I'm back with the twelfth chapter of The New Rider.

Percy's POV – Rocky Mountains

The next morning, Eragon led Annabeth and I to the city they had found.

"It was kind of like Vroengard. It was abandoned and desolate," Eragon told me.

"Were there any skeletons?"

"Thousands. You'll see better in a few minutes."

A few minutes later, we flew past a huge mountain, and my internal senses starts blaring.

We were here.

/^\

After we dismounted, Eragon led us through an out of the way entrance that opened up to the hollowed out mountain.

"Wow, this is huge!" I yelled. My shout echoed several times before dying down.

"Echo!" I laughed.

"Percy!" Annabeth scolded.

I felt the heat in my cheeks. "Sorry," I replied.

I looked at Annabeth. Her blonde hair was put up in a ponytail and her dagger was strapped to her leg. She had little silver owl earrings hanging from her ears.

Annabeth was always cute, but now she was starting to look seriously beautiful. And with the white dragon, which was now almost ten feet taller than her, walking beside her, she looked regal.

I caught myself before I could think anything else. Do I like Annabeth? No, she's only a friend. Looking back at her, she really was my best friend, but I don't like her like that.

I looked away to see a huge dragon in front of me.

Make that a huge dragon skeleton. Emphasis on huge.

I stopped in my tracks.

"See? Look around Perseus. You may not like what you see," Murtagh said.

I looked around slowly, taking in all the skeletons. The buildings were destroyed and crumbling, and there were hundreds of dead dragons.

I sunk to my knees, covering my mouth with my hands. "What happened here?" I whispered.

I could feel Alexō's distaste at the sight before us.

This place is cursed. This is a place of great sorrow and pain. This is a graveyard, Saphira said to everyone.

"Perseus, there are good things-"

"This is good? How can you say that what has happened here is good?" I yelled.

"Calm yourself, I wasn't yet finished with my sentence," he paused. "As I was saying, there is more that you haven't seen. Good things."

"Where?"

"Follow us, Perseus."

Annabeth and I followed them through a burned down building.

They stopped and bent down to move a burnt rug to the side.

A latch lay beneath.

After it was opened, we walked down many, many flights of stairs.

The memory of the Rock of Kuthian flashed to the forefront of my mind.

We exited the stairwell to find a short tunnel leading to a bright room.

I entered the room cautiously.

It was like the Vault of Souls, but bigger.

The ceiling rose to extreme heights and the walls circled around, forming an oval.

Alcoves lined the walls; there was one in every possible place.

In the center of the room, another latch laid closed.

I looked around the room again, not believing my eyes.

"Eldunarí?" I asked.

"Yes, they're all mad. We haven't been able to make contact."

Annabeth didn't know what we were talking about. "What's an Eldunarí?"

"I'll tell you later."

A secluded part of a wall was darker than the rest.

I walked over and lit it up. Recognition flickered in my eyes.

"Eggs," I whispered. I could start the Order! My quick counting recorded more than fifty.

"Eragon! Eggs!"

He looked shocked. "What? I looked over here, there was nothing here!"

Annabeth mumbled something under her breath, but I knew what she said, demigods.

I took a quick look around. "Okay, we'll transport the Eldunarí and eggs to my base, did you find anything else here?"

"Aye, but only a bunch of scrolls," Murtagh said.

"Where?"

"It was in the latch we passed over."

"Okay, I'll get those. You two start transferring the eggs."

They nodded and started transferring the eggs and Eldunarí to an invisible pocket.

I ran back to the latch that I had ignored and threw open the door.

A ladder sank down into the darkness. I spoke a quick light spell and descended the ladder.

It was a small room, with a bookshelf on one wall and a silver sword in the hands of a statue.

I gathered all the scrolls, which weren't many, in one arm, and picked the sheathed silver sword in my other hand.

I carefully climbed back up the ladder, into the room I was before.

"Annabeth, take this sword until we get back to the base."

Eragon and Murtagh came towards me, looking a bit pale.

Err… uh, more pale.

"Okay, they're all moved. We just have to travel back to base and unload them." I nodded.

It took us about the same amount of time to get back that it took us to arrive.

When we got back, the sun was kissing the horizon.

"What did you want to do with the Eldunarí?"

"I was going to sing a building for them, so we can store them and the scrolls."

Eragon shook his head. "Nay, it's much too late for that now. We can do it in the morn, when Murtagh and I are well rested."

I nodded. He walked away to the rest of the night.

As I settled in for bed, Annabeth knocked on my threshold.

"Percy?"

"Yes, Annabeth?"

"I was wondering if I could borrow some of those scrolls to increase my knowledge of Dragon Riders and the such."

"Not yet, I haven't read through them and deemed them appropriate for you yet."

This seemed to anger her. "Appropriate for me? What do you think I am, a child?"

"Annabeth, I am merely saying that the scrolls might contain information that you aren't ready to handle yet. Information that might sway you like it did Galbatorix."

"Who is Galbatorix?"

"A young Rider that knew too much before he was ready."

"What happened to him?"

"He went mad and killed all the other Riders. Eragon and I killed him."

"Fine, but in the morning, will you continue to train me?"

"After Murtagh, Eragon, and I sing a building for the Eldun-" I paused, "After we sing a building."

"For those Eldunarí things? You still haven't told me what they are."

I thought for a moment, then sat up in my bed. "It is the dragon's heart of hearts." And laid back down, effectively closing the discussion. I reached out with my mind until I felt Naina's mind.

I talked with her, and when she told me that she had felt her heart of hearts, I made her promise in the ancient language not to tell Annabeth about it until she was ready.

And with that done, I fell asleep.

/^\

I was in a dark cave, and the rocks around me had an evil look about them.

I heard screams; I heard war cries; and, worst of all, I heard babies wailing.

I felt many minds around me, then I heard the distinctive clang of two swords clashing together.

I walked out of the cave, and saw the battle raging around Uru'baen. The familiar sight of several dragons flying over the city came to my attention.

"Enjoying the view, Perseus? Didn't you enjoy that final battle, where you slew me where I stood?"

I turned and saw Galbatorix.

His skin was pale, different from the confident tan that it had been before.

Sweat covered his neck, and his hands shook slightly.

His hair was soaked, and sticking to his face and neck.

His eyes, that's what caught me.

They were gold.

"I've come back, Perseus. And there's nothing you can do to stop me. I'm more powerful than you are now. The worlds shall be mine!"

/^\

I awoke in a cold sweat.

It was just past dawn, which meant Eragon would be up.

I quickly dressed and exited my house.

I saw Eragon pacing back and forth, while Murtagh sat on the ground, clutching his head in his hands.

"This can't be. I killed him; I cut off his head, Murtagh! He can't be alive!"

Murtagh sighed. "It was probably just a dream, Brother." He turned my way. "Hello, Perseus."

"Eragon, what did you dream about?"

He looked at me with terror in his eyes. "Galbatorix has returned. And he's more powerful than ever, Perseus. We won't be able to beat him this time! He's probably already stolen a hatchling from our new Rider City, and its probably breathing fire already!"

I grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him really hard. "Eragon, snap out of it!" The terror in his eyes dissipated.

"What happened?"

"Galbatorix has returned, and he is targeting Earth."