Viper carefully looked up to the mighty looking dragon.

Gracefully it looked down to her within the dim rain right before the sunshine.

It's long snake like teal body which was at least ten times bigger than her own slowly and elegantly landed on the ground and it's head looked down to her, it's face directly looking into her eyes like it was either expecting Viper to say something, it was considering if she was worth sparing or it was just wondering how it was even possible that she managed to come here.

Whatever the case was, it scared her just seeing this creature. Although it did not look as intimidating like Ke-Pa, it still brought back some bad memories.

The Jade-Palace destroyed, replaced by a crater, Shifu. A big red dragon attempted to kill Shifu and release a huge demon army.

And it's spouting fire, strong enough to burn everything down.

Viper curled herself up as she was not sure what to expect but she was ready to take it.

She knew it was wrong going here. But yet… she did.

"Why are you here?" the dragon asked with a concerned, yet curious female voice, lowered it's head and slowly made it's way around Viper; Inspected her suspiciously from all sides with it's mighty presence like it has never seen a snake before. "How?" it continued asking when it was next to done surrounding Viper once.

Viper hesitantly followed the head of the dragon but did not move aside or anything.

When she realised the dragon now awaited an answer after it stopped in front of her and raised it's head again to look down to her, she searched for the right words and then spoke up: "The eh… reason I am here is… the same reason how I got here. I did not mean to invade your realm here. I am here to avoid bad things happening. My… company insisted to come here. I came with them to watch over them. Me and my friends."

While she realised while speaking that her statements could have been put in a better way. She did not break up or lowered her voice. She couldn't afford to loose her confidence to insurance in this moment.

The dragon spoke up in a warning tone and asked: "Did nobody tell you to not search out for this realm?"

Now Viper got terrified. Everything she did was wrong and she regret her actions immediately! She should have never left the Jade-Palace! Not being too cautious and hesitantly for once! She was the only one capable of denying this trip and she miserably failed! And now she had to pay the price.

Viper tried to justify her actions: "I tried to convince them to stop but they wouldn't listen. Now I am here to avoid any harm. If you ask us to leave, I am sure they will listen to a dragon. We know how powerful you are!" She wanted the dragon to let her go, that's the only thing she wanted at this moment.

"Really?" the dragon asked.

"Ke-pa," Viper said without hesitation: "A red dragon that once threatened our home, burned down our houses with it's mighty fire breath and tried to release some kind of demons or something…"

"Fire breath?" the dragon asked, shook it's head and explained: "No, dear snake, that was not a dragon. Whatever it was, it may had the shape of a dragon. We do not spout fire or summon demons."

Viper didn't know what to say. It seemed like she did not even know anything about dragons.

"Well, your company you talked about…" the dragon started asking but Viper immediately answered the question before the dragon was finished:

"Yes. Another snake like me, a tiger, a crane and-"

The dragon interrupted her and grew visually worried as she asked: "What? Non snake creatures in our lands? You do not make this easy, dear."

Vipers inner state went more and more unstable. She felt like one wrong word could rule her destiny in a very bad way. "Please explain!" she asked loudly: "What mistake did we do? How are we able to fix it? I want to help if I can!"

The dragon said clamly: "Well, just leaving wouldn't be a valid option any more. The other snake seems to be able to open and close the gate at will. If you can't keep them here or get rid of them you need to find another way. Otherwise these creatures will spread the discovery like a stream of water."

Viper asked: "Another way? To keep the secret, am I right?"

The dragon nodded slowly. "Of course, my dear. This place is hidden for a good reason. Only one other living creature is allowed to be here. And he has sworn to protect this land and never leaving it."

"The wolf guard…" Viper mumbled.

The dragon agreed: "Yes, precisely. You seem a very smart girl. I shall give you this chance to make things right, make sure this land will stay a secret and I will let you and your company go."

Viper bowed deeply like she did to Shifu. "You have my thanks."

"I have one condition although:" Viper looked up and listened: "Don't investigate the forbidden rooms on the top. They are marked as such and only contain hurt if not properly used. It's really for your best, believe me. Like knifes that stab you if you do not weal them properly."

Viper nodded deeply and replied: "I understand. I do not want to know anything further. You can rely on me. We will be gone soon."

"Let's hope you speak true, my dear snake. Because your expression tells me otherwise. You do not seem as sure as you sound."

"…" Viper silenced and looked down. The dragon was right.

"The ones you did not want to come here, am I right?" the dragon asked.

Viper agreed: "They won't make things easy for me. Shiren and the professor… I don't think it will be easy convincing them both to abandon this place… but I will have try… nevertheless." She sighed and looked up to the dragon again. "I'm sorry.

It nodded and said: "I see you are a good person. Then I shall leave you with that. Feel yourself like home. If you need to talk to me again, you won't have to search for long."

Viper watched the dragon taking flight again and flew away.

She was alone on that platform again. And she could had shattered it. It would have been at least one way to get rid of her problems that just accrued. She got desperate.

She made a tiny exclamation, kept her temperature as down as she could doing that, pushed her head into the ground, curled around it and crushing it together.

At least in her imagination.

In reality she coughed a few times, then sat there and started digesting what just happened.

She couldn't believe what she just witnessed.

A dragon spoke to her and tasked her to do the next to impossible.

When she thought about it, she was close to just call it, get her friends and let the others deal with this realm themselves.

But she quickly put that thought away. It would not just be the wrong thing to do but also not guarantee they wouldn't return in some way all things considered.

No. Leaving them here all alone was wrong.

Especially when she remembered that Yong was here too. She didn't know much about her but she knew she was some sort of friend to Shiren or something. She would maybe not just leave him alone.

She shook her head to make her mind clear again. Getting all on the same page was the only reasonable way to solve this.

The first thing she had to do now is to go to Tigress, which was what she immediately did in a slow paste.

The circumstances have now changed drastically and Tigress had to be the first person who should know. Viper trusted her the most to do the right thing at this moment. Of course with Crane and Mantis. She knew she had not to worry about her friends at all.

On her way down she encountered Tigress, Mantis and Yong who were talking about how this place would hold together at all and she relievedly smiled.

Yong seemingly knew a bit about architecture and explained the most reasonable things here, which consisted about the buildings within this entire complex. She was ending one sentence when Viper came along and Mantis commented: "As long as this tiny bridge holds us up here, I am no one to complain."

Tigress realised Viper coming and greeted her friendly: "Hey, Viper." She quickly realised something: "What's wrong? You look like you fell in multiple traps at once."

Viper chuckled a bit distraughtly and said: "Well, could have been what you just described, multiplied with a stab in your back and added some salt into the wound."

Mantis went to Yong and said: "I told you this scouting forward would sooner or later hurt someone!"

Yong replied: "Well, I thought that was why I was here, wasn't it?"

Tigress put her paw up to them to quiet both of them down, turned to Viper again and asked: "What happened?"

"Well, you see… oh, where to start… eh… What if I told you that I just talked to a dragon?"

Viper told them the entire story about what they discussed.

Tigress looked aside and slightly nodded after Viper was finished."… I … I see. If you would ask me, I would totally agree with you, leave here and never talk about it ever again would be the most reasonable action now." She looked back to Viper and continued: "Like you did when you tried to warn us. But agree with you that we have some problems to deal with first. Heh… well, maybe they would not have a problem with that at all. They will hopefully understand our position.

The professor seemed pretty reasonable so far. And if we can convince him, I'm sure Shiren will follow."

"Speaking of…" Viper asked but Mantis already answered:

"Downstairs. Crane said Shiren was talking to this wolf guard and the professor was going to look out for him. They should be here in any moment."

Tigress said: "I do not like waiting any more. There is no time to waste."

A voice came from the back; The professor asked: "No time for what?"

Tigress turned to him and said: "Good timing. We have a serious problem to discuss."

"Is that so?" he asked. Shiren was with him, so that was a good sign.

Now Tigress explained what Viper told her a minute ago.

The professor closed his eyes, thinking about what she just told him and then said: "Hm… I see… I see very well… Now, I understand the problem, although I wouldn't say we have to leave now. I cannot leave this place just yet! There are so many secrets to discover!.

Something that's worth… being in the library of the halls of heroes? You know… when we are going to leave… it would only be a matter of time until the next expedition will find its way down here. I suggest we are going to continue. Understand this land and then maybe come up with good reasons why this place has to stay secret without explaining it. You know that's a hard, if not nearly impossible thing to do."

Tigress walked to him and said: "By all respect, professor, we should not test the patience of this dragon! We are intruders to it's home! We shouldn't be here! We don't have the right!"

The professor looked into her eyes and asked: "And who says so?"

"How dare you?" she asked calmly but a bit irritated.

But the professor continued without any sign of being intimidated:"No, Tigress. I'm not disrespectful to you. But you can't deny they weren't the only ones who lived in this land. Does the dragon truly have the right to send Shiren and Viper back home? Couldn't it be that this land is their home as well?

If you hear the dragon saying they are living here now, does that mean we know the true and complete tale of this story?"

Tigress now grew louder and said: "You start to mess with things out of your comprehension!"

"But he is right!" Shiren suddenly said.

"Shiren!" Tigress turned to him and grew angry.

Shiren though shook his head and spoke louder and clearer: "No. He is right. Nearly all people have shown me multiple times that I do not belong in their world. And now I come here and have to hear a dragon telling me that I do not belong in their world as well? In a world that once was our home?

I'm done people telling me where I do not belong. If the dragon truly just tries to protect us, I want to have a dedicated reason for that! I want to see it! Not just hear if trough you or the dragon. I want to know what truly happened. That's why I'm here. And that's what I have to know before I am going anywhere!"

A moment of silence came trough the room. Nobody said a thing; Nobody knew what to say.

And this pretty much was the end if this conversation, Viper thoughth.

It was as much as Viper expected to happen. Both, Shiren and the professor not agreeing but at the same time having mulish points she just couldn't throw words at to solve them.

The violence on the walls should convince the professor already but he keeps going.

Whatever happened, it was a fight. Was he truly ready to wait until it's too late?

She already told Shiren that the people are not all like that and one example being present in this room but she knew he wouldn't listen to reason. After all he said nearly all people but seemingly that's yet not enough.

So she had to convince them with actions. Proofs. She just hoped the dragon would understand why they would not leave that quick.

Alright. The professor wanted to know this place's history and Shiren wanted a proof that this is as dangerous as the dragon said.

"Okay," Viper concluded: "Then we are going to continue. Until we find what you need. But then we are leaving, without spreading any word about this place. Do we have an agreement here?"

"Affirmative," the professor said: "Another reason to move quickly. The knowledge is awaiting us."

With saying that he took the lead and went onward the hallway.

Viper looked at Shiren who already found more interest in the wall than to anyone else here.

As the rest was starting to move again too she went closer to Shiren and asked: "Are we on the same page?"

"What do you want?" he asked.

"Your confirmation. I did not hear you agreeing."

Shiren looked at her and replied: "The professor already agreed. What else do you want?"

"But I did not hear your agreeing," Viper slowed down while speaking these words.

Shiren gave up and asked right away: "… You know I don't want to, why do you keep asking?"

"Because this is important!" Viper spoke out loudly and clearly.

Shiren refused to answer right away and his face turned a little bit grumpy as he said: "What do you fear? That I am going around and spread the word about this place?"

"… I…" Viper wasn't sure how to respond to this statement. He was right. This was nothing to be afraid of. If anything it would be hard to get him out of here at all.

They both silenced at each other while keeping deep eye contact. Viper would have to ask the dragon about this again. About a snake staying here. After all, a wolf was allowed already. She was about to apologise but right when she opened her mouth and took breath, Shiren sighed sadly and said:

"I'm sorry, Viper. But I just hate the world right now."

That put the rest of the wind out of her sales completely. She did not expect him to apologise at all, especially when she was just up to do so. And what he said sounded like he was starting to opening up.

He looked at her, with a facial expression that showed vulnerability and sadness.

"I just hate it with everything around it," he repeated himself and continued: "I don't know how you can ignore that or what I missed to do what you did. But hearing all those statements: Don't get too close to him or Excuse me, Sir, you are making me nervous. That is, if they have the audacity to speak politely with me."

Viper hesitated a bit for her answer: "I am sorry to hear that."

Shiren wondered: "Why are you apologising? It is not your fault."

"I know. I just feel bad for you," Viper answered but Shiren shook his head and looked aside when replying:

"I don't need your pity. The world put it's back on me, so I will do no less. If you truly feel sorry, I guess you are wasting my time with me while there are others still out there, struggling with the same problem."

Viper wheezed shortly and said disgustedly: "Fine, then… what do you do next? Sitting here and drowning into your self-pity while crying after a long passed time where our kind may have lived here once?" After the way he started opening up, this was not the way she expected him to go. She wanted to gave him aid and he roughly pushed it away like a mosquito.

Shiren grew very angry hearing her saying that and angrily argued: "Why not? Sounds a lot better than talking to you all the time. I don't know why you always have to be around me like a spy!"

"You are calling me a spy?" Viper angrily said: "Then I apologise to you for TRYING TO HELP YOU but seemingly you are just mulish and don't WANT to be helped!"

"I never asked for it!" he shouted at her.

"Oh, so you suggest me to just leave you on the ground next time when people are attempting to murder you, is that what you want?"

"Yes!" he shook his head and corrected himself: "No! But your determination to try to convince me to look things your way is really getting to me and it makes me uncomfortable!"

Tigress stepped into the scene and ended this argument: "Hey, stop there. Shiren, if you have a problem with what Viper is doing you can tell her that in a polite way! You don't need to scream so everyone can hear you."

"Fine then." Shiren turned away. "If you excuse me, I think I need some fresh air," he said and passed by both of them without looking at each of them.

Once he was gone Tigress sighed: "Well, that was not that effective, was it, Viper?" she asked and looked at Viper who still was a bit angry but calmed down.

"No. Not in the slightest. Thank you for stepping in there, Tigress. That could have been-"

"Viper," Tigress interrupted her gently: "I don't think I ever heard you screaming like this. Are you okay?"

Viper looked up to her. "Hm? What? Yes, I am totally- I mean no, I'm not. Considering the circumstances. I just don't want to be here any more." She said and nearly started crying but she caught herself again and controlled herself again. The situation was very stressful right now and very dangerous but she must not surrender to her emotions right now. Especially not now, as the only bridge between this group and the dragon.

Tigress comforted her: "Listen, it's okay. We will figure this out together. Just please don't push yourself to hard. Everything will be fine before you know it."

Viper did a deep sigh and said: "I just can't believe I just said so many mean things."

"Well, that happens, when you are angry. Come, let's go to the outside and have a little break. You just went trough a lot, so let me and Mantis handle things from here."

Viper nodded at Tigress and said"Thank you, Tigress. You really are a good friend."