Sonic stirred on his bed down in the basement. He could hear noises above him but wanted nothing more than to continue sleeping especially this early in the morning. When the noises refused to stop he tossed the covers off, threw on a shirt and slippers, and went through the forge up into the living area. Sally was dressed in a blue and white athletic top with matching shorts and black tights underneath. She was currently making a quick breakfast while reading the newspaper.
"Do you have any idea what time it is?" Sonic groaned, causing Sally to nearly jump out of her seat.
"Don't do that!" Sally said, gradually calming down. "You nearly gave me a heart attack."
"Oh please," Sonic muttered as he poured himself a cup of coffee. "With the shape you've been keeping yourself in I doubt a heart attack's even possible. What are you doing up this early anyway?"
"I have a string of meetings today, three of them with Petra Uvenka," Sally explained. "You know, the Mobian-hating woman that does anything in her power to keep us down?"
"I believe the term she operates under is 'pro-human' but yes I know who you mean," Sonic corrected her as he sipped his coffee. "So you're just getting your exercise out of the way before you go to prison for killing the bigot?"
Sally giggled at the comment and then sighed. "I miss this with us," she told him. "We used to have a really good back-and-forth and we made one heckuva team."
"We still would if you had actually come with me," Sonic pointed out disdainfully. "And look at this: you're here now. So much for staying and helping New Mobotropolis rebuild."
"Damn it, Sonic. Not this again," Sally replied angrily, throwing the paper down. "When will you let it go? It's not like I volunteered for this job and it was my intention to stay and help the city rebuild. But everyone agreed that I would be the best choice for this job since I've been groomed for this sort of thing."
"And part of that meant moving in with me?"
"I called you before we arrived for the Festival to tell you about the arrangement and to see if you could help change them," she explained. "You're the one who never answered."
"Maybe you can understand why," Sonic replied, his temper starting to rise. "I loved you, Sal. I wanted us to work through all this together and you more or less told me to get lost. How the hell do you think that felt?"
"You think it was any easier for me watching you sell us out to Kinos?" Sally retorted. "It doesn't matter why you did it. All that matters is that you did." With that she stood up from the table and left, slamming the door shut behind her.
Sonic stood in the kitchen staring at his coffee as he thought over the fight. They'd had this argument more than once but it had never gotten to the point of shouting. Truth be told he was tired of having the same argument over and over too but every time it came up his mouth acted before his brain.
"You'd think after everything I'd learn to just keep my damn mouth shut," he muttered finishing off his coffee. The creaking stairs caught his attention as Mina came walking down in her nightgown. "You're up early."
"Hard to sleep with you two yelling at each other," Mina said with a yawn as Sonic handed her a full mug. "Mouth got ahead of the brain again?" Sonic's sigh was all the answer she needed. "Volcarras told me about the two of you and how you forced a soul link with her."
"We grew up together," Sonic explained. "We fought against Robotnik together and things just kinda clicked at first. But after I became a Guardian Sylvanix told me that she and I could never truly be together. When I proposed I brought her into what I thought was my inner world. That created the link. The only 'forcing' I did was in creating an artificial link rather than letting it occur naturally." Sonic sighed and looked at her. "But you already know all that, don't you?"
Mina shrugged and drank her coffee. "I never questioned your motives," she said. "Love is a powerful thing that is almost impossible to understand. It can make you do some pretty crazy things." She looked at the clock on the wall to see that it was almost six. "Well, I have my own schedule to keep. I get to spend the better part of this morning with some fans no thanks to Manic running contests off the band website." As she went back upstairs she stopped halfway to look at Sonic. "Wanna get lunch together?"
"You can bring something to the office if you want," Sonic answered. "Fighting with Sally reminded me of a bunch of things she'd given me. I haven't really thought about them but there might be something important in them." Mina nodded and finished climbing the stairs. A few moments after a door closed Sonic heard the shower turn on and he took that time to change into his uniform. I suppose this is as normal as I'll ever get, he thought as he headed out the front door. Using shunpo he sped through the city to the Vanguard offices.
Arias Azosar sat in his office going over the reports he'd gotten from a number of his contacts. The ones in Xenodome were reporting that Sonic had been in Albion and encountered Nepta...and lived. The last part managed to catch his attention. He knew exactly what Nepta was capable of but destroying an entire city? Arias had seen many things in his long life but he had a hard time imagining that Nepta would be so careless.
"What are you up to, Nepta?" he asked thinking aloud. "First Mogul, then the Heart, now Albion. What are you trying to do?" A knock on his door snapped him out of it and he quickly closed the reports. "Come in." Venusia stepped through the door wearing her normal black outfit that left very little to the imagination. "Venusia how many times do I need to tell you that you don't need to knock?"
"Never trust what a man's doing behind a closed door," she replied with a smirk. "Anyway, I'm here on business today. Gedic and I have been keeping an eye on Sonic like you asked. You remember that little scuffle in Mobotropolis a few weeks back?" Arias nodded as the Regent's official report to Xenodome came up.
"The way the story goes a couple of Cidana's experiments got loose and Sonic was forced to defeat one of them," he said. "One was black, another silver, and another, according to a witness, sparkled. But we both know that's not what happened. Have you been able to find out why there were three Sonics and one hedgehog that we've never seen before?"
"Unfortunately no," Venusia replied regretfully. "The most interesting story I've been hearing is the one about converging timelines and alternate realities. Normally I'd dismiss it for a lack of evidence but considering every other scenario is just as absurd..."
"I suppose it's not the craziest thing we've heard about Sonic. What about the dig site in Soumerca Gedic's at?" Arias asked.
"Alura Hedgehog is leading the team but the initial find belongs to Fiona Marseilles." Arias raised an eyebrow as Venusia continued. "Do you know why Mogul's apprentice is poking around in Magan ruins all of a sudden?"
"Which ruin are they at?" Arias asked and Venusia pulled up a map and highlighted the location of the dig. Arias' eyes lit up for a brief moment. "I want you to get a message to Gedic," he told her. "Once the dig is complete I want him to acquire the Secret Scrolls of Maga from New Mobotropolis. After that he's to take it to Sonic. The hedgehog should know what to do with it after that." Venusia looked at him for a moment but eventually bowed and left the office. When she was gone he sifted through the records until he found Julian's report from three years ago. "Another set of Scrolls," he mused, closing the file. "Another artifact that Mogul was trying to horde for himself. Here's hoping Sonic can decipher them."
Without warning a wave of fatigue hit him and he drifted off to sleep. Once the world stopped spinning he looked around to find himself in a dark crystalline world with islands floating in the prismatic sky. "It's been some time, Libra," a voice behind him said and the human turned around. It was an echidna dressed in ceremonial gold-and-blue armor whose eyes glowed with unearthly power. "How have the years been to you?"
"I must be dreaming," the human muttered as he looked around. "You were sealed away within the Twilight Cage. There's no possible way-"
"The hedgehog showed us." An image of Sonic appeared next to him before quickly vanishing. "Listen well, Libra. The hedgehog unintentionally showed us that the door could be opened but not from our side. Currently we're working on a spell that even an amateur could cast. When that's done we will be depending on you to aid in our return."
"You must be getting desperate to rely on me," Arias told the echidna with a smug smile. "Last I remember you told me that freaks like me and my brothers weren't needed in your grand plans. I'm more than happy to let you rot in your prison."
"Even if it means preventing the resurrection of our master?"
Arias' eyes widened but before he could respond he snapped awake, once again in the command center of Azosarria. After regaining his bearings he leaned back in his chair, thinking over what he'd just been told. "So they think he can be freed," he muttered to himself with a scoff. "That might actually be worth helping them."
Mina Mongoose adjusted her bag as she walked onto the military base, several of the soldiers giving her nods and a few even asking for autographs. She finally made it to the Vanguard barracks where the guards verified her guest pass and waved her through. She passed Eric's office, which had been empty for several days now, and knocked on Sonic's door. She went in without waiting for an answer to see him digging through his bag and his desk.
"Lose something?" she asked, catching him by surprise.
"Not anymore!" he exclaimed, pulling his hand out of his bag and holding up a memory stick. He righted his chair and sat back down. "Remember those things I said I remembered?" Mina nodded, unsure of where he was going with this. "Well this little bugger is something Sal had made for me when I left Knothole."
"And you haven't looked at it until now?" Mina asked as she sat down.
"I've been a little busy this past year," he reminded her as he put the memory stick into his computer. "That and I, ah, kinda forgot."
"Then while your computer checks the files out I have a surprise for you," Mina told him, handing Sonic a takeout box from her bag and setting another in front of her. "Duke said that this particular batch is based on what you had him try."
"Duke, my main man," Sonic said, salivating at the thought of lunch. "And of course, Mina my lady of choice." Mina couldn't help but smile at Sonic's quick addition and they continued on with their shared lunch.
"So what do you think is on that?" Mina asked after few minutes, taking a bite out of her sandwich.
"Not a clue," Sonic replied with a mouth full of chili dog. "If I had to guess then I'd say anything she couldn't make sense of. Like why I could read the Arrow Stone."
"The Arrow Stone?" Mina asked. "You mean the Arrow Stone of Maga?" Sonic nodded as he ate some of the fries they were sharing. "Are you trying to tell me that the Ruins of Maga are real and not just some story?" Sonic gave her the short version of the story before checking in with Zeta.
"Based on the evidence that Sally gathered this computer will not provide the proper context," the computer said. "I recommend using the Ops Room to better view the materials."
"You just want to play with all the toys the R&D team has down there," Sonic told her and the AI shrugged. "Alright, sounds like a plan. You in, Mina?"
"What's the worst that could happen?"
They finished their lunch and quickly went down to the Ops Room where Zeta joined them at full size and quickly loading the information that they needed. The room filled with holographic screens of everything Sally had given Sonic before he'd left Knothole. Every odd inscription she'd found, the writing from Maga, the Temple of the Magan, even some things her father had left for her to try and uncover for herself. "Sally left you quite a bit it seems," Zeta commented as she looked around. "It will take a few minutes to reorganize the information. If you'll excuse me." Sonic and Mina leaned against the wall while Zeta did her thing.
"So are we going to talk about it?" Mina asked after a moment. Sonic stared at her with a wondering expression. "Come on, even a blind man could see that something's wrong with you. Did that fight this morning really bug you that much?"
"That's not it," Sonic answered with a sigh. "It seems like every relationship I'm in, serious or otherwise, I end up screwing up. Fiona's barely spoken a word to me since we got back from Serenity."
"You did transform right in front of her," Mina pointed out. "I know I didn't sleep well for almost a week after seeing you turn at the Tournament." She closed her eyes. "Not that I've slept all that well since the Highwind."
"You're still having nightmares?" Mina nodded again as Sonic looked over at her. "Can't say I've been sleeping any better. Of course being in the freaking basement doesn't help."
"The sooner you clean out the other guest room the sooner I can move into it," Mina pointed out with a smirk. "You still haven't said why you let Sally move in."
"Wasn't really given a choice," he explained. "By the time Fiona and I returned from the Northern Territories she'd already settled in after being told she could crash there. And the remodeling on the Ambassador Quarters was delayed again. Now there's no way to know when they'll be finished."
"You don't sound too comfortable living with your ex," Mina said. "It's not like the two you haven't lived together before."
"We were engaged then, remember?" Sonic reminded her. "Now it's just weird. Truth be told it's because of everything that happened back there that I haven't thought about this until now." As if on cue Sonic's phone rang and he quickly answered it, stepping out of the room. Mina watched him as he hung up one call only to get another immediately after. After nearly ten minutes he walked back into the Projector Room very agitated.
"Something wrong?"
"The first one was Sally haranguing me about requesting the transfer of the Secret Scrolls to Xenodome," he explained, walking to the center of the room where Zeta was waiting. "And since she didn't believe me when I told her I had nothing to do with it she's coming down here along with Fiona who has 'something I desperately need to see'." Sonic sighed. "Some days I seriously hate my life."
"If it's any consolation I hate your life too," Mina told him and Sonic couldn't help but smile. She joined Sonic in the center of the room and looked around. "So what does all this say?"
"Let's start with what Sally had me read before," Sonic said putting on the interactive gloves. He swiped all the other files behind him to leave the ones from Maga in front then spread those out so he could work with them. He pulled up the Arrow Stone so the two of them could see it.
"This place is the tomb of the Magan Warlord Ararak," they said in unison and they quickly looked at each other.
"That was weird," Mina said and Sonic nodded in agreement. "Is there another?" Sonic pulled the writing referring to the Chair up.
"The keys of knowledge open a lock but not the door," Sonic read and then scratched his head. "Zeta, what did the original translation say?"
"What one cannot achieve in learning, one will achieve in the light of day," the computer answered. "Perhaps there is something about Magans that allows them to see the true words while what I can read is only what others were meant to see."
"It's like hiding something in plain sight," Sonic surmised and Zeta nodded. "Downright devious hiding something like that in plain sight. Come to think of it Sylvanix asked me about something I said back in Robotropolis."
"From the sound of it Zeta's right," Mina offered. "Whenever we use a spell like 'Naoru' I hear the word 'mend' in my head but everyone else hears the first. If that's the case what do you think it says in the Temple?" Sonic was about to offer an idea when both Sally and Fiona walked in. Sally was still wearing her workout clothes suggesting that she had gone running again or hadn't bothered to change for her meetings. Fiona was wearing loose-fitting khaki shorts and a matching t-shirt while carrying a backpack.
"You're kidding me," Sally said rubbing the bridge of her nose. "You're looking at this now and you've had it how long?"
"Long year," Sonic summarized and looked at Fiona. "What's with the getup?"
"I've been at a dig with your mother," she said setting the pack down. A loud thump echoed through the room much to the others' surprise. "Oh God, you have no idea how good it feels to get this thing off my back." She removed a stone case from the pack, set it down and opened it. She then handed Sonic a pair of familiar looking scrolls.
"Are these...?"
"The Secret Scrolls of Maga," Fiona finished for him. "Well, another set of them. I recognized the writing on them but I can't translate it properly."
"So you're the one who requested the scrolls from Mobotropolis?" Sally accused her.
"I did what now?"
"Will you two just cool off and let me read these?" Sonic asked before the two women got anymore into it. His eyes scanned the scrolls briefly before he rolled them both up. "I can read it but it talks about the 'Seven Wonders of Mobius' again just like the ones we found, Sal." He turned back the screens of the Chair and Arrow Stone. "So why are those different but these are the same?"
"Perhaps it would help to have something to compare it to," a voice said from the door, attracting their gazes. There stood a man with steel grey hair and a neko mask covering his face. On his back were strapped twin kodachi and in his hands he held a small plastic case.
"YOU!" Sally hissed when she saw him. "What are you doing here?"
"Following orders," Gedic Azosar said, walking up to Sonic and handing him the box. "Brother Arias said you might need this. He also told me to help however I could."
"Why does Arias care about this?" Sonic asked as he opened the case. "Second, how does he even know about this?" Sonic looked down, up at Gedic, down again and then at Sally. "I, uh, know who requested the scrolls from Mobotropolis by the way." He turned the case around so that Sally could see the other scrolls, identical to the ones from Fiona's case.
"How many of these scrolls are there?" Mina asked, taking the ones Gedic had brought and setting them next to Fiona's.
"Brother Arias said that you would know what to do from this point on," Gedic explained. "If he knows more than that he did not share it with me or Venusia."
The six of them took their time looking over the scrolls and the other images, trying to find something of importance. Sonic twisted and turned one set of scrolls while Mina did the same to the other hoping that changing how it was read would reveal something but that accomplished nothing.
"I'd still like to know how you and Mina get something different from what Nicole and Zeta got when reading these inscriptions," Sally said, breaking the silence after almost ten minutes. "And how you can read the scrolls without a translator." The two looked at each other for a moment.
"It's written in Magan," Sonic explained. "It's Magan. We're Magan. More than that I have no idea." Sally stared at Sonic with surprise as he looked from the scrolls to the screens repeatedly. "Wait a sec, that's it! There are two translations on these stones: One meant for Mobians and the other for Magans." The others looked at him as his eyes shone with excitement. "The Arrow Stone said it perfectly. 'We do not see things as they are. We see them as we are'." Sally's eyes widened as she caught on.
"It wasn't talking about a test like we thought. It was trying to tell us how to unlock the scrolls' true potential," she added and Sonic nodded. He unrolled one of the scrolls as far as it would go to reveal a small circle at the bottom. Sonic looked at it and then his thumb. Removing the glove, he put his thumb on the circle but nothing happened. "Fingerprints wouldn't necessarily be different," Sally pointed out.
"Anyone have a small knife?" Sonic asked and Fiona tossed him her utility knife. He made a small cut on his thumb and then pressed it on the scroll again. The blood sat on the paper for a moment before being absorbed. "Well I'll be damned. I can't believe that worked." Mina opened the other set of scrolls.
"I'm glad you can read it because I still see the same thing," she said exasperated.
"This one here looks like a letter," Sonic said as he read the scroll in his hands. His eyes widened as he got to the end. "This...is not good." When Sally asked he hesitated. He wasn't sure how they would react but they had gotten this far.
"The short version is that this is a key to a place called the 'Somes Arcanum'," Sonic began. "Each key has one of these letters with it warning the reader. The Somes Arcanum was sealed so that the servants of evil could never get their hands on it." He set the scroll down and looked at Mina. "This was written by Arca."
"Oh," she said as everything sunk in. "Well, does he say what this Somes Arcanum thing is? Or why he didn't want the 'servants of evil' finding it?" Sonic looked the letter over again and shook his head. "Okay, nothing there. So maybe there's something in one of the other scrolls."
Sonic picked up another scroll and read it over. The first thing he noticed was the fact that the bottom row and rightmost column of characters were cut off. "That's odd," he said, showing the rest of them the partial characters. "Still, this scroll doesn't help any more than the last. This one just talks about how all four pieces fit together." Sonic set the scroll down as everyone stared at him. "Why do I get the feeling we're about to go on an unnecessary scavenger hunt?" he asked but no one offered an answer. "Anyway, it says that 'a key may be found in the Magister's domain at the feet of the advisor'. Anyone wanna take a stab at that one?"
"Wait a sec. That's where we found the other set of scrolls," Fiona realized. "Alura said that particular ruin was often called the Magister's Keep and we found the box buried in the basement. There were some pretty serious enchantments protecting this thing too. It's part of the reason she asked me to come along."
Before they could say anything Sonic picked up the scrolls Fiona had brought and saw that it was similar to the previous scroll only it was the leftmost characters that were cut off in addition to the bottom row. "This one says that 'a key may be found in the howling tombs of war'," Sonic said. "Umm, okay. Whatever that means."
"You mentioned the Arrow Stone talks about being the tomb of a warlord," Gedic pointed out, causing Sonic to jump slightly.
"I forgot you were here," he admitted scratching his chin, "but what's that got to do with this?"
"A warlord's tomb and the tombs of war," Sally repeated and her eyes lit up with realization. "This scroll must means the ruins we went to! The Breath of Mobius is the howling and it's the tomb of someone who served in war."
"I'd buy that," Fiona added, "but that would mean that the scrolls lead to each other. That doesn't do us a lot of good. Unless..."
"Unless there's something else," Sonic finished for her. "It must be something to do with these partial characters." His fingers brushed the characters from both scrolls trying to discern what they said.
"Perhaps you are not seeing the whole picture," Gedic suggested. "Maybe you need to view this like a puzzle and fit the pieces together."
"That makes absolutely no sense," Mina said. "They're pieces of paper not puzzle pieces." She was about to continue when she heard cutting from where Sonic was. They all turned to him to see that he'd cut off the scroll ends and fit the two pages together. Sally was about to lay into him for destroying a priceless relic when, with a bright flash of light, the papers fused.
"What the hell?!" Sally asked once the light dissipated. "What did you do?"
"I put the pieces together," Sonic said simply. "Gedic was right. These characters were halves of each other and now the translation's changed. This new scroll gives us both of the other keys. One is 'hidden where earth and heaven should never meet resting in the fallen city of angels'. The other..." Sonic hesitated for a moment. "It's not important right now. Let's focus on this clue. Zeta..."
"I'm already searching historical records kept by Xenodome, Mobotropolis, and Azosarria," the computer answered as she closed her eyes. "Unfortunately because of the vague nature of the clues it could be some time before I'm able to determine anything."
"Then let's narrow it down," Fiona suggested. "What does 'where heaven and earth should never meet' mean?"
"Where is the last place you would expect to find a piece of land?" Gedic suggested and Sally's eyes widened.
"A floating island!" she exclaimed. "And there are only a handful of those."
"That still leaves us with the problem of getting there," Sonic said. "We only found the one because Dulcy knew where it was and I don't remember anything angelic or fallen about it."
"You know you shouldn't be afraid to ask your elders for help." They all turned to the door as Kiarra walked in. "Fiona called me when she was on the way here and told me about what she'd found. I didn't really believe her, not until seeing all this."
"Something you might've mentioned from the beginning?" Sally asked crossing her arms and glaring at Fiona.
"Well Kiarra didn't express any interest so I didn't think she'd show," Fiona explained before turning to her housemate. "But seeing as how you're here now..."
"Curiosity got the better of me," Kiarra admitted as she walked up the scroll, "and from the look of things I'm glad it did. You mentioned a 'fallen city of the angels'?"
"And it's on a floating island," Sonic said nodding.
"I would start with Knuckles, the Guardian of Angel Island," Kiarra suggested. She looked down at the combined scroll. "Is this... Are these the Secret Scrolls?"
"You know about them?" Sonic asked curiously. "Oh yeah. If you were around when they were alive then I guess you would have known Arca."
"Not personally but my sister told me a great deal about him before..." Kiarra looked away for a moment. "Anyway, are you ready to go?"
"Wait a moment," Sally said. "Sonic you said there were four keys altogether. Wouldn't it be faster to try and get the last two at the same time?"
"You offering to go along for the ride, Sal?" Sonic asked amusedly. "I didn't think diplomats did that kind of thing."
"And since when do Vanguard XOs indulge personal curiosity on the clock?" the former princess replied as she brushed her hair out of her face. "How about you, Fiona? Up for a little adventure?"
"I can't let the princess one-up me," Fiona said with a smile. "But the last time I went on any kind of adventure things got just a little out of hand." They all looked at Gedic who, up until now, had been minding his own business. The human seemed to acknowledge that the others were expecting him to step up.
"Fine," he said with a heavy sigh. "Brother Arias did want me to help you and babysitting would qualify. That still leaves us with the issue of getting there."
"Not a problem," Kiarra replied. "Knuckles is an old...well, 'friend' is the closest word to what I had in mind. When you're ready we'll leave."
"No time like the present," Sally said looking to Fiona and Gedic, both of whom nodded. Kiarra shrugged and with a burst of cold air the four of them were gone.
"What about the last clue?" Mina asked. "You seemed a little unsure of it. Is it something you recognize?"
"The exact opposite," Sonic answered. "The last key is 'hidden where no Dragoon dares tread, buried in the burning, crushing depths of Hell'."
They were both silent for several moments. "That's a tad bit vague," Mina finally said, "and foreboding. Any idea where to start?"
"It seems the first part of the clue is subjective," Zeta offered, "while the second half points to several geographical clues. It would be best to start there."
"Not a bad idea, Zeta," Sonic complimented her and earning a light blush from the computer. "Okay so 'burning' implies fire of some kind and 'crushing' could mean it's caught between something."
"Or pressure," Mina added. "The deeper you go in the ocean the greater the pressure is. And if you've ever listened to those evangelists they'll tell you that Hell is a downward journey."
"I can create search parameters based on that information," Zeta said with data flowing in front of her eyes. "There are very few places on Mobius where those two things coincide." Several map images came up on the screen pushing everything else off to the side. "There are four possibilities, all of which are located in the Devil's Schism."
"The what?" Sonic asked and Mina sighed.
"It's an incredibly deep section of ocean just south of Soumerca," she explained. "It's also very seismically and volcanically active. And yes, there are such things as underwater volcanoes," she added before Sonic could ask. "But two of these islands look like paradise and the other two barren wastes."
"Paradise isn't the way I'd describe Hell," Sonic pointed out. "What do we know about those other two islands?"
"One was the site of nuclear tests several years ago," Zeta said. "There is little visible on the island but it is still teeming with radiation. There is a good chance you would die once you set foot on the island. The other..." She brought up the other island and on closer inspection they could see it resembled a spire more than an island. "The other we have no information on other than this image. However, this area has the highest concentration of volcanic vents in the entire Schism, enough to cause the ocean to boil. There is also enough magnetic energy to knock out a warship. The constant updraft of hot air makes it impossible for small craft to land and creates unstable weather patterns in that part of the world."
"Sounds like Hell to me," Sonic said with a low whistle. "I'll just call my travel agent and let him know there is no way I'm crazy enough to go there."
"We should've sent the others here instead of Angel Island," Mina muttered. "So how are we going to get to this little slice of heaven?"
Sonic was about to answer when a burst of cold air hit their backs. The turned to see the doors frozen shut and Kiarra walking towards them. Her eyes were narrowed angrily as she stared at the screen. "Is there a reason why you have that hellhole on display?" she asked turning to Sonic.
"Seems you know more about it than we do," he replied crossing his arms and leaning on the console. "It's the most likely choice for the last scroll. At least we think it is. I have no idea what 'where no Dragoon dares tread' means but-"
"That is the place then," Kiarra interrupted him. "Prepare your things, both of you. And dress lightly. There's a good reason this place is called Hell."