever it is."

"AAH!" Patrick cried out in pain as a massive bolt of lightning struck him. He staggered back but didn't fall.

"Patrick, are you alright?!" Quana asked him, panic clear on her face. The young knight grunted a bit in pain, but he managed a nod towards her.

"Y-Yeah, I'll be fine…what the hell was that?" he questioned.

Luke was scowling, clearly befuddled. "Could we have missed a sniper?" he wondered aloud. His eyes then narrowed at the remaining enemy. "Or maybe their commander has been a sniper this whole time. He just was down here with the rest of the troops rather than up on the platforms, so we'd overlook him and let our guards down." A smart tactic, he would admit, though it did have a few fatal flaws, like what would happen if the commander had to fight for himself.

Yuko looked back at Patrick and sighed in relief when she saw he was still alive, "I should get closer to him, under his range. I can weather magic attacks." The pegasus zunanama spread her wings and took off down the bridge.

"Tch, I can't get a good shot at him from this distance," Quana remarked. She had thought she could try to snipe the man from a longer range, but the lack of light made her accuracy shaky at best.

"Let's just try and draw closer while Yuko draws his attention. Then we can get close enough to finish him off at close range when he can't protect himself." Luke said. He looked to Patrick in concern. "Are you okay to continue?" he asked. Patrick nodded.

"Yeah, I'm alright," he replied. He just hoped he didn't have to take anymore lightning bolts.

"Thunder! Thunder hear my cry!" The sage morph fired off a black of lightning at Yuko as she approached. Yuko took the blast head on and gritted her teeth against the pain but kept flying. As soon as he was in range she fired off two blasts of elthunder at him but he kept standing.

As the sage was distracted, Luke and the others managed to draw in close enough to try and launch some attacks of their own. Quana quickly fired off an arrow at the sage while Luke sent out a fireball from his tome, both attacks aiming to do some damage. Both struck him and he fell, "No, my strategy..." and he turned to dust as he collapsed to the floor.

Yuko sighed and wiped her forehead, "I think that's the last of them."

"I think so. Phew, that was tough," Luke admitted, panting slightly. The adrenaline had helped to temper the exhaustion, but now that the fight was over, it was obvious the small party was quite tired from their long battle.

"We should go back to the village and let everyone know that the morphs are gone," Quana said.

"Yes, but just what were they after?" Yuko wondered aloud.

"It probably had something to do with those two strange people outside the ruins," Luke speculated.

"That might be, but for now Quana's right, we need to get back home to tell everyone the danger's gone," Yuko agreed.

"Then let's do that...We could use the rest." Patrick said. He could swear that his armor still bore a few scorch marks from the lightning blast earlier. That wasn't very fun.

Luke was admittedly a little disappointed that he couldn't examine the Dragon's Gate a bit more closely, but the health of his friends came first. "Yes, let's head back."

The whole Zunanma town seemed to heave a sigh of relief when the four warriors returned to the city. Yuko's Father, Koran, was there to greet them and he smiled, moving to wrap Yuko in a hug with his arms and wings when he saw her.

[Thank goodness you're safe, may I assume the morphs are destroyed?] he asked her.

[Yes, we killed them all, but two normal Beorc appeared and gathered something before they teleported away,] Yuko said. When Koran released her she turned back to the others, "Want to come back to rest at my place for the night?" she offered.

"If you wouldn't mind having us...We're definitely exhausted." Luke said with a tired smile. They were all going to sleep easily tonight, there was no question about that.

"We don't mind," Koran assured them. "Yuko can go with you. I must inform the elders of these developments."

"Thank you, sir," the tactician replied gratefully. "C'mon guys, let's go sit down and rest."

"Yeah, the sooner I can take this armor off the better." Patrick agreed.

Back at the house, Yuko's mother Seisu helped Patrick remove his armor and fetched a vulnerary to treat their injuries. "How are you feeling?" she asked as she rubbed the vulnerary's ointment into Patrick's electrical burn."

"Sore, but I don't feel numb or anything," the young man replied. He knew that if he -had- been feeling numb, that would probably be a really bad thing.

"That's good." Seisu looked up at her daughter, "are you alright, dear?"

"I'm fine," Yuko assured her but she took a dose from the vulnerary anyway to treat her own injuries.

"Patrick took the worse of it out of all of us but I think we'll all be fine with a little bit of rest." Quana said with a smile. "We're definitely pretty tough after all of that!"

"And you should be. But what will you do now?" Seisu asked the three humans.

"That's something we need to talk about. With the morphs back for some reason, no doubt something is brewing. We might have to head home and start warning people about some impending disaster," Luke remarked thoughtfully.

"If anyone will believe us," Quana added. "Unless they see the morphs themselves they might not take us seriously when we tell them."

"It's a chance we'll have to take; we can't just ignore things," the tactician replied.

"I can only wish you luck in this endeavour," Seisu stepped back from Patrick. "Do you feel better?" she asked the knight.

"Yes, I do, thank you," he replied with a smile.

"Good," Seisu smiled.

Yuko sat back on the couch and sighed, "Are you going to be leaving tomorrow?" she asked.

"We'll see how we're feeling in the morning. But we won't stick around too much longer." Luke replied. "Within three days we'll be heading back home, at least." He felt it would be unreasonable to stay any longer than that; it should be enough time to heal from their battles.

"That is a good thing," Koran said as he returned to the home. "The elders are grateful that you killed the morphs but the people here are still uneasy when there are outsiders here. It was the same when Renault lived among us."

"We don't want to overstay our welcome," Quana admitted.

"You haven't yet, just rest and we can prepare a meal," Koran said before he moved to the kitchen.

"Excuse us," Seisu said before she followed after her husband.

"Your parents certainly are very kind," Luke commented to Yuko with a chuckle.

Yuko smiled, "thanks."

"Though we won't trouble you much longer, just until we get back on our feet. We don't want to push ourselves," he added after his compliment.

"You're no trouble," Yuko said. "It's nice to finally meet someone new from the outside world."

"Your people don't get much contact with the outside world, do they?" Quana questioned.

"We haven't left the island since we arrived over 800 years ago," Yuko replied. "We came from a world rampant with prejudice against race so even now we're afraid of what the people of Elibe will do if they see us."

"Well we're probably not better, all things considered. I mean the Scouring all but banished dragons from the continent," Luke mused.

"It would be hard to tell. Most of our ancestors probably feared the dragon's strength and that's why they started that war," Quana said.

"Maybe they won't be so angry about man-sized animal people," Patrick said.

"That's true, and dragons weren't exactly known to be friendly either. A peaceful people probably stand a much better chance," the tactician agreed.

"I can hope..." Yuko said.

*a few days later...*

Luke had made triple sure that they had everything they needed before they headed out. It had been an interesting time, to be sure, but they needed to get on home now and make sure people knew about the Morphs that would no doubt be posing a problem very soon.

"Thank you again for being so hospitable to us." Quana said as she, Patrick and Luke stood outside Yuko's home, ready to depart. "We really appreciate it."

"It wasn't too much trouble," Seisu said with her happy smile. "How will you get back to the mainland?"

"We'll be taking a boat. It's how we got here and we'll head home the same way," Patrick replied simply.

"You sailed here on your own?" Yuko's eyes widened in surprise.

"I thought the legends of danger sailing to this island were still widespread, because you're the first visitors we've had in over a century," Koran commented.

"Well...I wouldn't say we sailed here all on our own. We did have a bit of help," Luke admitted with a sheepish chuckle. "And yeah, a lot of people tend to avoid this place because of those old stories, but this place isn't as bad as the legends say." It had been a theory of his that the main reason most people feared this place was because it was Nergal's base of operations and the Black Fang had made their home here for a while as well. Sailing here wasn't the difficult part, it was returning alive that was.

"Then we wish you a safe journey. Would you like a guide back out of our forests?" Koran offered.

"Well that'd help us not get lost like we did last time. Yuko was the one who lead us here and I'm not sure we'd be able to remember the way back," Quana said thoughtfully.

"Of course I can." Yuko hugged her parents and gave them both a kiss on the cheek before she headed out the door, "Come on, don't want to keep your ride waiting," she insisted.

"Alright, alright!" Luke said with a chuckle. "We're coming! Thank you again! Goodbye!" The trio bid their final farewells before they followed Yuko out into the forests.

Yuko stayed on the ground the whole way, her wings tucked around her back as she led them out of the thick forest.

"Is that your boat that way," Yuko asked as she peered out at a tiny dot on the shoreline.

"You can see it from this far away?!" Patrick asked, sounding both surprised and impressed.

"Got it from my dad, eagle's eyes," Yuko replied with a smirk.

"That's some freaky eyesight but yes, that's our boat alright." Luke replied with a grin. "She's a sturdy vessel, even if she's on the small side."

"Well then, let's go," Yuko said as she hopped in place.

It didn't take them too long to reach the shorelines once again, idly chatting amongst each other as they walked. As they approached, they could see the boat was in fine condition and Luke was certain it wouldn't have any problems with getting back across the ocean.

"Well, this is it," he said, turning to Yuko. "Once we get the ship ready to go, we'll be off to sea again."

"I hope I don't get seasick, but I guess I can always go for a fly if my stomach gets upset," Yuko said as she looked up and down the boat in front of them.

"Eh? What are you talking about? Don't you have to stay here with your folks?" Quana asked, perplexed.

Yuko unfolded her wings from her back, revealing that she was wearing a traveller's pack on her back. "While you were staying with us I heard so much about the world, and after fighting those morphs I just can't stay put on this island. I want to go back to the mainland with you and help fight whatever is creating these things. Everyone else thinks the danger is gone but... the elders decided not to mention the humans we saw that might be controlling the morphs to avoid a panic. I can't just sit at home knowing what's going on in the world."

This definitely took the trio by surprise, evident from the dropped jaws and wide eyes. Luke was the first one to recover his composure, shaking his head a bit to rid himself of the shock. "So that's why you were so eager about getting us to leave the village..." he commented. It seemed obvious in retrospect. "Though did you talk about it with your parents? Your people are going to wonder where you disappeared to once they realize you're gone and they might think we kidnapped you or something if you left without a word."

"I spoke with my parents and they spoke with the elders, mom and dad even helped me pack after they got a look at what you packed," Yuko replied. "No one will worry, I promise."

"Well, after you went through all that trouble, it'd just be rude to say no. You really know how to make sure you get what you want, don't you?" the tactician remarked with an amused chuckle.

"I don't have a problem with Yuko coming along, but..." Quana frowned a bit. "Speaking realistically here, people back home are going to react strongly once they see her, and very badly at that. She's basically a humanoid talking pegasus; that's not something people see every day. I don't know how good your people are with magic, Yuko, but maybe there's something that you can use to make yourself look more...human? Just for the sake of keeping you from getting attacked by people who'd get the wrong impression."

"I'm not good with that kind of disguise spell, and the elders said that we may not be able to remain hidden much longer, and just one of us with limited power going ashore would be less threatening than older ones with greater power being seen. As for how people will react..." Yuko thought for a moment, "Honestly the best Idea I have it so wear a hood and keep my wings folded for a while. I don't think there is a spell to make me look human enough for this."

"I guess if that's the best we can do, we'll just have to work with it." the archer girl relented.

"It should be alright. People won't freak out too badly if they realize that she doesn't mean any harm," Luke assuaged her.

"I hope you're right..."

"Good, then let's go," Yuko stepped towards the ship and walked up the gangplank, her hooves making audible clopping sounds as she walked up the hard wood.

The trio followed her, ready to once more pilot the ship back home. Patrick headed towards the ship's wheel, taking up position as the captain, while Quana took out her bow and took aim at the rope they had used to moor the boat to land. With a moment to aim, she released the arrow, cutting the rope and setting them adrift. Drawing his fire tome, Luke used his magic to create propulsion for the ship to begin moving and soon, they were sailing away from the Dread Isle.

"Alright, let's hoist the sail!" Luke remarked.