And without further ado, here's the second part!

Dragon'verse - Chapter 1.2: The dragon

With warm clothes covering his warm body Shinichi felt renewed as he continued down the cave. On the right side of the platform he'd found another tunnel and seeing as that was the only way he could go he followed it. This time guided by the light of the crystals he felt a lot better and more positive about his mission.

Of course more problems were just waiting around the corner. After walking for about an hour Shinichi found himself standing in front of four gaping holes. Great, just what he needed; a junction. Now he had to choose which path he should take.

Sighing Shinichi looked at the tunnels. The one on the far left was small and on closer inspection Shinichi saw that it would only get smaller the farther he went inside. Either it would be a dead-end, or he'd get stuck halfway. So that one was out of the option.

Then there were three left. The second one from the left looked normal enough. It went straight for quite some time, before it curved to the left. It was completely lit up by the crystals and seemed safe enough.

The second one from the right was different. It was completely dark and it was rather large, larger than the others. Remembering a trick his father had told him, Shinichi threw a stone a good distance inside the tunnel. The sound of the stone falling on the ground continued to echo for a long time before slowly fading away. That meant that it wasn't a dead-end or at least not any time soon.

The last tunnel was again lit up by the crystals, but it almost immediately curved to the right. Daring to walk a few steps inside Shinichi looked around the curve. He frowned as another curve made it impossible to see the remaining part of the tunnel.

Looking back, he hesitated. He didn't want to venture too far from the junction, but at this rate he wouldn't know which road to choose. He decided one more curve wouldn't hurt. Walking a few more steps forward he saw it was of no use. The tunnel was much like a snake, curve after curve blocked his sight from the rest.

Walking back to the junction Shinichi sat down with his back against a crystal, enjoying its warmth as he thought about his next course of actions. Now he had to choose which one he would pick; the straight tunnel, the dark tunnel or the snake-like tunnel. Sighing Shinichi let his head fall back with his eyes closed.

This was useless. He was stuck in this maze-like cave, with no idea what time it was or how to get back. Maybe Hattori had already left with what was left of their army? If that were the case, he'd probably be furious at him. He did promise he would be back by morning.

Ran would probably miss him too. Especially her aristocratic parents would be sad to see him gone, even though her father didn't really like him. The only reason he tolerated Shinichi was because his daughter had taken a liking to him and he would be a good husband for Ran.

Oh yes, Shinichi knew his parents and Ran's had been talking about marriage. After this mission they were planning to break the news to them. Ran would be delighted to hear it, so he guessed he had to get back home soon.

He had to get this mission over with. Finding that dragon's weakness would bring him one step closer to that. Opening his eyes with determination Shinichi thought about just taking a risk and picking a random tunnel when something caught his eyes.

On the ceiling of the cave words were written. Three words written just above the doors. "Eien, Gaman, Shi," Shinichi read out loud. Forever, perseverance, and death were their translations. What was that supposed to mean?

Shinichi thought about it, taking his chin with one hand, while the other took a hold of his elbow. It was rather obvious the words were clues as to which path he should take. The 'shi' or 'death' was written above the Snake-like tunnel. It would be wise not to choose that one. A tunnel leading to death did not sound good.

'Gaman' was written above the dark tunnel. Perseverance, Shinichi thought, did that refer to the fact it was completely dark? You had to be brave enough to continue?

The last tunnel, the straight one, held the word 'eien'. Forever was rather fitting. The straight tunnel seemed to go on forever, and maybe it did.

Well… that choice was made rather quickly. He stepped towards the Gaman tunnel and stood in front of it. That was it. He'd have to go through the darkness if he wanted to continue. Sighing, Shinichi walked forward.

But stopped before he could actually enter. Jerking his head up, he looked at the direction of the Shi tunnel. Had it been his imagination or had there just…?

Staring at it he tried to see if it would repeat. Just as he'd been about to enter the Gaman tunnel he thought he saw a shadow from the corner of his eyes. It passed by really quickly as if someone had run away.

Who would be in the Shi tunnel? Or rather who would be in these tunnels at all? he thought. He'd come there to finish his mission and find the dragon's weakness. But what anyone else could be doing here, was a complete mystery. Maybe it had been his imagination? Maybe it had just been a trick or something to lead him towards the Shi tunnel, towards death? He should just continue down the Gaman and ignore what he'd seen.

But it was pulling. The urge to figure out what anyone had to do inside these tunnels was so alluring that he couldn't resist. It was the exact same feeling as he'd had in front of the entrance. He had to find out more. He had to figure out this mystery and the only way to do that was to follow it.

So, even though his mind yelled at him and told him to stop, his heart couldn't let it go. Changing course, he walked inside the Shi tunnel, sending one glance back towards the Gaman. As he'd thought the tunnel was exactly like a snake. It curled throughout the mountain, left, right, left, and again to the right.

Though it didn't take long before he encountered something new. The first ones he'd seen were written in the outer wall of a curve so that you would see them before you made the turn. Written in a red liquid that looked eerily like blood, were the words;

'Turn back'.

Not much of a threat and Shinichi wasn't one to back down so easily. So he ignored the words and continued his walk. After five minutes he encountered more words. This time written in a foreign language. Shinichi recognized it as the language of their neighboring country. He could speak it a little, so even though he couldn't understand exactly what it said, he got the gist of it.

'Death'

'Blood'

'Devil'

The farther he continued the more words he encountered. Soon the words completely filled the empty spaces between the crystals on the walls. They became more gruesome. Sometimes Shinichi saw a smudge of a bloodied hand stain the wall, as if the owner had desperately tried to hold on, but was dragged backwards.

'Help'

'Monster'

'Torture'

'Save me'

'Death'

'Demon'

'I don't want to die'

'Living HELL'

Starting to feel slightly disturbed, Shinichi rounded another corner. As soon as he had, a bright light blinded his sight. Flinching back from the light, he put a hand in front of his face. He took a step further, but realized his mistake as soon as he felt there was no ground to step on.

With a yelp he fell forward, landing on a rocky slope with a painful smack before he, unable to stop himself, rolled down. After a second or two the slope disappeared and he was once again falling through the air.

Still blinded by the bright light around him, he was unable to see when his fall would end, let alone what he would be falling on. He was having a moment of deja-vu, although this time he was blinded by light, rather than darkness. He just hoped that this fall would also end in water.

After a few horrifying seconds he felt himself connect with the water surface. Despite being half prepared, he gasped as the cold chilled his just-warmed-up-body, causing water to flood his throat. Opening his eyes, he looked for the direction of the light and quickly swam there.

He choked as he breached the water surface, taking in short breaths as his body tried to cough up water at the same time. Looking around he swam to the closest patch of land he could find, pulling himself up until he was on hands and knees trying to stop his body's reflexes so as not to choke.

Once the water was out of his system, he took in deep gasping breaths, as he dropped himself on his back. He lay on the soft patch of grass for a while, cursing his bad luck and praying to whatever god that was willing to listen to make sure his journey went better from now on.

After he finished his silent prayer, he noticed he wasn't subjected to the bright light anymore. A shadow prevented the light from blinding him further, though he couldn't connect the shape with anything he'd seen before. It was something made out of wood.

As his body finally calmed down enough and his lunges had had enough oxygen, he sat up and took a look around him. Confusion made his eyebrow furrow on his forehead, as he took in the summery forest around him. The light that had blinded him was a warm yellow colour, much like the sun. The temperature was nice, if a little high. It was the kind of weather that just made you want to sit beneath a tree and bath in the forest's aura. The bird chirping as they flew through the trees only added to that feeling.

The peaceful scene felt ethereal as he'd been certain it had been autumn when he'd entered the mountain. Not to mention, the maps they'd used to navigate to the mountain had shown no sign of a forest lying anywhere near. He'd come a long way, but certainly he wasn't that far away from the camp? He wouldn't even have guessed that he'd left the mountain.

Shaking his head, he looked up to see what the shadow looming over him was. He was underneath some kind of platform, wooden pillars supporting the logs that formed the base of the platform. He noticed that some of the pillars stood in the water, causing the platform to hover over the lake in front of him.

Good thing he'd landed in the lake rather than the wooden structure…

Getting up, he walked from underneath the platform, hoping to get a glimpse of what was on top of it. As soon as he was a couple of meters away from the platform he looked up, shielding his eyes from what he thought was the sun. The further he went backwards, the more he could see of the structure that was on top of the platform and his eyes widened in equal measure.

On top of the platform was an odd-looking, wooden building. It stretched across the whole platform, but the middle part of the roof seemed to be low. He guessed he could only barely walk straight at the lowest parts, however that was made up by the sides of the roof, which jutted upwards into the sky.

Sky?

The scenery beyond the cottage caught his attention as the sandy brownish colour covered the space where he'd expected the azure blue of the sky. Focusing more on his surroundings, he saw that he was still inside the mountain, but he'd stumbled - quite literally - into a humongous cavern that contained a whole forest and lake. Trying to look over the trees Shinichi guessed that the cavern was large enough to contain the capital - with castle and all.

But what really struck him as odd, was that there was no hole through which the sun lit up the cave. Instead, as he investigated the cavern more closely, there was a huge crystal embedded in the roof, which emitted the warm yellow light. It baffled him. He'd experienced the crystal's warmth first hand, but this crystal overpowered those tenfold. The warmth that met him as he stood in its light, felt as if the crystal actually was the sun.

Shinichi looked back at the cottage. If there was such a building here it meant there was someone living here as well. The shadow leading him to the Shi tunnel… had that been the person living here?

If there really was anyone living here, then they could surely tell him more about the dragon that ruled this mountain. He took a step forward, intent on asking help with whoever was living in the cottage, but stopped. A frown creased his forehead as another thought hit him. The person, or people, living here surely wouldn't stay with the possible threat of a dragon, would they? The idea that whoever stayed inside this cottage was actually the one controlling the dragon was perhaps more likely the case.

Deciding that caution was best when he entered the cottage, he stepped forward. Whether or not they were in cahoots with the God of the mountain, they could help him get one step closer to his goal, so he had to investigate the cottage at the very least.

Looking around the platform, he tried to find a way up, which he did in the form of a wooden stairs on one side of the platform. As quietly as he could, Shinichi moved up the stairs, reaching a balcony which lead to the front door.

Although to call it a front door was an exaggeration. Rather it was an opening with a cloth hanging in front of it. Grinning Shinichi didn't mind it in the slightest. Now he could take a peek inside without the noise he would make when opening a door.

With his back pressed against the wall beside the 'front door', he looked around, pushing the cloth away just the slightest. The roof really wasn't that high on this side, though as he'd thought he could still stand straight, if only barely. The cottage seemed on the inside to be one open space, divided by cloths that hung much like liana in u-shapes. The floor was covered in exotic looking carpets.

"You can come in now, you know?" a voice suddenly said, startling Shinichi. His heart began to hammer inside his chest as he stayed quiet, hoping whoever had spoken was talking to someone else. He couldn't see anyone inside the room, though anyone could be hiding behind one of the cloths. "I knew you were inside my mountain the moment you took one step in. Now stop hiding by the door."

Knowing he couldn't hide any longer, Shinichi stepped inside the room. "My apologies, I didn't mean to be rude," he said. "My name is Kudo Shinichi, son of Kudo Yusaku."

"What is your purpose here, Kudo Shinichi?" He didn't know who he was talking to, and where their loyalties lay. But was it worth lying about his purpose?

"I am merely seeking the dragon that resides in this mountain," he said, opting for a neutral answer. He turned towards the direction where the voice had come from. It was to the right of the room where the roof reached its highest point. A large cloth hid whatever lay behind, but light shone through the windows behind it, casting shadows on the cloth.

A huff met him. Clearly the other wasn't impressed. "Why? Do you think you can defeat it on your own?"

The mocking tone made Shinichi frown. "Of course not. I'm not arrogant enough to think I'd be able to even leave a scratch on its skin," he said, after which it stayed quiet for a second too long. Shinichi moved towards the cloth, hoping to catch a glimpse of whomever he was talking to.

"If it isn't a battle you're looking for, why do you want to find this dragon?"

The wary tone in the voice told him he had to be careful with his next choice of words. The man seemed to dislike his quest to look for the dragon, but it also didn't sound like he'd appreciate a lie. "I'm here to find its weakness," he said, seeing no other way to put it.

"I see," was the only answer that met him.

When Shinichi reached the cloth he hesitated for a second, a wave of dread washing over him as he wondered whether or not he should face the man. There was little reason not to, the man already knew he was there and seeing each others' faces wouldn't matter. But there was an anxious feeling gnawing on his stomach, as if he were about to make a huge mistake.

Pushing the feeling aside, he pushed the cloth aside and froze at the sight. There was a dais in front of two large ceiling-to-floor windows, with something like a throne made of pillows. And between those pillows sat a man with piercing indigo eyes and messy brown hair.

His upper body was barely covered by a high collared, white robe that hung open and showed off his muscular torso. The edges of the robe were decorated with baby blue stripes that paled in comparison to the man's eyes. A red satchel was wrapped around his hips and a pair of white trousers covered his lower body. His bare arms shone with gold, two golden bracelets wrapping around his biceps and two larger ones that covered almost his entire forearm.

The clothes combined with the setting, made the man look exotic. Shinichi felt as if he were looking at a dessert prince, with the only thing missing being a table of food and a group of belly dancers.

But the thing that struck him the most were the faint signs of crimson scales on his shoulders and cheeks. A twinkle of crimson light made him look at the man's forehead, where a small ruby seemed to be embedded. In his memories he'd seen the exact same twinkle, except bigger - a lot bigger. It was the time when his comrades screamed in agony as they were burned alive. At that time, when he could only watch them die, he saw the crystal on top of its massive head twinkle in the light of the sun. A huge red crystal burning as if it were on fire.

A smirk split the man's face almost in two as those indigo eyes froze Shinichi on the spot. "Congratulations, you've found the dragon." The knight could only stare at the man. The realization that the dragon and him were one and the same could only slowly process inside his mind.

Eventually the man sighed, the smirk dropping from his face. "Humans are such foolish creatures. You think that just because you are with so many you own the world and can take anything you want," he muttered probably not having meant for Shinichi to hear. He sat up straight. "I thought you would be smart enough to heed the warnings inside my Shi tunnel, but I guess I was mistaken. Now that you know the truth I cannot let you leave."

The indigo eyes stirred the memory of the earlier battle again. At one point he'd been right next to the dragon's head as it passed a rock formation on which Shinichi had climbed. The large indigo eyes, even if they hadn't looked at him, had burned away all his self control. Powerless he'd dropped to his knees, unable to get up until the battle was over.

Faced with that memory he gathered the last bit of strength he had left and ran. Out of the building, half falling from the platform as he went down the stairs as fast as possible, and into the forest. No matter how frightening the man- no, dragon was, he was not going to go down without a fight.

He continued to run, branches clawing at his clothes and slowing him down. His only hope was that the branches would slow down the dragon as well, although if he were to use his real form a mere branch wasn't going to do much.

He didn't know where he was going, nor did he care. Finding an exit and getting out was the only thing on his mind. But as he ran he realized there was no sound of anyone following him. There was no roar from the dragon, nor were there footsteps of anyone running after him.

Hiding behind a tree, he tried to catch his breath while at the same time trying to pick up any sign of anyone following him. After a few minutes he came to the conclusion the dragon really wasn't following him. Anxiously he wondered why.

As the thought continued to spiral around his mind, he slid down the tree's trunk, head falling back to rest against the rough bark. With the knowledge he wasn't being chased, the exhaustion from the whole ordeal took over his body.

He tried to fight against the urge to close his eyes, but it was a losing battle. I hope I wake up again, was the last thought before he fell asleep.