Epilogue Chapter 3

"It's perfect," Ray said out loud, astonished.

"I thought you might like it," Patrick laughed. "I pass by it every day, I figured maybe you could ditch the civic and finally have a bike like you've always dreamed."

Ray was in Patrick's car, pulled over at a car dealership. There were assorted cars, trucks, sports cars, and work vans, as well as a few ATV's, dirt bikes, and motorcycles.

Ray opened the door and walked towards the motorcycle he had been eyeing, and patrick followed. Immediately, a man in a suit looked up from a lawn chair, and approached them.

"Well hello there, boys," the sales man said. "My name's Lyle, what can I do for ya'?"

"Huh?" Ray looked up from the bike. Lyle laughed. "Are you in love, young man?"

"He might be," Patrick smiled and shook the Lyle's hand. "I'm Patrick, and this is my friend Ray. He's looking for a good first bike."

"Well, this might be the bike for you, Ray," Lyle shook Ray's hand. "Do you have any riding experience?"

"Um," Ray paused.

"Sure he does, he's ridden dirt bikes at my house since we were kids, just not on the street."

"Right," Ray regained his confidence and looked back up at the man. The motorcycle was a sportbike, with a polished, burnt orange color. There were still lines made of chalk on the tires, indicating that it was only factory tested. Ray glanced at the odometer, noting it only had 12 miles, likely for factory testing.

"Well, this here is a 2009 Kawasaki Ninja 500R. It's a 500cc, and it's in mint condition."

Ray gripped the handle bars and sat down firmly, knocking it off it's centerstand and feeling his weight on it."

"Well? What do you think?" Lyle dangled a pair of keys in front of Ray's face.

Ray took the keys and turned the key, remembering the controls from Patrick's dirt bike. He pressed the ignition, and it started right up, purring gently as it's engine reached idle speed.

"Why don't you take her for a test ride up and down the block?" Lyle nudged Ray.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Ray asked.

"You break it, you buy it, kid," Lyle laughed.

Ray put it in first gear, and uneasily let out the clutch, slowly moving across the parking lot. As he gained speed, he shifted to second, then third, then fourth, until he realized how much power this bike had. He jolted back and forth with every shift, because he wasn't used to the clutch. As Patrick and Lyle looked on, they could only watch as Ray smiled, and then took off down the street.

"Uh," Lyle's smiled faded. "Is he going to come back?"

"Hey, you let him take the bike," Patrick shrugged.

Ray dodged traffic, running red lights, grinning ear to ear. This was the bike for him. He turned around, and headed back into the dealership, his hair blown back like he had just taken off for space.

"I'll take it!" Ray laughed, feeling the bulge of his wallet in his back pocket.

"Ray?" Someone was shaking him.

"Huh?" Ray opened his eyes, his memories drifting away as if the wind had blown them away like a cloud of smoke.

It was Sorrel, with a panicked expression on her face.

"Come quick, something's going on."

Out of instinct, Ray grabbed his rifle and put his shoes on, then followed Sorrel outside the cave. As he got closer to the outside, he could hear it. A faint, thrumming sound. It was day time, and off towards the horizon, a black dot was getting closer and closer to the valley in the Rim of Heaven. Ray could see dragons standing by the crescent shaped lake, watching it come into view.

"What is it, Ray?" Firedrake walked out of the entrance to the caves, standing behind Ray and Sorrel. He said nothing, waiting until it came closer.

"It's a helicopter," Ray gasped. "It's a military one, I saw some of these before that plane dropped me back off here."

"They followed you back?" Sorrel replied.

"I don't know," Ray looked at his rifle. "I'm about to find out."

He took off running, sliding down the slope to the valley, where the helicopter was likely to land. Firedrake followed, and the dragons and brownies watched them in wonder. The helicopter was so close now, Ray could read the markings on it's side. "US ARMY."

"We made a deal," Ray thought to himself angrily.

The helicopter circled once, and seemed to acknowledge Ray's presence. Firedrake was close behind him, looking on. The helo descended, landing in the tall grass about 50 yards from Ray, kicking up dirt and the wind from the rotors pushing waves of grass.

It touched down, and gradually it's rotors slowed to a stop, ceasing to toss dust everywhere. Ray held his rifle down, not knowing if he was about to be shot.

A door slid open, and two soldiers, clothed in the same digital camo as Ray was, since he was given the gear by Reeves, stepped out, fully armed. They helped someone else out, wearing a black suit, glasses, a tie, and a briefcase. It was Reeves.

"He better have a good explanation for this," Ray murmured, and began walking towards them, raising his hand in the air.

"Don't shoot!" Ray called to them. The soldiers aimed their rifles at Ray. "Drop your weapon!" Ray stopped in his tracks, angry, but was about to comply, when Reeves said something to the soldiers, and then motioned him over.

"Reeves," Ray said. "What are you doing here? We had a deal!"

"What deal?" Firedrake asked Reeves.

"How did you- never mind," Ray sighed.

The soldiers escorting Reeves seemed uneasy about a dragon standing over them, so he ordered them to stay in the helicopter, and not to fire on anyone.

"The name's Reeves," he nodded at Firedrake. "Ray, aren't you going to introduce us?"

"Ugh," Ray exhaled. "Reeves, this is Firedrake."

"Pleasure to meet you," Firedrake smiled. "But I must ask, what are you doing here, does this have anything to do with Ray?"

"I'm afraid it does, and it has something to do with all of you," Reeves frowned.

"I'd better get Slatebeard," Firedrake turned around and began walking back to the caves. Ray felt all eyes on him when Firedrake left, from the dragons and brownies across the valley.

"Um, you'd better just come with me," Ray took Reeves up to the caves and caught up with Firedrake."

They had set up a meeting place in the giant chamber with Nettlebrand's skull. Ray, Firedrake, Sorrel, Slatebeard, and many dragons and brownies crowded the area so they could hear.

"Ray, I never had a chance to tell you," Reeves said, in his suit that was a clean black, now a dusty tan from all the ground that the helicopter kicked up. "Your actions may have actually prevented World War Three."

Ray looked at him, but didn't say anything. "Here," Reeves pulled a file with some information on it and gave it to Ray.

It featured codes, photos, and statistics, along with several news articles.

"We weren't wrong about Russia and China planning to use those EMPs to take down the United States economy and infrastructure," He said. "With the information your provided us with, we had proof. We stopped the attack before it happened, and when it went public, both the Russian prime minister and Chinese president were ousted from office, and will be on trial for war crimes."

"This is for real?" Ray looked at the paper, and then at a video on Reeves's laptop. It was Red Square in Moscow, people were rioting and revolting, he picked up chants in Russian demanding the prime minister step down. Riot squads were sent out to deal with the angry mobs, but joined the protestors, and then a helicopter took off from the Kremlin, likely containing a fleeing prime minister. The video looked like it had been taken from a camera phone.

"Hello," Ray and Reeves turned to Slatebeard. "I am Slatebeard, I am one of the oldest dragons here. Firedrake mentioned to me that you had a message, could you please explain to me what it is?"

"I'd be happy to," Reeves stood up and straightened his glasses. Several months ago, your friend Ray was arrested by police when he was in a village south of here."

"I work for the government in a country called the United States of America, which is where Ray is from."

"Well, get on with it," Sorrel jumped in. "What's going on then?"

"Yes, well, when they found out he was an American citizen, but didn't have dual citizenship to his homeland of Russia, they sent him to the American Embassy, and I just happened to be in China at the time."

"Months before that, Ray had used his cellphone here, and with a satellite passing overhead, he was able to obtain a signal for a short time. When he ran away with Firedrake, he was reported as missing when his mother returned home. So, I was given the task to be in charge of tracing the signal to find where Ray was. There are satellites above the sky in space, which allow us to photograph the earth from above, and talk to people in other countries. I and two others traced his signal and discovered this valley, but we kept it secret. We didn't know exactly what we were getting into, or who we should tell, but we looked into it for the next few months. We photographed the valley, the inhabitants, and then a young man who appeared to have befriended them. Then, Ray showed up in my office."

"We're aware of that," Ray nodded.

"Yes, anyway, I may have used a bit of a dirty tactic to grant Ray his freedom, and to keep this place a secret."

There were murmurs among the dragons and brownies.

"What sort of, 'dirty tactic?'" Slatebeard raised an eyebrow.

"I made a deal with Ray, to break into a Russian government building, steal information for us, and eliminate anyone who got in his way. He succeeded, and with that information we stopped a world war before it happened."

"Is this true, Ray?" Slatebeard frowned.

"Yes," Ray nodded. "I killed three men that day, I did it to protect the Rim of Heaven, and so I could come back. I lost a part of myself that day, doing that to my own people," he glared at Reeves. "Why did you come here, anyway? Did you just want to remind me of what I've done?"

"No, I just that that it would be important that everyone is up to speed. First of all, as promised, I deleted all information and photographs relating the the Rim of Heaven. It was like it was never discovered. I made the two other satellite operators swear themselves to secrecy, or else they would be executed for treason. Same with the soldiers and the pilot with me today."

"You always say these things with nothing to back you up," Ray argued. "Whatever, continue."

"Yes, and this is what I'm here for today," Reeves cleared his throat. "After the files were deleted, I discovered something from one of the satellite operators whom I discovered this place with. When the files on our computer system are deleted, they go to a server to be backed up where they are kept indefinitely, in case they may be needed again. That server was hacked by an amateur Chinese hacker, and I have no doubt he has the photographs, GPS coordinates, and everything I had on Ray."

"Meaning?" Firedrake asked, confused.

"Someone knows dragons exist, and has the photographs and location of this valley to prove it."

Ray was silent for a few seconds, and then stood up, glaring at Reeves. He balled his hand into a fist, and then punched Reeves square across the face. Reeves fell to the ground, shattering a lens of his glasses and blood crept down his face.

Ray unholstered his Beretta M9, cocked it, and aimed it at Reeve's head.

"Ray!" Firedrake Pushed Ray to the ground, but he stood back up. "No, now wait just a second!" Ray growled to Reeves. "You sent me on a suicide mission to betray my country, where I murdered three men, just so that I could do what's right. You could have let me go, you could have let me had my freedom, you could have done the right thing. We had a deal Reeves, and you didn't keep up your end of the bargain!"

"I did delete them, weren't you listening?" Reeves coughed. "How was I supposed to know about the server?"

"You're the defense attorney for the United States, how could you not!" Ray yelled angrily.

"Alright, break it up, you two," Luca stood between Ray and Reeves on the floor, and helped him up. While Ray wasn't looking, a brownie grabbed his Beretta out of his hand, leaving Ray unarmed.

Reeves stood up, wiping blood on his pants. "Ray, I know what I did cost you a piece of yourself, but what I had you do was for the good faith of humanity. The amount of lives you saved from what happened, you couldn't even comprehend."

"Fine," Ray sighed. "So you came here to warn us, is that it?"

"That, and something else before you gave me a shiner," Reeves held a hand over his black eye.

"Ray, I came to ask you for another favor."

"Oh, here we go," Ray sighed.

"No, listen to me," Reeves replied. "I can't legally send anyone with military status to China to take care of the hacker that has the information regarding this valley, plus other sensitive top secret information. If I were to send one of our special forces, the UN would surely find out. But you, a civilian, you're invisible. What I had you do last time would have had you, me, and a whole lot more people put on war crimes by the UN. I'm asking you to do it again."

"No!" Ray shouted. "Not again, I'll never kill anyone innocent again."

"I risked my career and life to come here and warn you! I'm offering a chance to arm you, train you, and give you all the resources necessary to execute this hacker, and destroy the information before he has a chance to react."

"What if Ray doesn't do it?" Slatebeard asked.

"Then," Reeves sighed. "I have no doubt the humans in the countries surrounding this area will send their militaries here to capture you for study, since they aren't aware of dragons, brownies, or other mythical creatures existing."

Ray turned away, crossing his arms. Reeves approached him and put his hand on his shoulder. "Ray, I know I put you through more than any human being should have to go through in a lifetime. I know about your brother, and your family back in the states after what happened."

"Yeah," Ray looked at the ground, feeling manipulated. "You were quick to mention my brother when I met you, too."

"When I read everything we had on you, your story stunned me. How could someone your age go through so much? I know what I'm asking here is a lot. But I came here giving you a choice, Ray. If you successfully complete it, I'll make sure you're sent back here safely."

"So, what's it going to be Ray?" Firedrake asked Ray.

All eyes were on Ray, which made him nervous. He stepped back, and looked at the ground.

"I..." Ray stuttered. "I-"