CHAPTER 2: THE WORLD BELOW
While the inhabitants of the Great Valley were heading to their nests and subjecting themselves to a peaceful good night's rest,little did they know that miles and miles away that something nefarious was happening far past the walls of the Valley. Far into the Mysterious Beyond and deep into the depths of the Earth to the point there being large lakes of magma everywhere,there was a huge gathering of mysterious beasts taking place as they all stood below a tall cliff and chatted while they waited for some sort of meeting to start.
"The ceremony should start any moment now."
"The King and Queen must be so proud."
"I wonder if the Princess will even be here this time."
The beasts were all reminiscent to how Grandpa Longneck had described the fabled Fire Breathers,they had sharp scales perturbing on their backs,enormous wings that outmatched any other known flier,and long claws and razor sharp teeth to intimidate any sharptooth. Their skin also had a green and red tint to it along with what appeared to be smoke faintly coming from their snouts everytime they breathed.
The creatures soon wouldn't have to wait much longer as two shadowy figures started walking up the cliff before being fully revealed once they reached the edge. It was a male and female Fire Breather with the female one having a blueish tint to her skin and slightly shorter scales, teeth and claws,with the male Fire Breather being the exact opposite even compared to the ones down below. His scales,teeth and claws were much longer and sharper compared to everyone else along with his skin being blood red and his eyes having an orange aura that almost appeared to be glowing.
"Brothers! Sisters! Today is a most momentous day!" announced the male Fire Breather in a loud and almost booming voice to which the others down below happily cheered in admiration before the Fire Breather continued "It feels just like yesterday since the magic stone of fire came down and helped us ascend to a higher plain of power. It gave us the gift of flight and fire from our very breath,unfortunately the world above wasn't yet ready to accept us as their superiors and they drove us down to this underground prison. Now I know we all long to escape this prison and take that precious Valley of theirs,but I also know that I will not live as your leader forever,so now I feel that the time has come for me to introduce to you…..your future leader!"
The leader of the Fire Breathers then turned around and proudly announced "Step forth my daughter!" only for him to be left shocked when he noticed that his daughter was nowhere to be found,much to him and his wife's confusion. The crowd below was also starting to get confused as they started murmuring with concern.
"Crystal where is Marie?" asked the leader with a nervous yet slightly angry tone of voice to which his mate replied equally as nervous "I-I don't know Maul,she said she would be here. I made sure of it." which resulted in Maul getting far more angry as he gritted his teeth and growled before launching himself off the cliff and spreading his wings out in the hopes of finding his tardy daughter.
"Oh dear." sighed Crystal as she shook her head in disappointment before looking down at the rest of the herd and politely stating with a nervous grin "Stay calm everyone,our future leader is just a little late. Please be patient."
Meanwhile further deep into the depths of the underground society,a young Fire Breather was carefully exploring the various caves and canyons that lined up the underground world. She looked more like her mother than her father since she sported blue skin and scales along her back,had purple eyes,her wings were small and her claws and teeth were not that threatening at all compared to her brethren. Even though little light was making its way into the caverns,she was still able to make out what was in front of her due to some of her enhanced senses as a Fire Breather.
"Well now,I don't think I've been here before." whispered the young one to herself out of curiosity before suddenly coming across what appeared to be a white rock that stood out of the ground. She looked at the rock with curiosity and tried brushing it with one of her paws only to get no reaction.
"What is this?" questioned the young Fire Breather before a smile quickly grew on her face when an idea suddenly came to her mind,she stepped back a little ways and gently let a small blue flame come out of her mouth. It slowly made its way over to the rock before coming into contact and lighting it up with many colors that surrounded the area and the young one.
"Wow." laughed the Fire Breather in awe of the display of colors only for her amazement to be suddenly cut off when a loud voice boomed from behind "Marie! There you are!" to which the girl tensed up in fear before turning around to see her father,Maul approaching with a furious look on his face.
"Uh oh." whimpered Marie to herself before growing a nervous smile and waving to her father "H-Hi Dad. Is there something wrong?" only for Maul to stay silent as he glared at his daughter with a look of pure rage.