Lexiana Acosta: Chapter Fifty-Three
"Can't get any sleep?"
As I turn around and see Iympetus my dragon sitting next to me.
"Nope..." As I sigh with defeat. I am nervous. We will be traveling to Schnaraat to look at their ancient temples nearby.
To distract me I look at Iymp as I see he is wearing a special dragon bag. It is not his…
"Where did you get that bag?" As I pointed to it.
He looks down at it and then looks at me and smiles.
"IYMP YOU PROMISED!" I shout at him. I have been telling him for years to stop stealing from other dragons. He stole when I first met him and is still stealing now. It makes me wonder how much he has been stealing without my knowledge.
Iymp is a red draconium dragon raised in the priesthood. Taken away from his family at a very young age. Because he has the gift of human speech. An ability that is not common nowadays in dragons. He will forever resent the priesthood for this. He always annoys the elders in his ways. Like him roaring at their quarters in the middle of the night.
When I got chosen as his rider he was surprised. He didn't expect or wanted human partners. He was always alone. Now he has me that can randomly mentally connect to him.
He always tries his best! I commend him for it. He has been patient with me. As he knew I was an outsider. We have gotten so far over the years… I'm proud to call him a friend.
"I know I promised! But it looked nice! And the dragon is an idiot!" As Iymp shakes his new bag with pride. It's large with many pockets. I had no idea dragons liked this stuff. I shake my head as I try to hide my smile.
"I don't know what I am in for Iymp… Do you?" As I change the subject to a more serious tone.
"Not really… I have never left the country or temple. But I have met other nation priests… Inclementian ones are in one word… Creepy…" As he gives me a sly look.
I've only seen red priests… I haven't seen anyone who wasn't from the red empire. Oh, I'm sure I can handle it!
"We are going to win this war aren't we Iymp!" I shout excitedly.
"Definitely sounds like it! The sooner this war ends the better. But when it ends the elders will want us back… I don't want to go back… I hate it there."
"Well if you're with me you don't have to go back." I look at Iymp. He must have felt like such a prisoner back home.
"I want to explore the world… I can't do that being locked up in a volcano temple." Iymp sighs as we both look at the horizon. The mountain chain linking in the distance. The sun is beginning to rise. It's time to go!
Kenneth was preparing Pyromancer when we met up with him.
"You ready?" Kenneth asks as he notices Iymps new bag. He gives Iymp a stern look last lasted a minute and turns away fixing his saddle.
We then had a quick breakfast and off we went! We had brown empire guides who have two large bull class dragons that can clear the mountainous pathways. We also had a few soldiers and dragons.
This is so much harder than walking up the volcanoes. And it's not even that beautiful many of the trees are dead with yellow grass…
After traveling with more historic quizzes we finally see Schnaraat in the distance. It's amazing! A city built on the mountain. But in closer inspection, much of it is destroyed. It's rather sad… They didn't have much protection. I heard this city was the first to be attacked.
After a few days of more traveling, we finally reach Schnaraat. It's under complete red occupation.
Kenneth giving me a lesson about the city. "Schnaraat is one of the first cities built in the green draconium empire. Dating back at least five thousand years. This was once the original kingdom city before they moved for better opportunities and further away from our people."
As he gives me the lesson I look around at the war-torn city. Our trebuchets did good work…
The locals hiding from every red soldier at every turn.
Like the army, we met up with the general Bedelia. She has become the leader of the city after she executed their leader and family.
We walk into the Schnaraat castle. I'm surprised by how small it is. The large rock pillars detailed with green draconium markings. It's very different to home…
She guides us to the meeting room. The table has an elaborate map table covered in flame marks. This room only has me, Kenneth, Iymp, and Pyromancer.
Bedelia reaches into her drawer and takes out a brown satchel. She hands it straight to Kenneth. He then opens it as he then lays its contents. Ink bottle, quills, charcoal, red bladed dagger, scrolls of paper. Kenneth opens the scrolls as he reads the contents. He remains poker-faced the whole time he is reading.
Bedelia hands me maps. I open them to take a look. They are updated
"We have found more hidden temples within the mountains. But we can't seem to get inside them. Our priest who was in charge of exploration managed to inscribe about the hammer. We found the paperwork in his satchel. The problem is we do not understand the writing. It's in the ancient language… The soldier who escaped sadly passed away. But we now know the black empire is amongst us."
Kenneth looks at Bedelia. "This is incredible. We will continue priest Alba's work. We will leave tomorrow."
We then leave the room and it's just me and Kenneth alone. The dragons go to the stables.
Kenneth smiles at me. "You have to be ready for this."
"I am ready for this!" I have been training years for this… Why wouldn't I be? I signed up to fight. Now it's time to prove it!
"This is real life Lexi not a story. You must be always on guard! If we will be fighting, I may not be able to protect you. Use all the skills myself and Iymp have taught you. Don't hold anything back! The enemies we will possibly face will not abstain from killing you."
Kenneth sounds so serious he makes it sound like we are going to die... Even though when I think of it the last group did die... And this priest Alba got killed.
"Yes, Kenneth," I reply. Even though I was never planning to abstain. If anything, I overreact... This burning flame inside of me never ceases to quieten itself. Even worse in combat... I feel my heart beat faster with adrenaline as I think of fighting in a heated battle. I want to fight!
"Lexi?" As Kenneth turns and looks at me. My red eyes glowing with immense power. My long hair flowing upwards as power filled me.
"Stop Lexi!" As he knocks me with his elbow, and I slam into the wall. It wasn't too hard to cause injury but certainly knocked me off my feet!
"KENNETH! WHAT OF ALL PHOENIX WAS THAT ABOUT!?" I scream at him.
"You were tapping into Phoenix's power. Stop." He says with a deadpan tone. He then raises his right hand. Red magic glowed from his hand as he waves it in front of me. I felt so tired after that... And like that he sends me off to bed with not much word.
That was weird... What came over me? I just felt power flow through me. I sigh as I collapse onto the bed. I hug the pillow. I feel like I'm losing myself into this. How does Kenneth deal with this?
The next morning arrives and it's time to explore these temples. Kenneth had a long discussion with our travel group about what Alba wrote while exploring. They only managed to get half-way through when the Inclementians attacked. But with luck, the Inclementians won't be smart enough to get through the rest of the defenses. Kenneth told me that Inclementians may be smart, but they are inexperienced to those who are different from them. They are only taught thoughts and ideas from their own nation. This must be their way of trying to find out everyone else's business...
As for me, I start reading all of Alba's papers. Kenneth wants me to remember details about everything. And before I knew it, we are at the temple. Following Alba's papers step by step. I read as Kenneth leads us on into the chamber.
Alba wrote the hidden iron door is on the north-east side of the mountain. The tombs of Huldrich. Located behind a special tree that is not common for these mountains. A dead oak tree... That's kind of hard since the trees are dead... Since the key could not be located, they had no choice but to melt the door away. They successfully did it! However, this came at a cost of a dragon as he and his rider ran inside. The entrance chamber had a trap! And a large battering ram slammed into the dragon head-on. Killing him instantly.
I look down and see a rotting dragon corpse on the floor. The maggots are having a field day with it. A scene that could make anyone puke... Not to mention the horrid smell!
Alba with a wave of his hand he managed to light up the entrance hall. A hue of red and green shined throughout the room. Alba with carefulness went first as he can sense the traps. A pit of spikes, a surprise door of spikes, and never-ending hallways of large swinging axes. Since they did not have a key, they had to destroy each trap one by one. Making sure no one else got hurt.
Kenneth without me saying anything is following each step Alba did.
I looked at Alba's map of Huldrich that fascinated me. It looked like the temple is completely inside the mountain and it goes deep beneath the earth. They finally came across the tomb of Emperor Frederick Kaiser XI who apparently ruled two-thousand years ago. He must have been the last ruler who officially lived in Schnaraat. Or he was the last ruler who just wanted to be buried here. He is buried next to his first wife and true love Empress Augusta V. She apparently died young at childbirth. His other wives throughout his life, second wife Empress Sophie II who was murdered by her crazy brother after a year of marriage, third wife Empress Hermine who died from a mysterious illness, fourth wife Empress Yolande died from childbirth, his fifth and final wife Empress Vivianna died of old age after him. They are buried in the chambers next to him.
I look at the large sarcophagus as the emperors is large and elaborate. It even glowed patterns of green draconium in stone. The smaller one is Augusta's it's beautiful in detail. The carvings look like flowers and glowed.
I see Kenneth as he looks closely at the sarcophagus. "They have been tampered with." As I see him move the stone with his strength the seal for them is broken.
I look around and it looks like many items have been stolen. On closer inspection, you can see the dustless spots. This room has been robbed dry... There is nothing but the sarcophagus...
Alba wrote there are no signs of his sons in this temple. So, they must have been at Demir at that point in history or buried elsewhere... It was a long time ago... I'm actually surprised how much detail Alba wrote about this chamber. But then when they found it originally it wasn't disturbed. They could have memorial plaques that would have been taken. And as I looked there are large parts of the sarcophagus missing.
We continue on... Beyond this chamber lies another door. It's rather easy and is not booby-trapped. However, the next few hallways have more swinging axes. But Alba's group took care of those. And these halls have small sarcophagus in the walls. This whole place feels like suffocating in death... At least at home, we cremate our dead and only have statues or mementos. Only the royal family has their body intact as they don't burn in the lava pit.
We came across the next burial chamber Fredericks XI father, Frederick X and he is buried next to his wife Empress Blanche. And many chambers repeat this. Hallways more royal tombs. And all of them have been robbed... Was us or the black priests. I have no idea... But I think it's the latter.
We are going deeper into the mountain. And we haven't seen any other life... Maybe the Inclementians got the hammer? But we can only hope they didn't. A hammer that can cause earthquakes is too powerful to ignore. WE MUST GET IT!
We reached Emperor William's chamber. The final chamber when Alba and his crew were attacked by surprise. And with Kenneth's draconium magic he lit up the room. Their bodies lie in the same spots as they were killed.
I see Kenneth walking over to Alba who is wearing his priest armour. He was stabbed multiple times…
Kenneth closer inspects the wounds.
"Lexi… Do you see Alba's wounds? What do you think killed him?" He questions me.
"I'm guessing he was stabbed?"
"With what?" Kebbeth continues on.
"A dagger?" I answer in a rushed fashion.
"No… It's a mag ability. A highly advanced one. Such mastery…"
It almost sounded like Kenneth admired the work. But how is it mag energy? You can push, pull, lift, form shields, make balls of energy that bounce, transferring energy, deflect, obliterate, control fire, and even levitate. I never heard of energy turning into sharp things stabbing people.
"You see Lexi Alba was up against a powerful opponent. Who is no doubt a priest. They transformed their mag energy into small bursts of sharp daggers. Alba must have tried to use a shield and it went straight through it."
He then grabs my hand and forces my index finger into one of his wounds. I cringe in repulsion! THE MAN IS DEAD. Kenneth then left my hand and make me look at my finger. It's coated with a tiny amount of black draconium residue.
That's disgusting… I wipe my finger clean on my priest clothes. He then orders me to do the funeral rights. And the bodies are set alight. I felt more powerful after doing so… Phoenix blessings indeed…
Now that we have finished that business we are now on our own. Alba's notes ended here when he died. We encounter more battering rams and door spikes. One of those doors almost took me and Iymp out. My poor dragon almost had a heart after that ordeal.
More tombs have been desecrated. And Kenneth under his orders tells us to silence! And I can understand why. I hear voices…
We stand next to the open large iron door. It's a grand chamber! And low and behold we see a large number of slaves under mind control.
Looking at them freaked me out as their skin is dark purple with their eyes being bright red. It's haunting… and I see a priest at the head of the group.
Intimidating. Slick dark purple soldier armour. Not the magical kind, but the basic kind. He is ordering all his slaves around. But one got my attention in particular. One of them has a mind control gear much larger than the others. His head is completely covered you can't see his eyes. The helmet has large glowing black draconium spikes clawing the back of his head.
We all stand back wondering what to do. While also wondering what they're doing. They had weeks to break into this temple and they haven't succeeded?
I see a man in robes accompanying the mysterious soldier and his slaves. His dark skin and white long hair commands authority. Maybe they're partners.
"So is this slave going to be helpful?" The soldier asks.
"Yes… Our emperor sent him down by his order of your request. Do not lose him or get him killed. Or you will be sentenced to death. He is our emperor's personal property." The nobleman says.
"Alright then he better be worth it… I've been waiting long enough! Slave destroy the door!" The priest says.
And with an immense power move, the slave unleashes a mag burst energy that slams into the door! As I looked at the bright flashing light of dark purple, green, and white I see a barrier!
No wonder why they couldn't go through… This barrier is probably ancient magic dating back thousands of years. I'm sure hitting it like that is going to dissipate it.
Kenneth is staring at the slave intently. If we're going to fight we would have to go against him. After seeing that power display shows that he will not be easy to defeat…
The slave stops attacking the barrier as it remains strong.
"Well, that certainly did not work…" The nobleman says. " Slave!" As he points the slave to walk where he is. "Where is the key?" He says earnestly.
In a distorted low voice, the slave begins to speak! It's rather scary…
"The key cannot be found master as it has been lost for centuries… The key is a green draconium sphere. Which was kept in the emperor's palace but was stolen and never seen again…"
"Wait!?" The Inclementian soldier takes a closer look at his new slave. "How would he know that?"
The nobleman laughs. "The Emperor wants that hammer. So he sent his favourite slave here to help retrieve it. This slave has immense knowledge of everything. However, he came a bit late because of… Technical issues. But as you can see he is working as he should."
"So slave tell us how to break such a barrier?" The soldier demands.
"The only way to break this barrier is to destroy its power source. I can feel the immense energy but it is located on the other side of the door." The slave then walks forward stroking the green barrier.
Kenneth looks down at me as I look at him. It must be the hammer!
"Is there any other way slave? Secret passages? Anything?" The soldier asks in desperation. "We cannot go to the emperor empty-handed!"
All of us in the group listening intently. Maybe if we listen we can find it and beat them to the punch! But we have to be quick!"
The slave has a quick look around. "There are secret passages everywhere in many temples. This one included. They had these passages for slaves and family members who wanted to see the burials. There will be traps but not as dangerous as the main entrances."
"We need to attack them." I hear Kenneth whisper in my ear. Okay, we can do that too! Who needs to race when we can kill them!
Kenneth then whispers to everyone around him. "We must keep that slave alive! He has information that can help us. He is a priest himself!"
That explains a lot I think to myself. They enslaved a priest… This black empire really is no joke.
Kenneth gets off Pyromancer then sneaks into the chamber. I followed soon after with Iymp waiting on the sidelines. We manage to sneak behind a rock and get a closer view of the group. A few basic soldiers, few dragons, few mining slaves and a few stewards.
Kenneth then sneaks over to the next closest rock. He signals me to stay put. He's testing how close he can get to the group.
And he got caught by the enslaved priest. The enslaved priest emits another burst of energy! Kenneth easily dodges it as he then blasts in return.
The Inclementian group notices and starts attacking Kenneth! It's my time to shine! I jump out using a mag push to push the leading soldier away! I slam him against the wall. However, in quick retaliation, he unleashes back draconium energy daggers!
I jump to the side but one of the daggers grazed me! Cutting my arm! Those things are lethal! He kept aiming them at me!
I notice his dragon running at me trying to mag push me! Iymp comes to my rescue and attacks the dragon physically. I have never seen him going against another dragon! See a glimpse of Inclementian dragon I have never seen one before. They're long and slender with large rectangle heads… This one had quite the chin.
It roars as Iymp is trying his hardest to stop him.
I got distracted too much as the soldier almost stabs me with his sword. I unsheathe my ax! I swing at the soldier he had no choice but to dodge! I start fighting against him mag ability after mag ability. Weapon clash after weapon clash. I had no time to see what everyone else is doing.
The soldiers conjures up so many magic daggers it's insane. I'm surprised how I am keeping up against him. Deflecting them with my ax. The blade is so large it can double as a shield.
The soldier then makes a crucial mistake! He slips on a rock as he is only looking forward. The lesson of Kenneth to always mind your surroundings is no joke. And in this split moment, I swipe my ax over his head! Cutting through his armour like butter! Instant killed!
After killing him. I look at Iymp as he is fighting against the dragon. With a sharp movement Iymp bite the dragons neck! Iymp pulls back and rips the dragon's flesh! Not a clean kill… But that is another down! Our group is preoccupied with fighting against the slaves.
"DON'T KILL THE SLAVES IT'S NOT THEIR FAULT!" Kenneth shouts as the group attacks them. The noble is ordering all of them to attack us. Even the stewards who don't know how to fight are trying to go against us!
I watch Kenneth as he is going against the enslaved priest! It's incredible. Watching a display like this really proves I am a rookie…
But he is being preoccupied Maybe if I can find a way to break that mind gear. I run across the chamber battlefield as I see the noble hiding away.
"Oh no, you don't!" I yell out as I grab the noble's collar. I drag him behind the large dragon statue pillar. "How do you release people from mind control?" I ask.
"I'm not going to tell you." As he remains calm.
I punch his face breaking his nose! I felt it cracking as my fist collided. Sounded gross…
He moans in pain as his nose started bleeding. I asked him again and he refuses. I then twist his arm back up to the point of breaking it.
"Tell me!" I ask him again.
He still refuses! I was thinking of killing him. But Kenneth doesn't want to kill the slaves. He is the only person here who knows how to deal with them.
I look back as I see Kenneth still fighting against him. It doesn't even look like they're going to stop anytime soon.
"IYMP!" I scream out. "LOOK AFTER THIS MAN!"
Iymp comes running over. His mouth is covered in blood. He is trying to wipe the blood with his claws.
Maybe if I sneak up behind the mindless priest… But I can't stab him. Kenneth wants him alive! I walk over to the soldier's corpse and grabbed a strange rod. I felt a strange power sensation over me as I held it. What is this thing?
Maybe I can hit the priest with this? Hope that it can work. I run over to the creepy priest. Kenneth is still keeping him at bay. Running to hit the strange priest on the back of the head! Can't be that hard, can it?
With the rod in my hand, I whack him across the head! The rod clanged as the priest noticed me and mag pushed me to the other side of the chamber!
"LEXI!" Kenneth screams out.
Knocked the air out of me and the impact hurt! How powerful is this man? I quickly run back into the battle. Now it's me and Kenneth against this priest! WE CAN DO THIS!
Pyromancer is trying to subdue the slaves with the rest of our group.
The enslaved priest continues his onslaught of attacks against us. And now it's two against one he is even more alert. He raises his arms and levitates as rocks and rubble begin to float. What is he doing?
He then mags them towards us! SHIT I scream out as I use my mag abilities to destroy the projectiles. This is insane! What are we going to do?
I see Kenneth create a red shield bubble and launch himself high into the air. I have no idea how to do that! But I really should learn that! The projectiles disintegrate as they hit his shield.
The two begin fighting high in the air. It's a good thing this chamber is massive. Good room to fight!
I have no idea what to do now. I can jump high but I can't levitate. I look at my group and see one of them has a bow and arrows.
"Excuse me may I please borrow?" As I just grab his quiver. He still has no choice in the matter. Maybe if I can transfer my energy into the arrows. I can fight this way!
I breathe slowly as I aim upwards towards the priest. Slowly placing my energy into the arrow that it starts to glow red. Hopefully this won't kill him… I just need to injure him! Problem is… I haven't trained much with a bow! It's my least favourite weapon! I let go of the arrow as it goes upwards! I wait to anticipate a great hit.
However… It was not how I thought it would. I missed… By a huge margin. So far that I can hear Iymp laugh across the chamber. And I hear snickering from the group. I feel completely embarrassed… Well, it was worth a shot. The soldier I stole the bow from doesn't know how to use draconium magic.
As a random desperate option, I aim small mag bursts as Kenneth and the slave fight in the air. I just hope I don't hit Kenneth.
The fighting feels like it's never going to stop. I look at the strange rod. It's nothing like I've ever seen before. I run back over to the noble.
"What is this?" I ask in a demanding fashion.
The noble remains silent. I pull the man's nice long white hair back placing the rod on his neck.
"What is this?" I ask as I gently stroke the noble's neck with the rod. Got to try and be intimidating…
But I'm quickly getting nowhere! I look up as Kenneth and the slave are still fighting against each other. Kenneth with his skill managed to hit the slave! I cheer Kenneth on as he now has the upper hand!
Kenneth gets up in the air and slams the slave with a massive mag push. The fight is over!
I run over to Kenneth as he gracefully comes back down.
"THAT WAS AMAZING!" I tell Kenneth. He pats my shoulder as he is exhausted from all the fighting. We walk over to the small crater where the enslaved priest lies. Kenneth makes sure he is still alive. Unconscious but alive… It looks like he is sleeping…
The mind gear is so strong it survived the impact. I show Kenneth the rod and he is fascinated by it. But like me, he doesn't know what it is… All we can do is try to get answers from the noble…
Kenneth is much more intimidating than I am. He saw Kenneth defeated the enslaved priest and it didn't take long for the noble to snap.
"I only ask red priest. That you let me leave this place alive and to flee… For I am dead anyway if I return home." He says seriously as Kenneth nods in agreement.
Kenneth then presents him with the rod.
"It's a mind-control rod. We use it to help control the slaves in groups." The noble says. And without us asking he tells us how to free the slaves. "You place the tip of the rod into the circular hole onto the wearer's forehead and you twist it like a key. While saying the password. Hail the Emperor."
Kenneth quickly turns and faces the enslaved group the Pyromancer was restraining. Since the soldier has been killed they don't know what to do next… It's so sad… They're like lost children who can't speak.
Kenneth undoes every mind control helmet in the group. They're all lost and confused. They don't even know where they are… The soldiers from our group are now trying to take of them.
Which leaves us to the very last slave. The priest who still lies unconscious. Kenneth then opens the headgear. But to our luck… There is multiple layers of it!
Kenneth with some firepower melts the lower layers of the gear. And the gear finally opens like a bear trap. I look down… It's an old man…
"Lexi I want you to transfer some of your energy to him. I'm exhausted…" As Kenneth is sweating and trying to keep his strength up.
"I've never done that before…" I tell him.
"Just tell your body that you can give some away. Use your inner mind. Like how you use your mag abilities." Kenneth pats me on the back with encouragement.
I Breathe in as I place both of my hands onto the man's body. I started to glow red as I felt a strange sensation of power leaving me… I stopped as soon as I started to feel dizzy.
The man slowly opens his eyes and looks up at us. His eyes… They're so strange… It's like a mixture of gold and purple.
We waited a while as the man started to come too… "I'm so sorry I failed…" He whimpered as he held his face in his hands.
"Failed who?" Iymp asks in careless curiosity.
"Who are you? You saved me." He sounded so weak… He looks so pale. He sounded so strong earlier.
"I'm Kenneth and we need answers." He asks as gently as he could.
"Kenneth? As in Idris apprentice? I realise some of those battle moves now." He says.
"Yes… That's exactly right." Kenneth says in shock. "How do you know of me?"
The mysterious priest sighs. "I am Stein… Stein Prudence." And coughs as his body looks like it's deteriorating.
Kenneth immediately stands up and walks backward away from him. "What?" Is all he could say. I've never seen Kenneth act like this before.
"You know him?" Iymp asks Kenneth.
"I do… And everything just got a whole lot more serious." Kenneth rubs his head.
I walk over to Kenneth in complete confusion. "Um… Kenneth, how can things be more serious? Our country is at war. Nothing can get more serious than that!" I remind him.
"No… Lexi, you don't understand… That man sitting there. Is not an ordinary priest." Kenneth starts pacing back and forth.
I look back at the weak man confused. "And?" I ask. I have no information. I have no idea what is going on.
Kenneth walks forward to me. "Stein was the elder priest of the gold draconium empire. He was Emperor Aelius and Empress Laelia's advisor."
"Oh…" I look at him. That is a REALLY big deal. A gold emperor advisor. Turned into a slave… And by looking at Stein he has been no doubt been tortured.
Kenneth regains his resolve and returns to Stein who looks like is trying to regain himself.
"We need your help, Elder Stein. We need the hammer of Huldrich to help us win this war."
Stein looks up at him. "Red and Green are at war again? This shocks me none…" As he shakes his head.
"This one is going to be pretty final… It's going to be either us or them." Kenneth talking bleakly.
"I will help you… But now the mind gear is off. I'm so weak… The power it has given me no longer exists." Stein says as he struggles to lift his hand up.
"It's alright elder. Once we get this hammer we will get you to safety." Kenneth then helps him up and places him on Pyromancer. The dragon is now in charge of protecting him.
However, we still have a problem of the fancy noble… I look at him as he just sits there with his bleeding nose. We made a deal and he is to live… But to my shock Kenneth grabs his ax and immediately executes him!
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" I shout to him.
"Getting rid of loose ends!" Kenneth tells me in anger. "We cannot leave him alive! He is a liability! He says he would runway. But we cannot guarantee that! He could easily tell his emperor that we stole his precious property and I can tell you right now miss Lexi. Those consequences will be far more worse than me killing him now!"
Stein stares at us for a while as he wants to talk to us. "We cannot break through the door by force. But there are secret passages for special slaves and family members. There will be more traps. As we do not have a key. Feel around the room. See what you can find…" Stein then rests on Pyromancer.
I start feeling the east wall. It took me a long time to finish. There is nothing… I then start feeling the large pillars. While looking at this pillar I see a hole. I take a deep breath in and placed my hand into it. Hoping it's nothing sticky and gross… But I feel only spider webs and I felt something!
"KENNETH!" I yell out to him as he is checking the other wall.
Without a second thought, he runs over to me. He then sticks his hand into the hole.
"It's a lever!" He says excitedly. "But be on guard. It can be a trap! He then reaches inside again and pulls on the lever.
I hear a cranking noise as a small door opens on the left wall. It was neatly disguised by rock carvings we couldn't tell it's a door. We all have a glimpse moment of celebration. However, the door is small that only humans can crouch in.
"Alright, let's go!" As Kenneth enters first with me second being followed by the soldiers.
The noble slaves, Stein, and the dragons will be waiting in the chamber for us to return.
It's so dark in here as I decided to make my body glow red to make it easier to see. Kenneth then jumps into another room. It's empty? I look around as there is nothing here. There is a rock door… But it's shut tight. A keyhole pedestal sits on its left. This is where I bet is going to get dangerous…
Kenneth gives us a warning to stand still as he searches the room. One of our soldiers stands back leaning against the wall as the wall shifts and he falls back. The door we came through shuts.! We all look down at the soldier as I quickly offered my hand to get him up! But it was too late a trap was set!
"Shiiiiiiit" I murmur out. I look up as spikes appear on the roof coming down upon us.
Kenneth trying to remain calm now only has moments to open the door! I try to block the roof rollers with rocks to buy more time! And it's working even though temporary as the rock gets crushed. Kenneth with his priest knowledge manages to offset the keyhole. He is using his draconium energy to imitate the sphere! Stopping the roof and just managing to open the door to the next room!
"RUN!" He shouts as I run into the next room. The soldiers following close behind me. Kenneth with fast reflexes dodges rolls through the door as it slams inches behind him.
I feel something trickling down my cheek. I stroke it and I quickly noticed it was blood. I must have cut myself on one of the roof spikes! I was so close to being impaled!
We all sigh with relief as we all came close to death. Kenneth really saved our asses there! I would have had no idea of what to do… The problem is now we can't go back… The room and passage are shut. If we get lost we're doomed…
Kenneth leads on we had more hallways full of swing axes but they were easily dealt with. We broke them by using a mag stream to cut the attachments. It took a while but we won't have to worry about them. And finally, we finally reached the Huldrich tomb! We all see the hammer sitting on his old master's pedestal on top of his massive sarcophagus. A prized weapon indeed. The hammer's hilt is taller than me and it's draconium energy is so strong I can feel it coursing through my veins. It's the item powering the barrier of the large iron doors.
We all surround the pedestal as we stare at it.
"I can't believe it!" One of the soldiers talking in shock.
Kenneth covers the hammer with a blanket that he brought with him. He then wanders off looking around. I'm curious as to what he is doing?
I follow him.
"We found it, Kenneth!" I remind him. "Let's go!"
"We cannot be too careful Lexi. I'm looking for traps! Just making sure when we pick up that hammer we will have no problems.
I look up and notice it was too late one of the soldiers picked up the hammer! A bright light surged through the room! Kenneth tried to shout but couldn't hear as a strange noise was deafening!
Then a small earthquake happened! Nothing overly destructive. But enough for me to lose footing. Kenneth however runs at complete speed to the soldier. And the soldier waves the hammer, but nothing happens.
I look at his face and his eyes are glowing green! WHAT IS HAPPENING!?
The two gate dragon pillars… They started to move… Their large hooved feet start to move. Their carvings glowing green with bright green eyes. Good thing they're slow as I easily dodged them! The barrier for the door dissipates. As I rest of the group come inside.
Kenneth with all his restraint is trying to retrieve the hammer from the soldier. But refuses to let it go! To help Kenneth I hit the soldier on the back of the head. He falls down to the ground.
The dragons are trying to mag push the large statues away. It's futile!
Kenneth grabs the hammer and the hammer shines at it's most powerful! Kenneth swipes at the statues and they get destroyed with complete ease!
The rubble of the statue dragons falls everywhere I had to protect myself from it.
"We have the hammer!" Kenneth says with excitement. He then covers the hammer again. He must be doing it to prevent its powerful influence.
Kenneth approaches Stein as he sits on Pyromancer.
Stein smiles at the hammer. "You have one of the most powerful weapons in the world… Rumored to shake the world and form mountains. But it comes with a price."
"What price is that?" Kenneth asks.
"Wait there is something you don't know?" I ask Kenneth in a sarcastic fashion.
Stein is struggling to stay awake. "I heard if you use its full powers it can potentially kill you."
"That's great then…" I whisper. I guess it's only an emergency weapon then.
Kenneth then gets on the back of Pyromancer supporting Stein. "What would you like to do elder?"
The only words Stein could muster. "We need to go to Macdan. To my home…"
