A/N: Whew! Hey, guys! Been a little while, hasn't it? Consider the wait a consequence of uploading three chapters in such short succession, as well as me being generally busy with the end of one college term and the beginning of another. C'est la vie. But hey, it's finally time to resume the ride, so let's see what shenanigans these boys can get into in this new, fantastical realm!


Chapter 4: Metal and Bone

"Snrt…"

Eddy flinched in his sleep, twitching his nose and slowly opening his heavy eyes. The sunlight was an unwelcome barrage on his retinas, warded off only by blinking until his eyes finally adjusted. Every other part of his body was taking a significantly longer time to get comfortable. His back and neck were sore, his mouth and throat were bone dry, and a putrid odor filled his nostrils.

Though he was still too tired to move his muscles, Eddy did manage to quickly deduce where the smell was coming from. Somehow in the middle of the night, Ed had wound up beneath him, the oaf's stomach acting as a makeshift pillow, rising and falling with his rhythmic snores. Likewise, Edd was still snoozing on the other side of the rock shelf, curled up like a cat with his hands tucked under his head.

So much for taking turns on lookout. Oh well. At least that meant Eddy got a semi-decent sleep.

Eddy let out a low yawn and slightly propped himself up on his arms, stretching his aching back, rubbing his shoulder blade where an odd rise in the stony surface had been jabbing him. He could tell it was going to take a while until he was back in working order, but that suited him fine. He would gladly put off day two of their hike through the magic forest for as long as possible.

His eyes slowly trailed about, soaking in their surroundings. Yep, the forest was still there. The trees were still there, the rocks were still there, the cliff was-

Eddy suddenly locked up, his stiff body going completely rigid, his eyes widening to saucer size as they stared upward with dread.

After a few seconds of petrification, his gaze flicked in Edd's direction. He wasn't close enough for Eddy to nudge him with his foot, but he didn't dare move an inch to reach him. All he could rely on was a soft, sharp whisper. "Double D… Double Deeeee…"

"Mmh…" Graciously, Edd started to rouse, his eyes squeezing tighter before gently sliding open. After stirring in place for a moment, he lifted his head a few inches, rubbed the sleepies from his eyes, and glanced up at his active companion. "Good morning, Eddy-"

"Shhh…!" Eddy quickly hissed back, silencing Edd on the spot with his dire expression.

He reached behind him and gave Ed's flank a light shove, earning a confused snort as the lump steadily pulled himself out of his slumber. "Breakfast…?"

"SHHHHH!" Eddy hissed again, scowling at his companions, briefly pausing to ensure that they were both awake and giving him their undivided attention. Once he was certain of that much, he urgently pointed a finger skyward, directing Ed and Edd's eyes to the space above them.

Ed clenched inward and went stiff. A sharp inhale wheezed through Edd's teeth.

Directly above them, perched on the edge of the cliff, an eagle stared down at the trio. Even at a glance, all three Eds could tell that this was no ordinary bird. Its exact size was difficult to gauge from their position, but it clearly dwarfed any eagles on Earth, and it was distinctly possible that it might tower over them as well. The morning sunlight gleamed off its lustrous golden feathers. Its amber eyes blazed with intense focus. It didn't move a muscle, silently eyeing the boys that it loomed over.

"Make no sudden movements…" Edd mumbled timidly, cautiously studying this curious bird. His fascination took a backseat to fear as he unintentionally locked eyes with the avian beast. Given that this was an unnaturally large bird of prey, Edd had to consider the possibility that the eagle saw them as a potential meal, a threat that clearly was not lost on Ed or Eddy.

Ed warily turned to his friends, soaking in their frightened expressions. Then he looked back up at the giant eagle, suddenly finding himself feeling woefully unprepared for an encounter with the beasts of this world. This is not how he expected his first interaction with the supernatural to play out. "P-Pretty bird…"

Eddy turned away from the eagle, keeping perfectly still otherwise. He glanced down the steep rock wall, noting that the drop to ground level was still fairly lengthy. For all intents and purposes, they were stranded on this ledge, trapped with an animal that could easily outpace them. Between fight or flight, it looked like fight was the more likely option, but Eddy didn't feel so inclined to completely rule out the latter.

"Guys?" Eddy murmured, taking in their immediate surroundings, minimal as they were. "I have an idea…"

Before Eddy could elaborate, the eagle reeled back, spread its wings, and leaped off its perch with its talons extended and aimed at the trio.

"SCATTER!"

At Eddy's panicked command, the Eds sprung into action with a series of startled cries. Ed and Eddy jumped one way, with Ed slamming into the wall while Eddy narrowly stopped himself at the edge of the shelf. Edd scrambled in the opposite direction, just barely avoiding tumbling off the edge himself, his arms shaking as they clung to the stone.

The eagle landed in the open space where the Eds once sat, and the moment it did, its size became apparent. Sure enough, the raptor proved to surpass average human height, with the top of its head reaching several inches above Ed's, boasting a size comparable to a horse. And yet, this was not the most shocking discovery.

With its wings raised, the eagle fully displayed a lower body that extended well beyond a typical bird's tail. Its feathers gradually grew shorter further down its muscular body, eventually transitioning into sandy brown fur. A pair of feline legs supported the back of its quadrupedal form, and a thin, lion-like tail completed the image, swishing about with great ferocity.

Never slowing, offering little time for observation, the griffon charged ahead and pounced after Eddy.

"AAH-!" Propelling himself on his hands and knees, Eddy quickly rolled to his right and away from the encroaching beast, narrowly dodging its talons and beak. He shot upright, finding himself in an undesirable position with his back against the wall, heavy breaths escaping his open mouth.

When the griffon swiveled around for a second attempt, Eddy suddenly found himself hoisted off his feet, the back of his shirt snatched by Ed. The big lug had already scaled several feet up the cliff, hastily throwing Eddy over his shoulder as he continued to climb diagonally towards the other end of the ledge. "WE'RE COMING, DOUBLE D!"

"ED!" Eddy squirmed in his awkward position, scowling down at their winged assailant "You idiot, this isn't gonna-!"

"SCREEEEEEEEEE…!"

"YAAAAA-HA-HAAAAAOOOOOUUUUUCH!"

The griffon effortlessly lifted itself off the ground and swiped at the escaping duo. Ed raised his head with an agonized wail when the talons dragged along his back, shredding his jacket, drawing blood, digging in and refusing to let go. Despite the searing pain, Ed managed to maintain his hold on the wall. Eddy, without thinking, reached out and clonked the griffon on the head, disorienting it just enough for it to lose its grip and drop back onto the ledge.

After only a few seconds spent shaking itself off, the griffon was struck once again by a small stone just above its eye. It furiously whipped around, facing the culprit.

Edd was quaking in his shoes, just barely maintaining his firm stance. Another stone was clutched in his sweaty palm. He tried to shout to his friends, but all he could muster was a loud squeak, his bravado crumbling as his eyes met the burning yellow orbs of this half-bird, half-mammal monstrosity.

The griffon lunged at the scrawny boy. Edd reflexively and spastically threw the rock, missing entirely in his terrified flailing. The world spun and a headache struck like thunder as he quickly found himself pinned beneath the griffon's foot, pressed against the stone surface, screaming with unrestrained horror.

"DOUBLE D!" Eddy freed himself from Ed's grasp, dropping back onto his feet. He immediately bent down and grabbed a large, jagged rock, then charged at the griffon, effortlessly hauling his makeshift weapon as he rode on the waves of adrenaline. With all his might, he raised the rock over his head, then slammed it down on the griffon's tail, driving the pointed ridges into the cracks in the earth.

The beast unleashed a sharp cry and reared up on its hind legs, giving Edd leeway to scurry out from underneath it. With the griffon incapacitated, seeing his opportunity, Ed continued to skirt towards it along the wall. Once he was in position, Ed hurled himself off the vertical surface with a mighty war cry, landing on the griffon's back.

"BEGONE, SCAVENGER OF THE FORGOTTEN REALMS!"

The griffon bucked and jerked, desperate to shake off the annoying pest. Ed wrapped his arms around its head, straining to keep its beak clamped shut. Its tail twitched as it struggled to slip free from the rock pinning it down.

"Attaboy, Monobrow!" Eddy hollered before turning to Edd and grabbing him by the wrist. "Ya ready, Sockhead?!"

"Ready?!" Edd repeated incredulously, glancing between Eddy and the griffon. It didn't take long for him to deduce what Eddy's plan was. "You are not serious!"

"Brace yourself, Ed!"

"EDDY, DON'T…!"

The griffon reared onto its hind legs again, raking its talons through the open air. Ed clung to it for dear life.

"GO!"

Eddy raced headlong towards the beast, dragging Edd alongside him.

"EDDY WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT WAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIT!"

In one fluid motion, Eddy kicked the rock loose and jumped onto the griffon.

With its tail freed and a sudden weight slamming into its back, the griffon clumsily stumbled forward, its talons desperately scraping against the stone but failing to catch, sending it and its three passengers hurtling off the cliff and towards the ground.

Ed and Edd screamed at the top of their lungs. Eddy released a half-scared, half-exhilarated holler. All three of them clung tightly to their impromptu mount with tense, shaking muscles. The griffon flapped its wings, slowing their inelegant descent only mildly, flailing in its attempts to go airborne and get these creatures off of it. Finally, the four crash-landed, the griffon taking the brunt of the impact and skidding several feet across the grass. The Eds were launched in multiple directions, tumbling a few feet more before crumpling to a halt.

Ed lifted his head out of the dirt, briefly grabbing it to stop it from spinning. As he slowly stood up, his hand flew to his back and a soft whimper escaped his throat. The claw marks in his back were stinging like crazy.

"Oww…" Edd limply sat up and stared up the cliff at the perch they had fallen from, barely able to catch his breath. He didn't have it in him to be angry at Eddy for that foolish stunt. At least they were alive and on the ground. Silver lining.

"WHOO! OKAY!" Eddy sprung to his feet, bouncing back and forth like a boxer before the fight, watching as the griffon steadily picked itself up. "That was my contribution! What's the next plan?!"

"Uh…!" Edd didn't have an answer for that. Ed was frozen where he stood. The griffon shook itself off, its ruffled feathers standing on end, turning to its prey with an enraged shriek.

All of a sudden, the griffon grew tense and looked away from the Eds. It cast a flustered glare into the forest, the tip of its tail twitching, its wings spreading with anticipation. A rustle in the trees caught the trio's ears. Subtle vibrations rippled through the earth.

With an unpleasant, angry squawk, the griffon turned away from the source of its distress and took off in a sprint, never looking back at the Eds, flapping its wings and seamlessly lifting itself into a steady flight.

"Oh boy…" Though the glorified vulture was gone, Eddy still didn't like where this was going. "Now what?"

Right on cue, just as the griffon disappeared behind the canopy, the cause for concern made itself known.

A herd of animals entered the clearing at a casual, steady pace, easily breaking through the thick underbrush with only their chests and feet. Ed clung to a tree trunk while Edd and Eddy simultaneously pressed themselves against the sheer cliff wall to avoid being trampled by the group of ten… fifteen… twenty enormous creatures. From there, they took a moment to observe these newfound marvels of nature.

The beasts were absolutely huge, with the adults that marched at the outer circle of the herd reaching roughly ten feet in height. Their bodies were thick, bearing dimensions that looked to be halfway between that of an elephant and a horse, covered in short, umber fur with dark stripes like a tiger. Their heads were distinctly elephantine, sporting long, pronounced trunks, ivory tusks, and in the case of the largest members, a matching pair of horns. Their ears, however, were much smaller and more rounded than those of their pachyderm relatives, blending into their lion-like manes. Their vertical legs seemed to bear the support of an elephant, the musculature of a gorilla, and the clawed paws of a feline. In the back, they displayed long, wiry tails tipped with a tuft of fur, not unlike a cow's.

"COOL!" Ed had no idea what these animals were, but that ignorance only enhanced his fascination with these chimeric giants. His eyes sparkled and his smile brimmed as he watched them trot past him and his friends. "I dub thee ELEONS!"

"Ed, keep your voice down!" Edd sharply murmured, just loud enough to be heard over the stomping. "We don't know what they might do if we startle them."

"Well, I'd rather not stick around to find out!" Eddy insisted. "Let's split while they're not looking!"

Edd was keen to agree with that notion, but before he could take a single step, one the animals slowed to a halt right in front of him, glancing down at the boy with its beady eyes. He locked up on the spot, anxiously staring back at the beast, tactfully avoiding eye contact, silently pleading through his meek expression and low posture that he not be harmed. The eleon raised its trunk, audibly sniffing Edd, fearlessly leaning over slightly to examine him. Then it slowly turned away and resumed its pace alongside the herd.

At that moment, Edd's worries slowly faded. He leaned away from the cliff, watching the herd in awe as the final stragglers at the back passed them by. These animals were not afraid of them, but they showed no apparent aggression towards them either. This revelation filled him with a sense of wonder and hope.

"Aww, they're so cute!" Ed crooned, stepping away from his hiding spot and regrouping with his pals. "And look! They have friends!"

Taking note of Ed's remark, Edd looked around and spotted a number of smaller woodland critters scurrying through the forest in the same direction as the eleons. Wild boars, deer, squirrels, rabbits… with antlers? Jackalopes, perhaps? All of them were following closely behind the herd. Upon further investigation of the eleons themselves, Edd noticed several birds of varying shapes and sizes comfortably perched atop the great beasts.

Eddy frowned, looking less impressed by the native fauna. "Hey, they didn't kill us, so I'm not complaining. Anyway, we oughta get outta here."

"Actually…" Edd spoke up, his eyes still focused on the eleons. "Perhaps it would be wise to follow them."

"Uh, sorry, what?"

Edd glanced between Ed and Eddy with a renewed sense of confidence. "Judging by their anatomical similarities to elephants, there's a strong possibility that these animals are herbivores. Prey animals are clearly inclined to seek protection from them, and if that creature's hasty retreat was any indication, they may be able to ward off local predators. If we stay close, we may be able to circumvent this forest's more dangerous inhabitants."

"YAY! March of the eleons!" Ed decreed, already scampering after the herd with enough pep in his step that his wounds might as well have been nonexistent.

Eddy mustered a smirk and a nod. That fight with the griffon had taken a toll on all of them, and if Edd believed this would provide them with a breather, Eddy could go along with it. "Yeah, okay, I see what you're getting at. I guess as long as they don't try to eat or step on us, I'm good."

"Fingers crossed," Edd mumbled in agreement as he and Eddy caught up to Ed. Together, they trudged after the herd, never drawing too close, never straying too far behind, keeping their new protectors within their sight and minds. Would wonders never cease?


Midday came sooner rather than later. The sun shone through the weaves of the canopy, igniting a stifling summer heat. The shade was nice while it lasted, but soon the herd reached a break in the treeline and continued their trek across a wide clearing that skirted along the bottom of the cliffs, where the sun beat down on their tag-alongs without mercy. Graciously, several minutes in, the eleons stopped at the bank of a crystalline river, taking the time to drink and bathe themselves in the cold water. Their traveling companions promptly followed suit, but once hydration was no longer an issue, one such straggler found another task to see through.

"There we go…" Edd smiled with calm contentment at Ed's bare back, freshly cleaned of the blood from his wounds. To his relief, the cuts themselves were not the deep lacerations he had feared they would be and were already mostly clotted. They would certainly take a long while to heal, but at least they weren't fatal. "How do you feel, Ed?"

"Feeling spiffy, Double D!" Ed cheerfully responded. The big lug had certainly flinched a few times during the cleaning process, but his tolerance for pain was ever impressive.

"I'm glad to hear." Edd stepped up to the river again to wash his damp and blood-soaked handkerchief. "I do wish that I had access to proper medical supplies. I dread the risk of infection that we face out here. At the very least, I am relieved that your injuries were not more grievous."

Ed beamed with pride. "I'm thick-skinned, right, guys?"

"Yeah, especially in your head!" Eddy teased, down on his hands and knees as he greedily slurped up the river's water. "You handled yourself pretty well back there, Lumpy!"

"We survived our first encounter with a magical monster!" Ed chimed whimsically. Now that they were not in imminent danger, he could actually revel in their discovery. "This world has griffons! It was so cool!"

"Finding it kinda hard to be excited about the monster that almost ate us."

"It is curious that this world is home to creatures that exist within Earth's mythology," Edd mused, eyeing a nearby jackalope as it lapped up water. "It makes me curious what other legendary beasts we might recognize out here."

"Yeah!" Ed's excitement was boundless. "Like goblins! Or werewolves! Or dragons!"

Eddy raised an eyebrow at Ed. "Are you actively wishing to be something's dinner?"

"Not only that…" Edd continued, staring out at the horizon, heedless of whether his companions were still listening to him. "…but what if there's some sort of connection between this world and ours that would explain our accounts of these beasts? After all, there must be a reason why we were transported here of all places."

"Can we save the theories for later?" Eddy asked bluntly, standing up and stretching his back. "Maybe focus on finding a way out of these woods first?"

"Ah! Yes." Edd shook himself off, deciding that their present survival was priority. He stood back up, wrung out his still slightly pink handkerchief, and placed it around his neck as a means to dry it and cool himself off. Then he nodded to Ed and Eddy. "Seeing as how our bodyguards are still preoccupied, perhaps we should spend the remainder of this rest period seeking sustenance."

"Food!" Now there was a suggestion that Eddy could get behind. "Finally!"

"Breakfast for Ed!"

"Let's see then…" Edd led the trio into the nearby underbrush, eyeing a small herd of deer that had been following the eleons for most of the hike. While Ed and Eddy started poking their noses into various bushes, Edd watched the deer, studying their grazing patterns. Most of them were munching on clovers and grasses, but a few of them were picking fruits off of the low-hanging branches of trees. The same type of fruit and tree, he noticed.

"Hmm…" Edd cautiously approached. The deer perked their ears but otherwise paid him no mind. Once assured that he wasn't going to spook the timid animals, Edd reached up and plucked a fruit for himself. It was the same color as a plum, the shape, size and texture of a peach, and pleasantly ripe judging by its density and succulent aroma. It seemed promising, and yet he hesitated.

"Whatcha got there? Fruit?"

Edd jumped and turned around. He hadn't even noticed Eddy approaching, finding the shorter young man standing right behind him, carrying several large sticks. The latter certainly caught Edd guard. "Um, yes? What do you have that wood for?"

"Gonna sort out which ones to use for fire and which ones are sharp enough to take down one of these deer," Eddy explained. "At this point, I'm hungry enough to try venison."

Edd frowned with apparent disapproval. "Eddy, ignoring our combined lack of hunting skills, we lack the time and capacity to cook an entire deer and still keep up with the eleon herd." Yes, Edd had taken to using the term Ed coined for lack of anything else to call the elephantine creatures. "Besides, we don't want to risk scaring them away or earning their ire by killing another animal in their presence."

"Ugh, fine," Eddy groaned, dropping the bundle of sticks where he stood. "Fruit it is, I guess."

"It seems to be our best option at this moment… but…" Edd warily eyed the unnamed fruit in his hands. "I don't know… What's healthy for an animal could easily be toxic for a human."

"Well, there's an easy way to figure that out," Eddy insisted, jumping and snatching a piece of fruit off its branch. "HEY ED!"

"Mm?!" Ed's head shot out of a bush, a twig wedged between his teeth like a dog playing fetch. After spitting out the unpleasant-tasting piece of fiber, Ed scampered over to his pals. "Yes, Eddy?"

"Eat this," Eddy plainly ordered, offering Ed the fruit.

"Ooh!" Ed gladly accepted the offer, swiping the fruit out of Eddy's hand.

Edd flinched at the sight. "N-Now Ed, wait-!"

Too late. Ed sunk his teeth into the fruit right down the middle with gleeful anticipation and feverish hunger, tearing through the flesh, spraying droplets of juice. Once his jaw was firmly clamped, his eyes grew wide and his smile fell as he let out a muffled yelp.

Edd cringed again. Eddy screwed up his face. "That bad, huh?"

Offering little response to Eddy's quip outside of a confused, muffled grunt, Ed pulled away, ripping the fruit clean in half with one part in his hand in the other stuffed in his cheeks. He reached his fingers into his mouth, fishing around for a moment before pulling out a dense, dark brown pit similar to that of a peach. After chucking the oversized seed away, Ed proceeded to chew, his smile returning in short order. "Yummy!"

Eddy grinned at this one-word review, grabbing another fruit for himself. "See? Nothin' to worry about!"

Edd let out a sigh. He knew that this didn't entirely rule out toxicity, but his stomach was steadily winning this debate with his brain. Now was not the time to be picky. As such, Edd wiped the fruit off on his shirt and bit into it at the same time as Eddy. Both were pleasantly surprised by what greeted their tastebuds. The fruit was a nice blend of sweet and tangy, tasting almost like cantaloupe mixed with guava.

"Hm. S'pretty good," Eddy casually grunted after finishing the fruit off in under a minute. He quickly grabbed another one, following Ed's lead; the lump was already munching on his third one.

"I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I'm certainly pleased with what I received," Edd stated, his worries abated for the moment.

The Eds sat beneath the tree for a good ten minutes, ravenously scarfing down its succulent fruit. The only noises they made were their noisy chewing and satisfied moans. A pile of at least fifteen seed pits sat between them by the time they each decided they'd had enough. Nectar and pulp stained their lips. The deer resting alongside them seemed wholly unbothered by their messy feast, a few of them even leaning in to curiously inspect these two-legged strangers.

Eddy wiped his face off and inched away from the fawn currently trying to lick him. "Don't get too attached, Bambi. I may still eat ya later."

"Awwwww…" Ed patted the ruddy snout of the buck closest to him. "Fuzzy horned horsy!"

"It is strange that these deer are so unperturbed by our presence," Edd inquired. "They must have very little interaction with humans, or at least whatever may be the dominant species here, if they lack that instinctual fear."

Edd and Eddy nervously eyed each other, wordlessly exchanging the same concern. If that was the case, how long would it take for them to find whatever passed for civilization on this planet, if even there was any?

The deer suddenly went into a frenzy, lumbering backwards and bleating with panic. Realizing the potential danger, the Eds ducked into the bushes, hastily attempting to disappear, peering through the branches to see what the commotion was about.

Right at the edge of a clearing, the Eds were stunned silent as they discovered a feline beast the size of a tiger; maybe even bigger. Its large, powerful body was coated in a sandy, golden-brown pelt, decorated with dark brown rosettes. Its short, stumpy tail lashed about wildly as its wide, clawed paws clung to the hide of a deer. Two enormous, serrated fangs sunk into the deer's hind leg.

"My word…" Edd choked up in a barely audible whisper. "Is that… a saber-toothed cat…?"

A mighty bellow shook the forest as a male eleon charged at the predator. The saber-tooth tried to retreat back into the forest, dragging its prey with it, but the added weight slowed it down and left it open for a powerful slap from the eleon's trunk. Once the saber-tooth tumbled away from the deer, a second eleon male rammed into it with the combined force of its tusks and horns, flinging it well over ten yards across the clearing where it landed at the feet of a third male. The eleon raised its front leg, then slammed it down with all its strength.

"Ooooooooooh…!" All three Eds cringed at the sight of the saber-tooth getting crushed into a rug in one fell swoop. It was not a pleasant sight, but at least the threat had passed fairly quickly.

"Yeesh…! Glad we stuck with these guys," Eddy conceded, the sharp tang of fruit stinging the back of his throat as he tried not to vomit.

"Those eleons made lunchmeat of that cat!" Ed proclaimed, shaken but awestruck.

"I'm not eating that meat."

It was taking Edd a moment longer to regain his composure. He would have been fascinated by the sight of the prehistoric animal if he wasn't so terrified and repulsed. He turned his eyes away from the trampled carcass, focusing instead on the eleons. "I-It looks like the herd is moving on. We should hurry in case-"

A guttural squeal cut Edd off. A doe charged past them, brushing the leaves of their hiding place in its haste. More deer darted their way, anxiously escaping the forest to rejoin the eleons. The deer that had been attacked shakily picked itself up, joining its brethren in a frantic limp.

Among the cacophony, a sharp yowl drew the Eds' attention to another saber-tooth sprinting through the foliage in pursuit of the retreating deer. Another shot past them, snapping its jaws at a young doe. A large buck was charging directly their way, trailed by a saber-tooth that was far too close for comfort.

The boys yelped in unison, diving out of the brush and narrowly avoiding getting trampled, going otherwise ignored by the beasts. Now that they were out in the open, they opted to follow the crowd and seek the protection of their more able-bodied travel companions.

They found the eleons on the defensive against a pack of seven or eight saber-tooths. The females formed a protective ring around their calves, trumpeting furiously, swinging their trunks at any cat that drew too close. One brave saber-tooth lunged at a female and bit into its trunk, threatening to sever it, only to wind up twisted in the proboscis and impaled on its tusks. All the while, the males charged at the encroaching predators, striking them with trunks and feet, throwing them with tusks and horns. Several cats successfully took down deer, only to be warded away by the eleons. A couple of them made a hasty escape after catching the smaller pigs or jackalopes.

Upon witnessing one saber-tooth leap onto an eleon's flank, tearing into its hide with fangs and claws, refusing to let go even as the eleon thrashed about, Eddy decided that he'd seen enough. "So much for that! Let's get outta here!"

"It would probably be wise not to remain out in the open!" Edd anxiously agreed, following Ed and Eddy as they turned around and high-tailed it.

The trio skirted along the edge of the clearing, avoiding the brawl taking place by the river, striving to be as quiet and stealthy as possible despite their speed. Ed spared a peek over his shoulder, clenching up when he spotted a saber-tooth that had opted to go for the runaways rather than dealing with the larger game.

"AAH-!" Startled, Ed scooped Edd and Eddy up in each arm, picking up speed in a desperate attempt to elude their hunter. He made a mad dash towards the base of the cliff, towards the first thing his eyes landed on: a large crack in the rock wall.

"HIDE IN HERE!"

"OW! ED!"

"HEY, WATCH IT!"

Without waiting for their consent, Ed forcefully stuffed Edd and Eddy into the crevice. The slit was just wide enough for them to fit, but still so compact that Ed had to shove his protesting pals in with all his might before squeezing in after them. Just in time, too, as Ed managed to slink away just as the saber-tooth shoved a paw inside, swinging at Ed and missing him by a hair. From the looks of it, the large cat was a few sizes too big to fit, but it nonetheless lowered itself to the ground where the crack was widest, clearly intent on trying.

"Ah, geez! Beat it!" Eddy shouted, backing away deeper into the crevice, the three Eds nervously huddled up against each other. "Go eat one of those deer! They got more meat on them than-! GYAAH…!"

The ground suddenly turned smooth and steep beneath Eddy's feet, leading him to stumble back with a startled yelp. Edd, having lost the support Eddy provided, fell on top of him. Ed tripped over his own feet as he blindly scurried after them.

A foreboding sense of deja vu occurred as the ground disappeared and the Eds fell headlong and screaming down a sleek, earthen slope…


The forest was quiet. The local ambiance was drowned out by the tranquil murmur of the river. Sunlight sparkled on the surface of the water, the gentle ripples weaving through the rocks.

Carlisle stood perfectly still on the riverbank, eyes trained on the waters, bow and arrow at the ready. His slow, deep breaths were silent and controlled. His long, dark brown hair was tied in a messy braid, keeping his peripheral clear. With his fingers firmly gripping his bowstring and fletchings, he watched… and waited…

A flash of silver appeared beneath the river's surface.

In one swift motion, Carlisle turned, drew back the bowstring, and let his arrow fly directly into the river. The arrow stuck and tilted upright. A fish's tail flopped in and out of the water before going limp. The catch drifted along the current, floating up to Carlisle, where he promptly picked the arrow back up and studied the fish speared on its tip.

"Your reflexes are getting better!"

Carlisle glimpsed over his shoulder, only briefly surprised to see Radley approaching with a casual smile. He let out a deep sigh, sadly turning away again and removing his arrow from the fish. "My aim is still off. My bow hand still shakes too much."

"That's nothing to be ashamed of. It's good to recognize where one can improve," Radley warmly insisted, coming to a relaxed halt behind his squire. "Show me your stance. Let's see what we can do about it."

Carlisle frowned at his feet. He admittedly wasn't in the mood for a lesson, but he had to concede that maybe it would take his mind off of other matters. As such, he straightened back up and got into his standard archery pose, his longbow firmly held in his left hand, his right miming drawing back the string.

"Ah. I think I see the problem." Radley positioned himself behind Carlisle, leaning into him, gently gripping the young man's bow arm. "You're supporting the bow with the wrong muscles. Here… Just barely unlock your elbow. Let it bend slightly."

Carlisle did as he was told, keeping his eyes forward. He felt Radley's hand on his shoulder.

"There we go. Low and relaxed. Now try pressing down where the shoulder meets the arm with your release hand."

Maintaining his current position, Carlisle grabbed the top of his arm and pushed down. Perfectly locked, little to no resistance required. "Huh."

"That should steady your aim considerably," Radley mused with approval, taking a seat on a rock. "Give it a try."

Carlisle tried not to move, keeping his arm where it was, praying he could commit it to muscle memory. With slow, precise movements, he readied the arrow still in his hand, setting his sights on the knot of a nearby tree. He spared a quick little smile when he saw that his bow hand was completely still, then he focused on his target again. The soft twang of the bowstring was music to his ears as the arrow flew, sinking dead center in the knot.

"Heh…!"

"Brilliant!" Radley beamed with pride. "See? You're better than you give yourself credit for."

Carlisle smiled bashfully, walking up to the tree and dislodging the arrow. He missed moments like these, training under Radley, learning the ways of the paladins… back when training and tending to the people of Apetus were all they had to do. Back when they didn't have to worry about dragons. Back when the whole of Iaun wasn't in peril.

The squire looked to his knight with a hopeful gleam. "When do you think we'll be able to return to magic lessons?"

"Once we fulfill our duties and return to Alemore, I'm sure we'll find the time," Radley happily responded. "You need that training now more than ever, after all."

"Right…" Carlisle slipped the arrow into his quiver, staring at the ground as his lively mood was quickly dampened again. Perhaps there was no sense in trying to distract himself. It wouldn't be long until the purpose behind their mission reared its ugly head again, and despite his consternation, he wanted to be as ready as possible when it did. "Have there been any signs of the dragon?"

"Not recently," Radley sighed, standing back up and gazing into the forest. "The scouts have been trying to track it since sunrise. No word from them yet. If we don't catch it by tonight, we may have to relocate."

"Sounds fair…"

"We have caught wind of Kadian soldiers passing through these parts, though." Radley's eyes narrowed with restrained contempt. "I would like to assume the best from them, given the mutual threat, but I won't be surprised if they opt to make our journey more difficult should we cross paths."

Carlisle donned a slight glare and nodded back. It was a stretch to expect civility when it came to slavers.

The two sharply faced west when a distant ruckus caught their ears. Birds scattered into the sky in roughly the same direction. It was hard to describe the animal calls based only on their echoes, but after pausing to listen for a few seconds, they could silently agree what those boisterous trumpets and bellows were.

"Sounds like something has the bakus riled up," Radley murmured, gently taking Carlisle by the shoulder. "We should head back to camp."

"Yes, sir," Carlisle replied without protest, picking up the fish he caught and following his master back into the forest. Whatever chaos was taking place within the area, he was certain he wanted no part of it.

Although, mixed in with the cacophony of what seemed to be baku trumpets and pard snarls, for a brief moment, Carlisle thought he heard another call. One of distress. One much more familiar than those of the local wildlife. It sounded like…


"WAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH…!"

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH…!"

"FER CRYIN' OUT LOOOOOUUUUUD…!"

The Eds tumbled down the slant for what felt like half a minute, if not painfully longer. Even when their eyes weren't closed with pain and dread, they couldn't see how much further they had to fall; everything had turned pitch black the moment they began their descent. When the incline finally evened out, it caught all of them off guard, depositing them back onto solid ground abruptly and ungracefully.

Eddy blindly crashed head-first through some sort of thin sheet of plaster, flopping over and sliding to a halt soon after. Edd landed with a hard, dizzying jolt, flipping once and plopping on top of Eddy. Ed bounced upon emerging from the chute, clumsily propelling himself into the air and slamming down on both of his companions. A rumbling echo and the final notes of their screams filled the cavernous space before slowly petering out, replaced with the soft crackling of falling pebbles.

Seconds ticked by in silence. Painful, disoriented silence.

All of a sudden, the darkness was banished. A subtle, warm light filled the room.

"Ow-wuh…" Ed was the first to move, reaching his aching arm around to gingerly touch his back. Some of his wounds were bleeding again. His whole body felt sore.

"Ohh…" Edd could barely muster the strength to operate his own muscles, slowly willing his hand to clutch his pounding head, waiting for his eyes to come back into focus.

"Uh…" Eddy didn't move. He hardly had room to even twitch. His head was planted face-down on the stone floor, muffling his voice slightly. "Hey, guys? I have a great idea… GET OFFA ME!"

Ed inched his way backwards, giving Edd leeway to roll off to the side, relieving the pressure on Eddy's back. The trio gradually sat up, nursing their wounds, grumbling to themselves about the repeated tumbles they had taken and the bruises they had collectively gathered since their arrival to this new world.

"Okay…" Eddy eventually grunted, turning his attention towards this new environment. "Now where are we?"

That was the question of the day, wasn't it? Wanting an answer as much as Eddy, Edd looked up and observed their surroundings…

The subterranean space was absolutely gigantic, easily double the size of an average gymnasium in all dimensions. The walls were solid stone, same as the mountainside that the room was built within, but very intentionally and meticulously carved into a smooth, perfectly round chamber. Gothic arches decorated the domed ceiling, meeting in the center where a cylindrical cupola hung, radiating the light that filled the cavern. The walls were lined at the bottom with an intricately-knotted, ten-foot lattice, a portion of which was severely damaged now thanks to the accidental gate-crashers; near the ceiling, a circle of beautiful bas-reliefs was carved into the rock. Three stone tables sat against the walls, perfectly perpendicular to each other and the Eds' position, each one decorated with half-melted candles and dusty tomes.

However, the room's mysteriously magnificent arrangement paled in comparison to what rested in the center of it all…

Three mountains of bones lay in a circle, equally spaced between each other. The skeletons, though disorganized, were clearly arranged into similar anatomies, that of creatures significantly larger than any eleon they saw on the surface. Their skulls all faced a marble pedestal that stood in the very center of their ring, upon which sat three identical medallions.

"My word…" Edd was taken aback by everything he saw. The glorious architecture and the collections of books quickly took his breath away, and yet those marvels took a backseat to the natural wonders seated before him. "These… These skeletons… They're enormous!"

"Cool!" Ed gradually stood up, following Edd's lead, the two curiously stepping closer to one of the collections of bones. A trail of vertebrae rested at their feet, no doubt belonging to the creature's tail. Based on mere observation, said tail appeared to have once stretched twenty-five feet.

Eddy joined them soon enough, idly kicking at what looked to be a femur that was even taller than he was. "Yeesh! What are these, dinosaurs?"

"I might be inclined to believe that… and yet…" Edd cautiously tiptoed around the skeleton, stopping at the creature's midsection. He crouched as best he could, struggling to ignore the waves of pain, keeping his focus on the floor. Another pattern of small bones extended from the shoulders. "These… quite closely resemble wing bones."

Ed sucked in an ecstatic gasp of air. "DRAGONS!"

"Dragons?" Eddy screwed up his face as he glanced up and down the skeletal display. "Yeah, okay. After everything else we've seen, I can't say that finding dragon bones surprises me."

"I am honestly willing to believe it, considering griffons exist in this world," Edd awkwardly continued as he examined the intricate skeleton. "A six-limbed anatomy on such a large animal is quite an outlandish concept, but one we've already witnessed evidence of. I'm much more curious how a creature this size could achieve flight."

"Magic, Double D!" Ed joyously decreed, circling the room to gawk at the other bygone dragons in their resting place.

"How'd these behemoths even get down here?" Eddy questioned, looking around at the solid walls. "I don't see any doors. Do you guys?"

Edd turned away from the skeleton, inspecting the room once again. "There don't seem to be any obvious entryways aside from the crevice we slipped through. How these titans managed their way inside is yet another mystery."

"Magic, guys!"

"Yeah, yeah, we heard ya the first time, Ed!" Eddy continued to pace, slowly approaching the pedestal. "So whaddya think these are? Think those dragons were guarding them?"

"Don't touch anything, Eddy," Edd insisted, stepping away from the bones and over to one of the stone tables. "We have no idea what intrinsic value this hall and the objects within it hold. I would prefer not to desecrate a potentially hallowed site."

Eddy scoffed and blindly waved Edd off, keeping his focus on the marble pedestal. More specifically on the three medallions it proudly displayed. They were all the same size, just bigger than the palm of Eddy's hand, bearing what looked to be large diamonds at their centers and strange runes etched into the surrounding metal. What set them apart was the metal each one was crafted from: one was made of gold, one silver, and one bronze. The way they were positioned, all three dragons were directly facing one of the gleaming amulets each.

Meanwhile, Edd approached the left table, leaning over to study its contents. The books that sat atop it were not only dense but incredibly large in diameter, better resembling concrete slabs than stacks of bound paper. Edd took a deep breath and blew the layer of dust off of one of the tomes, quickly recoiling and covering his mouth with his shirt to avoid breathing the irritating particles. Once the cloud had settled, he examined the book again, finding that the text on the cover was written in a strange, foreign alphabet, utilizing flowing penmanship.

"Interesting… So there is a society in this world that has developed written language. But who…?" Edd looked up, spotting a dried inkwell and oversized feather quill sitting among the melted candles. "Did… Did they write these texts?"

Lumbering footsteps preceded a response to the question Edd had asked himself. "Dragons are smart, Double D! And they live a long time! They probably had lots of tales to tell!"

Edd glanced up at Ed, then back down at the table with a nod. "So much about this is utterly baffling to this analytical brain of mine. I mean… creatures of that size being capable of the complex, minute actions of writing? Having the brain capacity to not only comprehend language, but also operate six limbs, one pair being wings? A-And that's not even mentioning how that ceiling light turned on automatically upon our arrival when it's very clearly illuminated by fire. I'm trying my best to make sense of it all."

"Stop thinking so hard!" Eddy called from across the room. "I think it's safe to say that anything goes at this point!"

"Yeah! It's magic!" Ed reiterated. "It's beyond our knowledge! It makes the impossible possible!"

Edd sighed, hesitant to blindly accept that explanation, though not exactly ruling it out. His eyes trailed up to a carving in the wall just above the table. It began with an outer circle, within which was a vertical, perfectly symmetrical double helix. The two loops of the helix each had a large dot within them.

"Ooh…" Ed was intrigued by the emblem. "Those other tables had pictures like that too! C'mon!" He grabbed Edd by the wrist before the lad could verbally comply, towing him along as he trotted over to the center table and eagerly pointed to the wall with his free hand. "See?"

Sure enough, another circular symbol was etched into the stone. This circle had a horizontal line running through it, with two equidistant dots intersecting the line near the center. Two curves sat above and below the line, creating an incomplete oval. Looking to his right, Edd studied the symbol above the last table from a distance. Again, an outer circle, this one holding two identical lines with curved ends, creating a wavy X, with one dot above and one below the vertex.

Before he could question the meaning behind these icons, Edd spotted Eddy out of the corner of his eye. The short-tempered troublemaker had grabbed the gold medallion off its display for a closer look. "Eddy! I told you not to touch anything!"

"Calm down! I'm being careful with it!" Eddy retorted, bringing the metal disc closer to his face. "Heavy little thing. How much ya think this is worth?"

Edd stomped over to Eddy, quickly followed by Ed. "That's not ours to consider! I won't have you toying with objects we don't know the meaning or origin of!"

"The dragons won't be happy with you touching their treasure! Put it back!"

"I will! Don't blow a gasket!" Eddy squinted, looking between the medallion and the third table. Though the rest of the runes were indecipherable, the symbol at the top resembled the wavy X. "Huh… Isn't that…?"

Suddenly, a flash of light pierced Eddy's eyes, shining brightly enough that all three Eds were briefly forced to look away. The diamond at the center of the medallion glowed an intense white. The gold slowly began to heat up in Eddy's hands. One by one, the surrounding runes started to illuminate with the red flare of molten metal. The silver and bronze amulets still propped up on the pedestal gradually lit up in the same way.

"Oh no!" Ed fretfully looked around at the dragon skeletons. "He didn't mean it! We're sorry!"

"Eddy!" The frustration in Edd's voice was still apparent, albeit in a much more anxious tone than an angry one. "Put it down!"

"No argument there!" Eddy hastily set the gold medallion back on its display, but when he retracted his hands, the medallion came with them. He let out a startled yelp and tried to yank his fingers free to no avail. The metal had melted into his skin.

"Eddy, what're you doing?!"

"It's stuck!" Eddy flailed his arms in an attempt to shake off the infernal amulet. "Get it offa me!"

Ed hastily rushed over to his buddy's side, tucking his hands inside his jacket sleeves. With the fabric protecting him, he grabbed the medallion by the top and bottom, tugging with all his might. "Unhand my friend, cursed treasure of the great wyrms!"

"Ow ow ow ow ow ow!"

Ed quickly lost his grip, the ends of his jacket sleeves tearing, the backwards momentum sending him stumbling away. Eddy's hands were still fused to the warm metal. Freaking out, screaming at the top of his lungs, Eddy raised his arms above his head and slammed the medallion down on the pedestal as hard as he could. With one loud CLANG, the gold disc detached, ripping off a few dermal layers from the skin of Eddy's hands. The sheer force knocked the other two amulets off their perch, sending all three loudly clattering to the floor.

Edd clutched his pounding heart with one hand and Eddy's shoulder with the other. "Are you okay, Eddy?"

"No! That thing was gonna burn my hands off!" Eddy protested, showing off the bloody abrasions on his palms.

"Uh… Guys?"

Edd and Eddy turned to face Ed, then looked down when they noticed he was pointing at the floor. The fallen medallions were still jostling about at the boys' feet, spinning in place on their rims, the beams they each emitted spiraling like erratic spotlights. The dizzying motions did not slow. If anything, they only seemed to speed up, the three discs rapidly rotating until they blurred into glowing spheres of gold, silver and bronze.

The Eds did not breathe a word to each other. The notion to slowly back away from the strange devices was quietly conveyed and executed in perfect unison.

Another intense burst of light filled the room, from which the Eds retreated in horror. The medallions turned pure white. The fire from the cupola sparkled with every color of the rainbow.

The beams of light turned streamline. The medallions appeared to melt into the luminescent streaks. The lights took shape, forming the visages of three enormous, ghostly dragons, radiating with pure, slightly translucent luster, flecked with the metal of their respective medallions.

The trio was stunned silent, frozen in place. The ghost dragons drew dangerously close to the Eds, nearly blinding them with their light. The dragon from the gold medallion loomed over the boy who had plucked the treasure from its place, scrutinizing Eddy with intense, empty yet all-knowing eyes. The silver-flecked dragon floated in front of Edd, staring right through him, unperturbed by the young man's heavy, wheezing breaths. The bronze dragon drifted in circles around Ed in an almost playful manner, studying the shaking lad from all angles.

Simultaneously, the three ghost dragons lined up, opened their jaws, and unleashed harmonic, earth-shattering, heaven-shaking, soul-piercing roars like nothing the Eds had ever heard before. They unfurled their mighty wings, charging at the trio with lightning speed. The Eds continued to scramble away until their backs were against the wall, leaving them with nowhere to run and nothing to do but cower and scream.

The dragons phased through the boys gently and seamlessly, disappearing entirely.

The light faded away. The cupola dimmed back into its initial warm glow.

The echoes of glorious roars and terrified shrieks bounced off the walls before growing deathly silent.

The medallions were gone.

Two solid minutes passed with not a single sound uttered from the Eds. All they could do was sit against the wall, catch their breath, and struggle to comprehend what they had just witnessed. Their hands clutched their chests in multiple instances. Their eyes were wide with fear, confusion and dread. They looked over the dragon skeletons still in place, untouched by the spectral phenomenon, mutually regretting the decisions that led them to that worldview-altering sight. There were no words to describe what just happened. Only raw, potent emotions.

"OKAY!" Eddy was the first to speak up, doing so loudly and abruptly enough to earn a startled jump from Ed and Edd. "MAGIC IS REAL! I'LL BUY IT!"

Edd swallowed the lump in his throat, warily accepting that there really was no good explanation for the events they had witnessed besides that.

"Vengeful spirits summoned from beyond the grave…" Ed choked up, leaping to his feet. "This was a warning! We must leave this resting place!"

"I'm… going to have to agree with that," Edd whimpered, well and truly startled beyond words, or at least his usual verbosity. He slowly stood up on shaking legs, still holding his chest.

"Uh, yeah, I'm all for getting outta this pit," Eddy anxiously conceded, standing up and stumbling in place for a moment. "But, y'know… maybe… after…"

Eddy's voice lethargically trailed off as the three Eds, in unison, rolled their eyes back and fainted onto the cold stone floor.


A week had passed with nary an end in sight as the red dragon flew in desperate circles over the Emberknoll Wood. He knew the memorial was here –every dragon did– but its exact location was a mystery even to the eldest among them. No dragon set foot in Emberknoll unless they were on a holy pilgrimage, and even then, the ancestral spirits who bound themselves to the forest would not always make their journey simple.

The cause that brought him there may not have been holy in the purest definition of the word, but he wanted to believe it was at least righteous. Despite this, his search had thus far proven to be for naught. In the time he had spent traversing this sacred forest, he had not once felt the presence of the ancient ones. A sense of loneliness overwhelmed him, as if the spirits were ignoring him, further compounding the fear and heartbreak he had already felt since leaving his home.

Was this to be his fate? Chasing a legend while he waited for his people's fate to find him?

As dusk approached on the seventh day, he very nearly turned and left the forest behind him, accepting his failure.

And then… a pulse…

A second…

A third…

Something had shifted in the astral plane. He could feel it.

The tops of the evergreen trees whipped in the breeze as the bright scarlet dragon soared overhead. He rode the wind with practiced, anxious ease, rising above the forest, gliding towards a steep, bald hill in the near distance. The woods gave way to grey-brown stone, climbing near-vertically until they peaked. Here, at the highest point in Emberknoll, the dragon gracefully perched, claws gripping the rock, wings folding comfortably against his back.

His body faced north, honing in on the planet's magnetic field. His head slowly craned about, yellow-orange eyes aglow as they surveyed his surroundings. All was still and silent, almost deathly so, but the change in the atmosphere was unmistakable to his keen senses.

The ancestors were stirring.

A call… coming from the east.

The dragon stared into the horizon, his back to the setting sun. All this time, he felt like he was chasing shadows in a realm of untainted light, searching for something that wasn't there, taunted and eluded by his own predecessors. And now, at last, he had received the sign he had been waiting for. He felt the spirits' presence, and he knew deep down inside that they felt his too.

With his wings spread wide, the dragon dove off the hill, riding the updraft and lifting himself into flight once again. He followed the signal, drawn to the changing patterns in the astral sea, focusing intensely on the ancient voices that stirred his soul to action.

Dusk was fast approaching, but the dragon did not tire. His wings never faltered, his will resolute. The pull never lessened, guiding him towards the great plateau that ran through the center of the forest. This was it. The spirits' resting place. The memorial was somewhere beneath him. His long journey was nearing its end.

Suddenly, a powerful force yanked the dragon backward. A startled roar echoed through the forest as he was quickly and painfully pulled from the open air, crashing into the forest below, flailing madly as the snares entangled him…


Poke, poke.

"Double Deeeee…"

"Mhn…" Edd blindly shooed Ed's hand away, opening his eyes and lifting his head with surprisingly little effort. He was a bit sore from lying on stone, but otherwise, Edd was taken aback by just how much energy he had mere seconds after waking up. "What's wrong, Ed?"

"Make Eddy stop bothering the dragons," Ed whined, pointing across the room, drawing Edd's attention to their third party member.

Eddy was crouched in front of the skulls of one of the dragons, yanking at the skeleton's teeth, clearly straining from both the strenuous effort and the tenderness of his bloodied palms. Seeing this, Edd could only muster a beleaguered sigh as he stood up and approached his companion. "Eddy, I think it's been made abundantly clear that we shouldn't touch anything in this room."

"Hey, do you wanna get outta here or not?" Eddy grumbled, snapping off one of the serrated, calcified railroad spikes and placing it in a pile of six or seven more fangs. "We're gonna have to climb to do that, and it's not like these fellas are gonna need these chompers anymore."

"The dragons' spirits have inflicted their wrath upon us!" Ed shuddered as he watched Eddy continue to defile the skeleton. "First we touch their treasure, now we disturb their graves!"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Do you have any better ideas? You wanna try scaling that slide with your bare hands? Maybe blast a hole in the wall with some spit and magic?"

Edd gingerly rubbed his head. He didn't have it in him to debate. He was still reeling from the brush with the spectral dragons, which, in a weird way, left him feeling more distraught than anything else. In such a short span of time, he had been shown evidence of interplanetary travel, mythical creatures, ghosts, and what could very well have been magic for all he knew. By this point, Edd had reached a state where he was mentally broken yet emotionally numb.

"If… If something does run afoul because of our meddling, at least we'll be better prepared for it," Edd sighed, nodding between his cohorts. "Until then, I think Eddy's idea is justifiable. We'll need leverage to ascend that lengthy, near-vertical shaft."

"Thank you," Eddy grunted smugly, plucking out one last tooth. He gathered the pile in his arms and stood up, handing two fangs each to Ed and Edd. "Now let's go. Those knockoff peaches have come and gone like a weird uncle."

Ed stared remorsefully at the fangs in his hands, then he turned to the dragon skeletons. He could accept that this was their only ticket back to the surface, but his reservations were still plain to see. "Your sacrifice has not been in vain, great and powerful wyrms. We meant no harm. Rest well."

As Ed and Eddy turned and made their way towards the hole in the wall, Edd lingered by the skeletons a moment longer. Despite his trauma and fractured composure, he still found himself in awe of the magnificent specimens. The look on his face as he studied them one last time was nothing short of respect, and as he committed their forms to memory and soaked in the haunting emptiness of the pillar where their medallions once stood, for reasons he couldn't adequately explain, all Edd could offer was a soft but sincere "Thank you."

Upon turning away and joining his companions, preparing to climb their way out of this cavern, Edd felt a strange sense of reassurance and mutual gratitude emanating from the hallowed hall.

Magic… It was going to take some getting used to.


"You got this, Lumpy. Yer doin' great."

"We're almost there, Ed. Take your time. Don't look down."

"Huff… Huff… We're gonna make it, guys…"

The climb out of the cave had been anything but smooth. The fangs proved invaluable in maintaining a firm grip, with the Eds easily driving them into the earth and hoisting themselves up slowly but surely. Punch in a fang, lift, slide the other one out, punch in, lift, slide out, rinse and repeat. When a fang broke, it was promptly discarded and replaced with one of their backups, balance meticulously maintained all the while. Dirt and small stones rained from above. Sweat flowed from every pore. Their muscles were aching, eyes stinging, throats burning, but still they climbed.

Naturally, Edd tired himself out the fastest, at which point Ed graciously offered a piggyback ride. Edd instead seated himself in one of Ed's oversized, overstuffed jacket pockets for the sake of not putting pressure on his wounded back; after everything else they had endured, the unhygienic apparel was the least of Edd's worries. Eddy managed to tough it out longer than any of them had anticipated, complaining infrequently on top of that. He made use of Edd's discarded fangs until they were down to a collective three, then he too hitched a ride with Ed.

It was a long, tedious process, but soon they could see a dim silver light above them, drawing ever closer as Ed scaled the rock. It was clear that he was running low on steam, but with Edd and Eddy encouraging him, he bucked up and maintained his pace until finally the near-vertical drop curved into a flat surface. Once back in the ground-level crevice of the cliff, Edd and Eddy deboarded and gave each other space to sprawl out, catch their breath and relax.

"WHEW…!" Eddy rolled his head back and stared up at the ceiling. "Remind me not to visit this place again during the trip!"

"Agreed…" Edd wasn't necessarily breathless, but he was certainly exhausted and nearly dehydrated. He at least had the energy to smile and pat Ed on the head. "You did a great job, Ed. Thank you."

"No problem, Double D," Ed sweetly replied, panting like a dog, sweeping his makeshift picks back into the pit where they belonged before going still.

Eddy scooted closer to the mouth of the cavern to peer outside. "Yeesh! How long were we down there?!"

"Considering our bout of unconsciousness, any time frame wouldn't surprise me," Edd sighed, taking a look for himself. Night was already upon the forest, with only the faintest purple hue peeking behind the mountains against an otherwise dark blue backdrop. The glow of the silver moon was visible through the breaks in the canopy. The eleons and saber-tooths were long gone, but a sense of dread lingered. "Perhaps it would be wise to take refuge in here tonight."

"Fine by me, but I'm not dozin' off on an empty stomach again," Eddy responded as he crawled out into the open.

Edd might have objected to Eddy venturing out into the woods after dark, but considering how close they were to sources of food and water, he could accept the risk with a grain of salt. "Very well, but I'm going with you to watch your back. Ed, will you be alright waiting here?"

"Oh, I can come too, Double D," Ed gladly offered, slowly picking himself up. "Ed's belly needs food too."

"Alright. Just stay close to us."

Once outside, the Eds took a moment to stretch and breathe in the cool, crisp air. Ed rubbed his tender back and let out a powerful yawn. Edd wiped as much dirt off his clothes as he could. Eddy pulled the last spare dragon fang out of his pocket, ready and willing to use it as a makeshift weapon. Then they proceeded back into the forest, retracing their steps, their darkness-adjusted eyes on the lookout for any nocturnal beasts.

As they skirted the edge of the clearing, nearing the grove that had provided their lunch, Edd found himself performing a quick double-take. "Fellows, look!"

Ed and Eddy followed his finger, squinting to make out what had caught his attention. Illuminated by the soft light of the stars and twin moons, the night sky was just bright enough to reveal a gentle plume of smoke rising from the treeline.

"It looks like there's a small fire nearby," Edd explained, the optimism in his voice easy to detect. "Perhaps someone has set up camp out here!"

"Now we're talkin'!" Eddy cheered, quickly changing directions in pursuit of the smoke. "Maybe they have some real food! Real beds!"

"Locals!" Ed's fatigue was long forgotten as the eagerness overwhelmed him as well. "Show me your ways, magic men!"

Steadily but hastily, the Eds navigated through the forest. Eddy took the lead, cutting and shoving away the tall grass with his dragon fang. Edd kept watch, ensuring they were maintaining a steady direction, eyes peeled for any people or the light of their fire. Ed happily bounded at the back of the line, following his companions with a delighted grin.

"At long last!" Edd breathed raptly as the group circumvented a downed tree trunk. "Assistance had arrived! Our suffering is nearly at an end, gentlemen!"

"Oh yeah!" Eddy grinned at the sight of an orange glow between the trees, shadows silhouetted against the warm light. "Our ticket outta here!"

"My name is Ed!" Ed boldly proclaimed to anyone listening. "I come from beyond the sta-AAH!"

"ED!" Edd stumbled to a halt, watching as Ed fell head-over-heels into the underbrush. In the process, Edd found himself tripping as well, landing flat on his butt as something entangled his ankles.

"Whoa, hey!" Eddy promptly stopped and turned around to check on them. Ed was wildly flailing about on the ground, grunting and whining with panic, caught in a netted rope with a slight blue glow. Edd had the same blue rope awkwardly twisted around his legs.

"Ah geez…" Eddy tiptoed around the rope and got down on his knees next to Edd. He then grabbed the net and started slicing it away with the serrated side of the fang. "Can't catch a break out here, can we?"

"I suppose I should have expected the natives to deploy these sorts of safety precautions," Edd murmured uncomfortably, brushing the ropes away as Eddy cut them. "Curse my lack of tact."

"Help me, guys!"

"Don't get your eyebrow in a knot, Ed," Eddy grunted, shuffling away from the liberated Edd to free their third member. "I gotcha."

The fang cut through the ropes like butter. A few quick slices and soon Ed's arm was free, then his torso, then his legs…

"HHHRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUURRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH…!"

All three Eds locked up from a combined sense of dread and familiarity.

The fallen tree laying next to them suddenly shot up and unfurled. Ropes snapped and flew in all directions, untangling from the massive figure. Distinguished features became clear: a horned, reptilian head atop a long neck; powerful, claw-tipped legs; a long, finned tail; a pair of wings, soft red against the faint orange light of the nearby campfire…

The Eds shakily ducked into the bushes as the red dragon crouched and spread its wings to full height. With a beat of those wings, it shot straight up into the air, the treetops shaking as it parted the canopy and practically ran atop it in its hasty retreat. And just like that, it was gone.

As the echoes of the dragon's roar faded, a new noise made itself heard. People were shouting in a startled cacophony, their voices nearby but their panicked conversations indecipherable. Eddy peeked between the grass, watching the silhouettes run back and forth, some of them quickly approaching their location.

"We got company," Eddy whispered, warily looking back at his partners. "I think we mighta ticked them off."

Immediately after he made this remark, the Eds were forced to duck and cover as the top of the bush was suddenly razed. Leaves, twigs, grass, and a few inches from the top of Eddy's hair scattered in the wake of the blade that swiped above their heads. Angry, foreign shouting filled their ears.

Reflexively, Eddy shot to his feet and swiped his dragon fang at their attacker. The short, broad, bearded man in silver plate armor stumbled back, clutching his bleeding cheek, yelling and possibly cursing in the same aggressive tone and language.

Edd's head shot up, staring aghast at the wounded dwarf standing before his companion with the bloodstained fang. "Eddy, don't…!"

"Back up, pally!" Eddy warned, holding the fang defensively. "We're not here to hurt ya!"

"LOSTADH!"

The dwarf raised a hand, from which a pink light burst forth, striking Eddy point-blank. The young man stumbled for a few seconds, then his eyes slipped shut and he collapsed into the grass, out cold in an instant.

"EDDY!" Ed and Edd rushed over to him simultaneously, with the former staring anxiously at their fallen friend while the latter worriedly, pleadingly glanced between Eddy and the dwarf. Before either of them had a chance to remedy the situation, the dwarf cast his spell again, catching the boys in the enchanting light, sending them into a deep sleep.


"Gradrack!"

Several paladins rushed into the woods surrounding their camp, following their comrade's shouts. Radley took the forefront, rushing to his friend's side with his sword in hand and a look of concern. He spared the three unconscious boys a brief glance, assuring they were down for the count before attending to the dwarf. "Gradrack, what happened?!"

"Oy, the hackit li'l eejit got me in the face!" Gradrack snapped, once again holding his bloodied cheek. With his sword, he pointed to the mess of severed ropes scattered about the ground. "'Ese 'ere scaffies cut the dragon loose, 'ey did!"

Radley looked down and sighed. The constricting snare was indeed ruined and the dragon was gone. No sense in throwing a tantrum about it. The trio of human boys in bizarre attire was the more immediate issue. "What happened here?"

"Ah jus seen 'em creepin' through the brush 'n tried te query 'em. Wee one 'ere attacked me, so ah put 'em in a kip." Gradrack scowled at the boy with the yellow tunic and dragon fang. "Didnae speak a lick uh Daearic."

The question of what foreigners were doing out there was near the bottom of Radley's list of current concerns. Right now, he had an escaped dragon, a wounded partner, and three intruders to deal with, and he wasn't about to waste time on any of those. "Hadden, take care of Gradrack!"

"Yes sir!" A half-elf promptly approached the captain and the dwarf, ushering the latter away to treat his wound.

After seeing his friend off with a pat on the shoulder, Radley turned back to the remaining ensemble of paladins. "Did anyone see which way it flew?"

"Seemed like it was headed north!"

"Good. Lanford, Waylon, Brinley, see if you can follow it. There's a chance its wings were wounded by the snares. It may not stay airborne for long."

"Yes sir!"

"Niall, Quentin, help me carry these three. I'll have some questions for them when they wake up."

"But sir, didn't Gradrack say they didn't speak Daearic?"

"We'll just have to wait and see. If that truly is the case for all of them, language barriers can be worked around." Radley lifted the largest of the three boys into his arms and started walking him to the camp, flanked by his comrades carrying the other two.

Upon reaching the clearing, the paladins set the trio down beneath the awning of Radley's tent, tied their hands to a pole, and searched them for any weapons. The only thing they deemed worthy of confiscating was the small one's dragon fang, and his possession of it coupled with them releasing the dragon raised many suspicions among the squadron. Under the effects of Gradrack's sleep spell, the boys would likely be out for a while, leaving the paladins to tend to the mess they had made.

"Bloody dragon's never going to cooperate with us now, even if we do catch up to it," one of the knights grumbled. "An entire week wasted."

"Just count yourself lucky it wasn't a crystal dragon, Goisfrid."

"That just makes me even angrier that it got away!"

"The monster would've killed us all the second it was loosed if it was crystallized!"

"Where do you think these little bastards came from, Captain?" another paladin asked, nudging the boy with the stocking hat with his boot. "These are some weird tunics they got on. Think they're Vesian spies?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, Basuin. I've never seen this sort of attire before," Radley mused, looking the three over. "Has anyone seen Carlisle?"

"Your drake fled into the woods when the dragon escaped. I believe Carlisle is going after her."

Radley sighed, grateful but frustrated. "Well, someone go find him. Just in case there are more of these scoundrels out-"

"HRK-!"

All eyes turned to Goisfrid as the paladin collapsed onto his back, eyes wide with shock, blood dripping from his lips, an arrow lodged in his throat where his neck was exposed.

"GET DOWN!" Radley instantly had his shield out, deflecting an arrow fired his way. The rest of the paladins hastily followed suit, drawing their shields, summoning protective spells, ducking and covering, dodging the hail of arrows that was suddenly raining down on their camp from all directions. One knight fell when a lucky arrow pierced his chest between the plates of his armor. Another swerved away from one arrow, only to take a second directly to the eye.

"THEY GOT US SURROUNDED!"

"HOW DID THEY GET PAST OUR DEFENSES?!"

"CAPTAIN, OUR SPELLS AREN'T STOPPING-AAUGH!"

Basuin's silvery-white armor suddenly turned fiery red, heating up to scalding temperatures in a mere second. He fell to the ground in blistering pain, leaving him vulnerable to a subsequent headshot. The surrounding paladins soon fell victim to similar fates, some as a result of their heated suits, some knocked off their feet by waves of pure force, all of them quickly finished off with barrages of arrows in short order.

In less than a minute, a mortified Radley found himself standing alone among his fallen knights. The onslaught ceased. The forest grew deathly quiet.

A rustle in the foliage drew his attention to an approaching company. A mottled, brown and white horse stepped into the clearing. Riding it was a man in dark grey plate, decorated with red and purple garb, sporting a short beard and brown hair tied in a braid. Three more horsemen flanked him, bows drawn, eyes trained on Radley. In the surrounding woods, an indeterminate number of archers made themselves visible through the shadows.

Radley drew his sword, igniting it with holy radiance. He held his shield between himself and the leader of the squadron.

"Now, now, no need for that, Captain Dawsmith," the man on the mottled horse chided. "You're vastly outnumbered. We wouldn't want to make an even bigger mess."

The paladin snarled, his position unfaltering. "What is the meaning of this, Dwennon?! We're here on a diplomatic quest! What have we done to warrant an attack?!"

"You, sir, are trespassing on Duke Trossaich's land," Dwennon pompously replied, smirking at the lone knight. "And judging by the copious amounts of snares and entrapment spells placed around your camp, it seems we can add poaching to your list of crimes, the punishment for which, I'm afraid, is death."

"Excuse me?! The Emberknoll Wood has been unclaimed for centuries! It's a no man's land!"

"Not anymore. These lands were bequeathed to the Duke of Noomre by King Hewet himself five days ago. His Majesty saw fit to expand Kadia's borders in light of… recent events. I'm sure you understand."

"Dwennon, the threat you face endangers Apetus as well! My men and I have been out here seeking a means to combat it for a week! We're not subject to this edict!"

To that, Dwennon shrugged indifferently. "Radley, my good man, I don't make the laws. I'm merely a servant to them. If what you say is true, then your king would have done well to act sooner, before the crystal dragons' numbers grew too numerous to combat. There is no fight. All that matters now is survival, and I intend to ensure that much for my people however I can."

Radley briefly glanced over his shoulder at the three boys tied to his post. Then he turned back to the Kadian captain. "Did you send those three to spy on us?!"

"Peh!" Dwennon donned a flabbergasted smirk, amused by the implied association. "I've never seen those mongrels before in my life! Just more trespassers to deal with, it seems."

The paladin narrowed his eyes. "So that's it? Our only crime is setting foot in this forest you claim is under your duke's possession? What will my men's deaths accomplish?! Your actions risk war!"

"Good sir…" Dwennon's smile almost turned sad. "War is already upon us. Surely you must see it."

Radley was tempted to smite Dwennon right then and there for his arrogance. For the honor of his fallen comrades. For the decades of cruelty this man represented. The only thing that held Radley back was the archers surrounding him, including those on horseback by Dwennon's side. He had to stay alert. He had to stay alive, even if it was only for a little while longer.

It was then that he noticed the peculiar arrows the Kadian knights were using. The arrowheads didn't appear to be carved from any sort of metal. They appeared to be pure white, reflecting the cool blues and purples of the night and the subtle reds of the campfire, and they possessed an odd, sharp, fractal sheen as if carved from highly reflective stone. Almost as if…

"He who is in Heaven…" The horror on Radley's face was apparent. "You're… You're using those crystal-?! Hck…"

Cold, sharp stone pierced his neck with a soft whistle. The arrow lodged deep in his throat, choking the air out of him. He collapsed into the grass, his shield tumbling away, his sword losing its charged glow.

"As I said…" Dwennon softly mused, grinning coyly at the fallen paladin. "We are merely doing what we must to ensure our kingdom's survival. Even if we can't fight the crystal dragons, we can at least find the silver lining in these dark times. It's nothing personal, Radley. I'm only doing my job."

Radley wheezed through a mouthful of blood, completely unable to move. All he could do was scowl up at Dwennon. Despite his anger, despite his dismay, his mind dwelled not on thoughts of retribution. Instead, Radley prayed. He prayed for his and his men's safe passage. He prayed for his kingdom's continued safety. He prayed that his fate was not shared by his innocent squire. With those thoughts in mind, Radley slipped his eyes shut, blocking out the visage of the monster looming over him, letting himself slip away with a sad but peaceful expression frozen on his face.

With the last of the intruding paladins eliminated, Dwennon dropped the callous smile and instead frowned at the fallen captain. "Apetian pigs. Their deplorable timing never ceases to amaze."

"Captain!" One of the archers approached the young men tied to the post, kneeling to inspect them. "What do we do with these three?"

Dwennon tilted his head. "Do they possess any identifiers?"

"Negative."

"Any injuries?"

"No, sir. They do appear to be under the effects of a sleep spell."

"Then toss them in the cart with the others," Dwennon ordered. "As long as they pose no threat and are in decent enough shape, we can at least put them to good use."

"Yes, sir." The archer was joined by two others, quickly cutting the trio loose, throwing them over their shoulders, and carrying them off into the forest.

As the riders turned their horses around to continue on their way, one of the knights turned to Dwennon and spoke up, "Sir, those three paladins we clashed with on the road seemed to be following that dragon. Should we investigate?"

"Perhaps that would be within our best efforts," Dwennon agreed as he and his cohorts disappeared into the trees. "We have been in need of another specimen…"

With that, the Kadian soldiers vanished, leaving the dead and the gone behind. The camp returned to silence. The field glowed red from the light of the fire and the stains from the blood.

Slowly, shakily, Carlisle stepped out of the brush, his knees just barely supporting him, his face awash with tears. He tightly gripped his chest, desperate to steady his breath as he looked around at his fellow paladins. At his leaders. At his friends. Gradrack… Hadden… Niall… Quentin… Goisfrid… Basuin… all of them dead… so suddenly and cruelly… without any reason…

The timid squire tiptoed through the camp, awkwardly swerving around the blood and bodies, a shiver running down his spine every time he looked into the still, nigh-expressionless face of a comrade. He wanted to scream. He wanted to throw up. He wanted to chase after the Kadian squadron and make them pay in spades for this transgression. So much held him back, not the least of which was his own inadequacy.

Carlisle slowed to a halt near the center of the clearing, staring down at the one thing that hurt the most.

He fell to his knees and collapsed on top of Radley. The sobs he had been holding back finally wracked his body. His tears slid down his master's blood-splattered breastplate. The only father he had ever known was dead and he couldn't do anything about it, nor had he even attempted. Why didn't he try to stop this? Why did he just watch this tragedy from the sidelines? Surely he could've done something to save Radley. To save any of his friends. Maybe even to save those three strangers from the cruel fate they were being dragged off to. Why did he have to be so useless?!

As he sat and wept over his mentor's body, Carlisle dolefully accepted that even if he had stepped in, nothing he could've done would've changed anything. He was barely a fighter and hardly a mage. He wasn't a paladin. He wasn't a knight. He was just a lowly squire. A stupid child. And he was alone.

His head snapped up when he heard a soft grunt at the edge of the clearing. The tall grass parted as a sky blue, white-tipped drake poked its muzzle out into the open, cautiously padding across the camp.

"C-Civira…" Carlisle wiped his nose and meekly gazed up at his master's loyal mount. The dragon-horse slowly approached him, halting right next to the boy as she stared down at Radley. She sniffed his hand, nudging it as if to stir him from his slumber, then she looked to Carlisle with a sad, confused whine.

With a light sniffle, Carlisle gently held Civira's chin in his hands and leaned his forehead against her snout. "I couldn't save him… I… I can't…"

Civira closed her eyes and hummed sympathetically, allowing the heartbroken boy to hold her as long as he needed to.

After sitting there in silence for who knows how long, Carlisle glanced down at Radley again. A new emotion was stirring in his chest. The anger he felt towards Kadia grew stronger, but his mind had grown clear enough to realize that even if revenge was not his best option, there was still something he could do. He was alive and free. He couldn't squander these gifts.

Something had to be done about this atrocity, and by His grace, Carlisle was still there to see it through.

Steeling his nerves, sucking in a deep breath through his nose, Carlisle stood up and marched into his and Radley's tent, hastily packing his belongings and snatching the lantern off its hook. Upon reemerging, he grabbed a twig out of the campfire and used it to light the lantern, leaving the well-insulated pit to burn itself out. He then picked up Radley's sword, gingerly removed the scabbard from the paladin's waist, and slipped them over his own person.

Once he was certain he had everything he needed, Carlisle dropped to his knees once again, bowed his head, and placed his hand on his chest.

"O He who is in Heaven, watch over us in our journey and guide our feet back to Alemore. May the great Aeon Halal lead these servants of the crown to paradise and safeguard their former selves from the powers that be. Please, let their bodies be preserved in glory until they can be returned to their proper resting place. I pray for the continued safety of my people in these times of grief… and I pray for the security of those three young men. Keep them strong in the cruel grip of Kadia, and provide them with safe passage outside the kingdom's gates. Amen."

Before standing back up, holding his breath and his stomach, Carlisle ripped the arrow out of Radley's neck. He stared at the bloody, crystalline tip with nothing short of contempt, wiping it off as best he could before slipping it into his pack. Then he cast one last, mournful glance at his fallen mentor. "We'll come back for you all. I promise."

Having said his peace, Carlisle stood up and mounted Civira, giving the gentle drake a loving pat on the head as he took her reins. "HYAH!"

Civira grunted with approval as she began a steady trot into the forest, guided by Carlisle's lantern and the constellations above. The mission to capture a dragon was long behind them. This was about more than crystal dragons now. The Kingdom of Apetus needed to know that war was coming, of which there were already casualties.