Sooo, how's it been? I'm sorry I disappeared for… what? Two months or so? I made a promise to myself to keep a backlog of chapters so I could keep a schedule for my stories, releasing every other week, but I've been having a pretty shitty year, and it's only April. Since January, I've had two deaths in the family (neither of which I was super close to but I had to be there for my family), I got sicker than I have ever been in at least ten years, and had two research essays due on the same exact day with a third due less than two weeks later. It's like the world decided that last year wasn't hard enough for me and just kept throwing little missiles of pain and stress my way.
Hopefully, the universe will give me a long enough break to write a bunch more chapters and start really diving into this story.
Bloom's Pov
There was no time to waste. I immediately informed Flora and Stella of this new development and both were rightly shocked. We agreed to split up even more in order to possibly get a step ahead. I gave Flora the key to the sky palace so she could return home and warn the others while Musa summoned a portal to her home world so we could go directly there.
By directly, I mean outside the gates as magic is forbidden in the graveyards. All sense of urgency slowly faded in the two of us as we walked through the path of graves. The placed seemed to drain us both of all energy. Occasionally, we would see someone in heavy robes walking the grounds, carrying a stick with a lantern.
"Don't catch their attention," Musa warned. "They only allow in visitors who are visiting graves, and will turn people back if they get too close to the tower."
"How do we even get to the tower?" I looked out across the graves, which slowly disappeared in a haze of fog. "I can barely see the tower, and these paths are like a maze!"
Musa didn't answer me immediately. "My mother's grave is near the tower's south side. It looks over the bay where the tower is closest to the water front. If we can get close to it, I'll be able to get us to the tower."
I fell silent as Musa continued walking. We crossed paths with several of the robed people, and every once in a while one would ask if we were lost. Musa easily reassured them that she knew where she was going and we would continue on our way.
Eventually, we found ourselves at the edge of the graveyard on a bluff. Musa approached one of the stones and knelt by it for a moment. I looked down at my feet for a time, giving her as much privacy as I could afford. She was right though, the tower was within sight now and the fog seemed to be clearing up a bit.
"Okay," I looked back as my friend stood and brushed herself off. "Basically we need to follow the paths straight back."
"Sounds easy enough."
Musa had a new sense of urgency, as if visiting the grave had given her strength. Weaving through the paths, the two of us easily made it to the base of the tower. How it was standing, I'll never know. It was round and the width of a house, and its top disappeared into the clouds. There were many windows and holes all through the towers walls, none of which were big enough to crawl through, and there were some pegs sticking through the stones winding around it, like a stair well for the suicidal. We looked around the entire thing twice before giving up on finding a door.
"So, how do we get in? We can't use our wings since there's no magic allowed here." Musa trailed off, trying to think of something.
Stepping back, I looked higher up the tower and began to walk around again. My eyes followed the pegs up and around, but suddenly, they stopped. Just barely, I could make out a difference in color on the wall just above the last peg.
"Oh fun." I sighed. I pointed at the place as Musa turned to look at me. "That's the way in."
Her jaw dropped. "Are you sure about that?"
"99.8 percent sure."
"I know this is for my planet's guardian and all, but I already don't like this." Musa turned to walk back around to the lowest pegs.
"Well, I now know why there's a graveyard around this place. They probably got sick of carrying the bodies off whenever someone tried to steal their way in." I followed her.
The first few pegs were not very trustworthy, shaking under our weight as we tried to crawl across them. As we climbed farther, they got sturdier, but it didn't stop my arms from shaking.
"I'm glad it's foggy today." Musa chattered, her body quivering just as hard as mine. "No one should be able to see us up here."
"I think that's the one good thing about this entire situation." I replied.
The silence that followed was an uncomfortable one, so Musa kept talking. "What do you think about all this? About dragonix and the guardians and everything?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean its kind of strange that it seems like all the guardians have been on our home worlds, and that we've been finding dragons who have bonded with us."
"It is kind of strange, but hey, it makes things a heck of a lot easier. You knew where this tower was immediately, and the others were practically made for the puzzles and challenges. Hey, maybe you'll find a dragon too."
"That's true, and… maybe? Alake's kind of aloof though, and Tufan is completely drained of all life after his guardian died. I don't know if I could care for a dragon." Musa sighed.
"Not all dragons are like Alake, and I'm sure Tufan will come around. Remember Mink when he was little? He was so carefree and happy, and he still kind of is. He has the biggest crush on Peril, and's learning to become a soldier to impress her." I smiled, thinking of the golden wyvern and how dedicated he is to the red dragoness.
We continued talking until we reached the last pegs. There was no platform for us to stand, so Musa and I got to our feet and balanced on the last few rungs. There was a difference in the wall. A flat stone tablet with several symbols on it.
There was a simplified drawing of the temple with the moon above it, and several music notes on a cleft circled by the great dragon.
When the moon rises high as the sun leaves the sky, find hope that nothing will fall
As the levels of being find strength in the feelings, find joy that it is stronger than all
Fear not that something will break, for even the best make mistakes
Find truth in its call, For the melody of emotions keeps us all
In the heart of the mother.
Musa recited, running her fingers across the notes. "This is the sheet music for the song. Thousands have tried to recreate it, but no one's ever perfectly recreated it. How has no one ever made it up here and written it down before?"
"Because we don't let them."
A voice caused both of us to freeze. Carefully, the two of us turned our heads. Cloud was the longest dragon I had ever seen, but this one was almost twice her length. She was a pale violet with a soft white mane that trailed down her back and plumed at the tip of her tail. She had short, thin legs, no wings, small antlers, and vibrant blue eyes.
"Who are you?" I called, and she hovered closer.
"My name is Ruana. No one is allowed up here." Her voice was soft, and quivered as if she was afraid.
"I'm sorry, but we need to get into the keep. The guardian is in danger." This caught her off guard.
"Melody isn't here." Ruana's voice began to tremble as she started to panic. "Is the temple in danger?"
The two of us exchanged a shocked glance, but the more imminent problem was the dragon who came to throw us off the tower. "Yes, please help us get in." Musa reached out a hand towards the dragon who was now in full panic.
Ruana, now almost hyperventilating, locked eyes with her. Slowly, the dragon stretched forwards and allowed Musa to touch her nose. I watched as the fairy of music gave her a reassuring smile, and how she seemingly forgot the situation we were in. So, not a coincidence, I thought.
Once calmer, Ruana backed away slightly. "I don't know how to get in. None of us do. We live higher up in the tower where the entrances are wider, but you can't climb that high."
"Well then, can you fly up and maybe find a way to open it from the inside?"
"Oh, no!" Ruana suddenly jerked back, panic renewed. "Father and the others would be so angry!"
Musa and I looked at each other again. The other two keeps had dragon guards as well. Solaria's had Alake and his brother, and Zenith's had Tufan. Here there was Ruana, her father, and apparently others. The other guardians' keeps were well hidden so they didn't need as much security. This one, however, was out in the open and apparently had many guards who weren't afraid of pushing people off the edge.
"Well, maybe you can help us solve this riddle?" Musa offered.
When the moon rises high as the sun leaves the sky, find hope that nothing will fall
As the levels of being find strength in the feelings, find joy that it is stronger than all
Fear not that something will break, for even the best make mistakes
Find truth in its call, For the melody of emotions keeps us all
In the heart of the mother.
Musa sung the verse, which seemed to calm the long dragon. Musa paused for a while, and then sang it again, slowly emphasizing certain words, before giving me a triumphant smile. "We found hope that nothing will fall, as we rose high like the moon."
It took me a moment to understand, and I continued. "The levels of being must have been the pegs, and I sure found joy that it is stronger than all. But what about the second verse?"
The two of us looked back at the wall, and Musa continued, "Fear not that something will break… Oh no. We have to break this thing."
"But how? It's stone, and we can't use magic here." I carefully looked around for anything to help us. My eyes settled on Ruana.
"Ruana, we need to break this stone," I carefully tried to convince the dragon to help us, but then stopped as I noticed that Musa was carefully tracing her fingers across the music notes one by one.
Humming the tune softly, she reached the end and then began to carefully trace the Great dragon. "This music isn't exactly right." Musa squinted and moved her fingers to a spot on the music. "There should be a note here."
Ruana drew closer to get a better look. "You're right. There should be an f-flat there."
Musa scratched her nail on the spot, and all three of us were shocked to see that the spot easily began to crumble. She gave me a quick glance before scratching more at the spot. As she worked at it, more and more began to chip off. Reaching over, I helped her dig farther into the wall until her hand landed on a now visible lever.
"I had no idea that was there." Ruana blew some of the dust away.
"Well, I think we know the way in now." I coughed, waving away the dirt that blew up in my face.
Musa gently took hold of the lever and pulled. There was a sudden snap inside the wall and a sound of grinding gears. Suddenly, the entire section of the wall we were leaning on for support fell in. Both of us let out a shout as the wall fell to the floor.
"ouf," I pushed myself up on my hands and knees, and then got a glimpse beyond the wall we were lying on. "Oh, shit!"
The wall hadn't landed on the floor after all, but was dangling over a pit by a few rusty bars. Thankfully, instead of pegs, there was a stone staircase that spiraled up against the walls.
"Well, I guess we only have one way to go." Musa looked back at Ruana, who had now poked her head into the tower and was curiously looking about. "Do you want to come with us?"
"I've never been this low in the tower before." Ruana then seemed to remember her purpose. "I'd better follow to keep an eye on you."
I didn't miss the smile Musa gave to the dragon, and I hid my own as we began to ascend the staircase.
Musa's Pov
Ruana floated just above our heads as we climbed the tower. About ten times over, I thanked whatever higher powers existed that I was a fairy, and how it gave me more stamina than the average person.
Bloom, on the other hand, was gasping for air after about an hour of climbing. I had to force her to take a break, which I knew she secretly appreciated. All of us knew something was deeply wrong with Bloom. She was easily tired, barely eats, and she's become worryingly thin.
Even after only just meeting, Ruana also seemed concerned for the redhead. Unfortunately, I don't even think Bloom knew what was wrong, and she defiantly wasn't asking for the help she needed.
It seemed like it took hours before we finally found an open window. All three of us stopped and enjoyed the fresh air. Feeling the light breeze, I closed my eyes to simply revel in its cool touch. Suddenly, Ruana let out a gasp, and my eyes shot open, meeting an angry pair of blue eyes belonging to a dragon that was similar to, but much larger than Ruana.