After teleporting back in time, the group ended up in front of the Drisdall Manor in the middle of purple mist. After teleporting and looking around for a moment, Caesar said, "So, this is the past?" "Look at the purple mist," Katelyn pointed out, "It's just like in the present time." "So, this must be forty years in the past," Caesar stated, "That was when the last cases of pyrexia were recorded. I need to try something real quick." Caesar started to walk up towards the guard at the gate and asked, "Hey, is my dad home?" The guard looked at Caesar suspiciously and said, "Huh? And who might you be?" "I'm Count Drisdall's son, duh. Ring any bells?" Katelyn just shook her head at Caesar's comment and smacked her hand to her head, letting out a sigh. "His lordship, the Count, doesn't have any children," the guard said. "Ooo, trippy," Caesar said, walking towards the back of the group. Eldore approached the guard and asked, "Excuse me, could you tell us if Count Drisdall is in?" "Who's asking," the guard asked him. "We've come with information about the fever sweeping through Greede." "Have you really? That's good news. But I'm afraid the Count is in the Bunker Lode Caverns undergoing the Dragon's Trial." "The Dragon's Trial," Yulie questioned. Caesar started to take off, pulling Katelyn with him and said, "So that's what's up. Let's head for the Caverns. Follow me everyone." With that, the group took off towards the Gondola Station to go to the Bunker Lode Caverns.
Upon arriving at the entrance to the Bunker Lode caverns, Caesar explained how the Dragon's Trial was used in times of need to borrow the strength and wisdom of the Armored Dragon. "Borrow it how," Yulie asked. "Look, let's just find my dad further in. Then it should all click." With that, the group began to walk into the Bunker Lode Caverns. On the way, Katelyn asked Caesar how to use the power of the Black Knight if it was needed. He told her, "As far as Kara had said when she used the incantation, it should be, O Dinivas, Deliverer of Dark and Dread, Ruler of the Ancient Shadows, Grant Me Your Power! Verto! Then the transformation should take hold of you. You should try it when we see one of the large enemies up ahead. I'll transform with you, and we can take them down. I'm sure there will be some large direspiders and dragons throughout the Caverns." With that, Katelyn said, "Okay. I'll follow your lead. Let's go kick some monster butt." They caught up to the group who had wondered a little way ahead of them. Leonard asked Eldore, "So the Armored Dragon can tell us how to stop the Netherwyrm?" "Well, if you want to know about dragons, ask a dragon." Leonard nodded and said, "Head's up. Monsters up ahead." The group started running towards the group of fire lizards, red scorpions, and firespider sprogs. Katelyn pulled out the black sword from its sheath and felt the magic coursing through the blade. She started to approach a fire lizard and swung at it. Her body felt different in a way that she could not explain. She felt as if muscle memory knew the exact ways to swing the sword, even though it was her first time trying to defeat an enemy on her own. After a few swings, the fire lizard collapsed and Katelyn had a huge smile on her face, realizing she had just defeated her first monster. She said a quick heal incantation because of the scratches the monster placed on her skin, then moved in to help Caesar defeat a red scorpion. After he swung at it, she felt a surge of energy and words flew from her mouth before she swung at the scorpion. A surge of light spread over the scorpions body and small cracks spread over its surface. Katelyn realized that she weakened its shell but didn't remember the exact words she used to cause it to happen.
With another swing of his spear, Caesar defeated the Red Scorpion. Him and Katelyn looked around for any more enemies but saw that the group had finished defeating the other enemies and began to move on within the Caverns. Caesar and Katelyn started to follow behind them before Caesar asked Katelyn, "How did you learn the shield breaker incantation?" "I don't know, the words just slipped from my tongue." "Hmm, maybe it's Kara's memories slipping into yours again." "I don't know, but it was almost like muscle memory fighting the monsters back there." A few minutes of walking later, the group made their way to a large direspider and many other small monsters. Katelyn nodded at Caesar and then pulled out the black sword, reciting the words, "Oh Dinivas, Deliverer of Dark and Dread, Ruler of the Ancient Shadows, Grant Me Your Power! Verto!" She started to glow and then stood higher off the ground. She realized that the magical power that had coursed through the sword had turned her into the Black Knight. She looked to her left to see the Dragon Knight beside her. She ran towards the direspider and swung her sword towards it. Her sword crashed into one of its hind legs as Caesar attacked its front legs with his spear. They continued to take turns hitting it until finally it collapsed. Then, they attacked its belly until finally it stopped moving. Katelyn and Caesar both realized that it was dead and transformed back after taking a knee. Katelyn looked up bewildered from the place that she kneeled as her and Caesar were directly beside each other and back to their human forms. Caesar leaned into Katelyn and took hold of her face, placing a kiss on her lips before they stood. "You did amazing," he said, standing up and holding out a hand to her. She grasped his hand and he pulled her from the ground. "Okay, enough of that lovebirds. Let's go," Yulie yelled out to the two upon seeing their public display of affection.
After a few more groups of small monsters, and one more direspider, the group attempted to make their way onto the elevator. But, when Eldore went to pull the lever to make it work, he muttered a quick, "Damn it, it's jammed. We must need to restart the generators like the last time we were down here." "Of course, anything to keep us from getting to my dad," Caesar muttered. Caesar said, "I guess we could split up to try to cover more ground. How about me and Katelyn head to try to turn on the farthest generator and you three can turn on the two closest." Eldore looked at the two for a moment before nodding and said, "We will split off at the fork in the path up ahead then." With that, the group continued forward until they reached a split in the path like Eldore mentioned. But, before they could split, they had to defeat a fire dragon. With the five of them working in tandem, it did not take long for the fire dragon to fall to the ground in defeat. Eldore said, "Okay. We will turn on the two down this way. You guys be safe. We will regroup by the elevator." With that, Leonard, Yulie, and Eldore started down the first path. Caesar and Katelyn started down the second. As they started walking, Katelyn asked, "So, Caesar, how bad are the monsters down here?" "Hopefully, no worse than what we have already seen with the last few groups. We should be able to make it back around the same time as the others because this tunnel is slightly longer." Katelyn grabbed Caesar's hand, slightly scared that it would be just the two of them relying on each other instead of the entire group. She knew that she wasn't that great of a swordsman, but she wanted to make Caesar proud.
As they made their way towards the generator, they encountered a few small monsters. It wasn't until the opening where the generator handle was that they saw any large monsters. Of course, when they got there, they were shocked to not see one dragon, but two. They hid behind some crates and came up with a plan. "So, what I want you to do is get to that lever before you call on your transformation. But please be careful. The earth dragon can control the ground and make it move from under you, and the fire dragon can breathe fire. I will transform and distract them while you run around them and pull the lever." "Okay, but you be careful too. I don't want you to get hurt either." With that, Caesar called on his transformation. Katelyn waited until he distracted both the dragons before attempting to sneak out from behind the crates and running to the lever. She pulled the lever with all her might, but it took her a good minute before it moved all the way to the right. Then, she pulled out the black sword and called on her transformation for the second time that day, "O Dinivas, Deliverer of Dark and Dread, Ruler of the Ancient Shadows, Grant Me Your Power! Verto!" She transformed into the Black Knight and then joined Caesar in defeating the two dragons. It took a lot of energy from them both as the two dragons put up quite the fight. Katelyn towards the end of the battle tried to swing but ended up unable to move as she transformed back into her human form. The fire dragon fell, but the earth dragon was yet to be defeated. As the earth dragon attempted to scratch at the Dragon Knight, Katelyn jumped in front of the Dragon Knight. She cried out as the claws tore at the skin of her shoulder area. Caesar yelled out her name as she fell in front of the dragon to her knees. He lunged at the dragon above her and quickly put his spear through it. Katelyn began to stand shakily as Caesar took a knee and transformed into his human form. Katelyn felt very tired and almost collapsed after his transformation wore off, but Caesar caught her. "Whoa, I knew you liked me, but I didn't realize that you would be falling for me so soon." "I would laugh, but I feel so tired," Katelyn said. "I'm sorry. This is all new to you still. It's probably because your body is not used to the transformation, and you took a pretty big hit. Let me heal you." "It's okay. Can we just sit down for a moment while you do that?" With that, Caesar sat down and pulled Katelyn onto his lap for a quick rest. He began to say a small healing incantation, hoping the wound was shallower than it looked, but it did not close all the way. He took a moment to breathe and then said a stronger healing incantation, which finally let the wound close.
After a few minutes of sitting, Katelyn said, "I feel a little better. We should try to get back to the elevator." Caesar maneuvered Katelyn off his lap and stood up, then held out a hand to her. "Okay, let's get back before the old man yells at us for being late." "Hey, he wouldn't be an old man if it weren't for him coming forward in time to save our butts, if what I heard from your story was correct. I wonder how old Eldore was before he traveled here." Caesar laughed and said, "I'm sorry. I know I'm being a little insensitive. I think that we will beat them back to the elevator. The generator makes a loud banging noise when all three switches are turned on. We could hear it the last time." The two continued forward and finally made it back to the elevator. It was right as they were arriving that they heard the loud banging noise that Caesar had mentioned, which meant the others would be back soon. Caesar and Katelyn took a seat on the stairs and waited for the others to arrive at the elevator below. Caesar said with a cheeky grin on his face, "You know we have at least five to ten minutes before the others get back." Katelyn leaned her face up towards Caesar's and placed a kiss on his lips. Slowly, their lips moved in tandem, and Caesar leaned Katelyn's back against the stairs and moved above her. Caesar slowly moved his kisses across the side of her face and along her neck before moving down towards the exposed part of her chest above the leather armor she had chosen to wear. "Do you know how worried I got when that dragon struck you with its claws," he asked. "I'm sorry. It felt right to jump in front of you." "Please, don't do something that can get you killed like that again." "I won't," she whispered as he pressed a knee between her legs. She held back a moan before deciding that things had gone far enough for the time being.
She grasped his hair and pulled his face back towards hers and said, "The others will be back in a minute or two." "It doesn't matter. I want to worship every inch of you." "Well, it will have to wait for another time... soon. Just not here... and preferably in a bed." "Okay. I'm sorry. I got a little carried away." "We both did for a minute. But the others... are here," she said looking at the group approaching from below. "Hey guys, you took forever," Caesar said, getting up and rushing with Katelyn back down the stairs. "Okay, are we all prepared to move on," Eldore asked. "Yes, let's get going," Katelyn replied stepping onto the elevator. Yulie looked at her funny for a moment and asked, "What is that on your neck? It wasn't there earlier." "What do you mean, Yulie? Is there a wound that didn't heal or something?" "Wait a minute, is that a hickey?!" "What do you mean a hickey? Caesar!" Caesar looked at her and said with a smug grin, "What, like we both agreed, we got a bit carried away. At least everyone knows your mine." "You dog! I can't believe you," Katelyn said, crossing her arms on her chest and moving away from him as Yulie started laughing and the elevator started to move downwards.
