The tunnels were dark and the lanterns that lined the walls were barely bright enough to light the path of the four young dragons as they traveled farther and farther underground. The passageway was to narrow so the young dragons had to walk in a straight line. The four dragons were well known through Warfang. Their names were on the lips of nearly every dragon, mole and Cheetah, all for different reasons.

At the forefront of the line of dragons was a drake that all know. He was a fire dragon, his red scales a deep red bearing testament to his ancestry. His name was flame, and on many occasions his name was on the lips of many.

"Did you hear what Flame did, nearly set the entire garden on fire."

"I heard that young drake Flame got himself into trouble again, heard he picked a fight with one of the guards."

"That lousy Flame, he thinks he's a hotshot, just because the elders are teaching him to be a warrior."

Those were only some of the comments that could be heard around Warfang, while the others held more vulgar words and less friendly tones. Flame was an adventurous type, his hard headed, hot blooded nature made him a prime target for trouble. Petty squabbles, tarnished honor, and even harmless jokes, all were surefire ways to set the young drake off. Though while jokes at his expense served to raise his ire, he was the first to join in any pranks pulled on others. Fiercely loyal and strong of will, Flame was a good dragon to have as a friend.

The second dragon was a female, her light pink scales while unusual for dragons still pronounced her as a fire dragon, and her name was Ember. There were a great many things to note about this dragoness named Ember, the first of which was how her tail blade had grown in an odd shape which closely resembled a cartoonish heart. This had lead to an obsession on her part and had thus named herself the dragon of love.

Ember took great care in her appearance, her scales were always polished, her claws always filed to perfection, and her horns given a regular cleaning as well. What's more she had sought to further proclaim her title as the Dragon of love, when she had bought a golden necklace with a ruby heart.

Ember's name was spoken of in high regard, though it was done mostly by males, and comments almost always spoke of her beauty and grace. Naturally Ember enjoyed and even encouraged these comments, sadly though it had made her vain and nitpicky. Her body had to always be perfect and clean at all times, and she had demanded that her friends be the same way. Try as they might though, they never could meet her standards, however Ember was not stuck up as most would believe.

Only those who knew her properly knew what she was really like. She would walk around the temple or even Warfang, spoke with the softest of voices, laughed and giggled sweetly to any male who paid her any sort of attention, but when she was around her friends, she was different. Yes she still held herself to such high standards, but with her friends she allowed herself to relax, and while being absolutely clean at all times was her biggest goal in life, She had no trouble at with getting down and dirty, especially when it came to putting certain males in their places.

"It's so dirty down here, I'm going to have to take an hour long dip in the tub when we get back." Ember said whining, the narrow hallway leaving her with only enough room to turn around.

"Ember complain about how dirty it is again and I swear I'll freeze the water just to spite you." The dragon behind her said with an irritated tone.

"Ah, you wouldn't dare Candice!" Ember gasped in shock as she turned her head to face the owner of the voice.

Candice was an ice dragoness, her faded blue scales, almost giving her the look of a wind dragon especially in poor light. 'Candice the cold hearted' many had taken to calling her, a name which had come about when she refused to sugarcoat her words. Candice spoke her mind telling others her opinions on them. Some of her comments had come out as criticisms, and as such she wasn't a very popular dragoness.

Candice came off as rude and hateful because her words were always laced with criticisms, though that was far from the truth as Candice had giving just as many complements as she had given insults, however dragons tended to focus on the negative. The truth was that Candice wasn't at all rude or mean, in fact she was very caring, she just had a unique way of showing how she cared.

"Hey come on guys let's not fight, we're already in enough trouble as it is, let's just get this done and head back to our rooms okay?" The finale dragon at the back of the line asked as he lowered his head.

"Shut up Boreas," Candice said turning to glare at the wind dragon.

Boreas the wind dragon had grown a great deal since the day of his hatching. Now closing in on the age of 10, his wings had developed to a point where he could use them. His horns curled before coming to a point just past his eyes, and his tail blade had finally developed. Most found his tail blade strange. For the most part Dragon's tended to have a tail blade that was solid and unmoving, Boreas however was different.

As a wind dragon, Boreas's body was designed to help him navigate the wind currents, they used all of their body to help them move through the air which included his tail. Most dragons used their tails to help them steer while flying, but they needed to control their tails in such a way that their tail blades didn't slow them down, Boreas however didn't. Boreas's tail blade consisted of six ribbon like blades. Despite how flexible they were, they were still hard enough and sharp enough to cut someone if they were to be hit by them.

"Hey don't tell him to shut up." Flame yelled at Candice. "It's thanks to him that we got off as easily as we did. We should be thanking him,"

"Flame's right, the elders seem to favor Boreas more than any other dragon." Ember replied turning to smirk at the wind dragon.

Blushing Boreas looked away. "No they don't guys, the elders only listened to me because I've never lied to them." Boreas replied as he shook his head. "Besides that doesn't matter now, if we screw this up it won't matter what I say to the elders, we'll all be on cleaning duty for the next three months, so can we stop arguing long enough to get this done?"

Everyone stopped as they turned to look at Boreas. The wind dragon had never been very outspoken, even around his friends, he'd agree to what they said many times in the past simply because he didn't want to bring unwanted attention to himself however there were rare times when Boreas would show a bit of courage and amaze his friends, not only with his change of personality but also in the way he spoke, he was like a voice of reason among his friends.

"Boreas is right," Flame finally spoke up as he turned back around and continued to head down the corridor. "If we arrive at the mole city and were fighting, the moles will report back to the elders and we'll all be stuck in the kitchens cleaning plates and scrubbing floors."

"Scrubbing floors is not very clean," Ember mumbled as she turned to follow Flame before passing him completely.

"Sorry Boreas." Candice apologized before she followed after Ember.

Sighing in relief that the situation had been defused so quickly Boreas began to follow his three friends. As he caught up to them, however, Flame held up a wing and stopped Boreas, allowing the girls to put some distance between the two males. Once they were a sufficient distance so as not to be heard, Flame turned to Boreas and smirked.

"You got to tell me what you promised the elders to get us out of trouble." Flame whispered as he walked after the girls, maintaining the distance.

"I didn't promise them anything," Boreas replied as he avoided looking at Flame.

"Boreas, the reason you never lie to the elders is because you can't lie so come on what was it?"

Laughing Boreas shook his head. "I didn't have to promise the elders anythings, I swear" He said his tone light, causing Flame to stop for a moment and stare at his friend. After awhile he nodded his head and smiled as well.

"Alright so then you are the elder's favorite, that's got to be it, why else would they take it so easy on us." Flame asked.

Shaking his head in confusion, Boreas continued ahead. "I don't know, maybe with the ceremony so close at hand, they didn't want to cause a big fuss over a small fight." Boreas suggested earning a thoughtful nod from flame.

"That makes sense, this is suppose to be the biggest event to happen in the last two hundred years that didn't end in bloodshed."

Nodding his head, Boreas continued to follow Ember and Candice. His outward appearance was calm but on the inside, he was a mess of thoughts and questions. The ceremony that he and Flame had been speaking of, was indeed a big deal. The graduation ceremony was an event that was held by the dragon temples. The ceremony was held ten years after a dragon had been born in the temples care, and it was at this time that said dragons would choose a path that would influence what they did for the city of Warfang and dragon kind in general.

While it was not required for a dragon to take the ceremony, it was highly advised to do so. The ceremony was a tradition that all dragon races had celebrated, and many considered it a sign adulthood. The details of the ceremony were kept from the dragons who would be participating, but one detail that the elders had allowed them to know, was that the ceremony consisted of three choices. Those who wanted to protect Warfang and the dragon realms would choose the warrior path. Those that wanted to ensure that the dragon realms could heal and prosper would choose the medical class, and finally those who wanted to see Warfang and the dragon realms grow, would choose the business path.

The great thing about the choices that were presented to the young dragons was that despite what they had been named, each path had a wide variety of jobs that the class would prepare them for, and no dragon was limited to a single choice, even more so since it was not against any laws for a dragon who choose a warrior path, to instead choose a job in the medical class, though the young dragons had been warned about doing so, as choosing a job from a different path than their original, would leave them unprepared.

It was on theses details that Boreas was currently focusing on, and the decision he would have to make soon, though he wasn't allowed to think on it for long. A shout from ahead alerted him that they had arrived at their destination. Running to catch up with Ember and Candice, he noticed that walls of the long hallway slowly began to widen before opening into a large cavern. The sound of footfalls behind he, told Boreas that Flame had just stopped behind him, his slightly increased breathing, told Boreas that Flame had been running as well.

Ember and Candice stood wide eyed and slack jawed, Moving to stand beside Candice, it was not hard for Boreas to see why they were so surprised. Stalagmites and stalactites dotted the cavern, but what made them all the more astonishing was the fact that light could be seen coming from them, or rather from small holes that served as windows. All over the cavern, the stalagmites and stalactites had been turned into homes, windows and doors could been seen on nearly all of them, and little wooden bridges would connect upper levels with the stalactite homes. Despite the lights that came from the homes however, the corridor was still dim, the brightest source of light, coming from farther back in the cavern.

"I'm assuming you're the four dragons, the elders sent to help us?" Came a voice from below them all. Turning their heads to the ground, they saw a rather plump looking mole wearing a dirty brown cotton shirt and vest. Missing from his head were the goggles that most moles could be seen wearing.

"Yeah that's us." Flame responded as he stepped forward to assume leadership.

The mole turned to face Flame, before eyeing him. Making mental notes inside of his head the mole grunted in annoyance. "Great, I ask for an earth dragon, and they send me two fire dragons, and ice dragon, and a….well we can make use of the wind dragon, I could probably send the ice dragon to the water plant, and one fire dragon would be enough for the forges, but what about the second?" The mole said aloud, more to himself than to any of them. This enraged Flame who believed the mole was insulting him.

Boreas sensing Flame's anger simply put a paw on his shoulder. Huffing in annoyance, smoke seeped from Flame's nostrils, which immediately got the moles attention. "Hey, hey hey! Watch it with the smoke will you! You wanna kill every mole in here?" He asked as he pointed an accusing finger at Flame.

"What? No!" Flame tried to defend himself but the mole didn't allow him to say any more.

"Could have fooled me, a little smoke doesn't seem like much now, but to much of it and every mole will die of smoke inhalation!" The Mole said angrily.

"But I didn't-" Flame tried again before the mole cut him off yet again.

"I don't wanna hear it. Keep your flames to yourself until we tell you otherwise, you got it?" Unsure of it he should speak or not, Flame simply nodded his head, before he gave Boreas a questioning glance, Boreas merely shrugged his shoulders in just as much confusion as Flame.

"Alright let's make this quick, I'm a busy mole and I've wasted enough time waiting on your four. I don't care what your names are, and you don't need to know mine. All you need to know, is what I'm going to have you doing." The mole began before turning and pointing a finger at Flame. "Since you love your bloody flames so much I'm going to be assigning you to the forge, you're going to be helping my moles control and maintain the lava we use for making our tools."

Turning to Candice and Ember he grumbled a bit before speaking up. "You two are going to the water plant, there you'll help to purify the water we drink." He said before turning to Boreas. "Finally you're going to go around the walls of our city and help our workers in any way you can. Before I take any of you any further, you'll notice it's dark, to dark for any of you to see properly, so go ahead and strap these lanterns on and let's go." The mole said before he pointed to a small wooden rack that held the lanterns.

They were little more than metal boxes with a focusing lens on the front. An unlit candle sat in the center of each lantern,. Attached to the lanterns were leather straps that would fix the lanterns to the chest of it's wearer. Moving towards the lanterns, Ember looked over them before turning to the mole.

"Do you have one in pink….and maybe not so dirty!" She asked getting a sigh from Candice and an annoyed growl from the mole, causing her to shrink back a bit. "Never mind." She replied before she picked up one of the lanterns.

The others followed her lead and quickly grabbed their own lanterns. A few minutes of confusion one broken strap and a new lantern later and all four dragons had properly fastened the lanterns to their bodies. With Flame and Ember's help, the lanterns were light and the mole nodded before he turned and without a word baid them to follow him. The mole lead the four dragons down to the city, though the trip was a quiet one. Any attempt to make conversation with either the mole or each other was met with an angry growl and a command to be quiet.

Flame was the first to leave the group. The mole had brought all four of them to the farthest end of the cavern, where the orange light had been emanating. As the mole had said earlier Flame would be working with lava. It was so hot, Candice nearly passed out. The next to leave was Candice and Ember. The mole had lead them to a large underground lake. Large intake pipes had been built on the edge of the lake and water was constantly being drained into large tubs where moles worked to test the water and ensure it was safe to drink. Finally The mole lead Boreas to one of the farthest walls of the cavern.

Sniffing the air, Boreas could smell the fresh air from outside, and a small tingling sensation worked its way down his spine as he felt a small breeze. Up ahead the Mole stopped before he looked around and called out. "Marty! I got the dragon the elders sent!" he yelled into the air. Shortly after another mole walked out of the wall.

Upon closer inspection of the wall, Boreas could see that it was actually lined with large tunnels. Moving closer to the wall, Boreas could feel a breeze coming from the wall, and it suddenly occurred to him what theses tunnels really were. Living underground, the moles needed a constant source of fresh air, even more so considering that the mole city was considered and industrial city. It made sense why they would need ventilation tunnels, and his reason for being here now became much clearer.

"Morease, glad to see you back." The mole named Marty said as he moved to shake paws with the aforementioned Morease. Breaking from their greetings Marty turned his gaze to Boreas before giving an impressed whistle. "So the elders finally sent us the only wind dragon left in the dragon realms?" He said more to himself than to Morease. "Well I won't lie, I haven't seen him work but I already like him over Cynder." A small growl escaped Boreas, at Marty's remark causing both moles to turn and look at him in surprise.

"Don't talk bad about my teacher." He warned before changing the subject. "So the elders want me to clear out these ventilation shafts is that it?" He asked as he turned his head to the tunnels, Looking into the tunnels, he found that they were no bigger than the one that had led him and his friends into the Mole city. Looking into the tunnel, he pulled his wings in tighter.

"Well he's smart, I'll give him that." Morease said before smirking, "But no that's not quite what we want you to do."

"You may not have figured it out yet, but the mole city isn't exactly underneath Warfang. It would be more accurate to say that we overlap with Warfang. In truth only a small part of the mole city is directly underneath Warfang, while the rest of the city spreads outwards." Marty began to say, however Boreas interrupted him.

"What does this have to do with me clearing out the tunnels though?" He asked confusion crossing his face.

"Shut your trap and let us get there." Morease barked at him in annoyance.

"The mole city's fighting force isn't what you would consider battle ready. We rely on the machines we build to provide us with protection, but being underground many of them are to dangerous to set off. Keeping all of that in mind, we've been have problems with the cursed that dwell in the nearby forest."

"They're getting bolder." Morease added. "We found a few trying to take up residence in one of the nearby tunnels, last week. We drove em back but ever since the elders have been sending Cynder to come clear the tunnels out, only problem with that is, she makes some of us uncomfortable."

"So you want me to go into the tunnels and make sure none of the cursed are inside?" Boreas asked as he turned to face the tunnels.

"Precisely." Both moles said at the same time.

"We don't expect them to be inside, but we'd rather be safe than sorry." Marty added.

Sighing he shook his head, the thought of rejecting their offer clear on his mind, but he stopped. There was a good reason why he was here. He didn't want to admit it to his friends, mostly because he didn't want them to look at him differently, but Flame had been right, the elders had granted them leniency, but there was a cost to their leniency, and doing this was it. To Refuse now would be to let his friends be punished.

"Fine," he said as he moved past the moles and headed for the large tunnel. "Just give me a couple hours."


A/N: Now I know I said I was going to make this a baby Boreas Chapter, but I couldn't honestly find a good way to write that so you've got this instead. I want to apologize for the long wait on this one, and I'd like to apologize on the long wait for the next chapter. I've recently applied for college, and with work and that, I have no free time to write as freely as I want. I'm hoping things will calm down soon but if not, this story may be placed on Hiatus until after summer break.