Chapter 10 Whats New Bros

Character Soap

"Check," Price said.

"And I'll take that rook," Ghost said, "Oh check."

"Well I'll take your bishop and ha jeopardy and check," Price responded as the chess pieces moved and changed hands again. It was the twos' fifth game today and Soap was sincerely hoping that something, anything, would be of interest when next Lucas and the Legionnaires reported in. The last game he had to step in and pull Price off of Ghost after the two got into a brawl over an 'illegal' move. Their problem was they both took chess way to seriously.

"Soap," Anjali's haunting voice called, "We've found something."

"Wait, did I hear that right," Ghost asked, "they found something?"

"Sure did," Lucas said as he walked into the conference room, "We found an old temple deep in the Amazon, and guess who is carved all over it."

"Its K isn't it," Price said, "Figures actually."

"Well what do you say," Soap asked, "ready to go delving into the past of our secretive friend?"

"If you are going into that structure then have fun," Katarina said, "someone has to stay here and monitor the rest of the world."

"It actually would take three of us," Reinhardt said, "since I assume that all of 141 will want to go with you Lucas, Anjali and myself will remain here to help Katarina with the up keep of the scans."

"Wow what a team player," Lucas remarked.

"So where is this temple," Soap interjected, "I don't want this to take more than three days."

"Ah yes," Reinhardt said as the white-haired man pulled up a map on the over head projector. "Here about twenty-two miles south east of a little village that rests along the southern side of the Amazon river." He pointed out the locations of the village and temple with a laser pointer. "Now Carter's firm is kind enough to lend us his plane Bertha so getting you there should be no problem, assuming one of you knows how to fly."

"We do," Soap replied, "Is Bertha ready to fly?"

"Actually yes," Anjali said, "She is parked outside with a full tank ready for you to use."

"Finally something to do other than watch you two play chess," Soap exclaimed, "Come on lets go."

"Blarg it," I was about to win too," Price said, "Fine the game is on hold, lets go see this temple."

Soap was impressed with the plane. Bertha sported a cargo hold large enough for two thirty ton tanks and requisite crew and ammo, a roomy and comfortable cabin with leather lined chairs, polished red oak tables and various kinds of wine. The controls for the plane were neatly integrated with the weapon systems to provide easy access to either functions even when only one person was flying the plane. At this time he and Price were driving, which was an interesting experience.

Price, for all his good qualities as a solder, leader and friend, was also more stubborn than a mountain range and he was extremely vocal at making known what he would be doing if he were the pilot instead of co-pilot. Soap ignored half his comments and made slight concessions on the other half just to keep the peace. Meanwhile Ghost simply had to show Lucas how to use and clean the pistol they had given him. The kid showed promise but was still better with the sword and shield he usually carried, an attribute that Soap thought would be useful if any of those demons with the large claws showed up at this temple.

"Ok now we should start descending at about five degrees a minute our destination is about forty-five minutes away," Price said.

"That's to long of a descent," Soap argued, "no we want to come in fast and steep."

"How steep are you thinking about," Price said, "a straight drop?"

"Not quite straight," Soap said, "I do intend on pulling up at the tree line."

Price looked at him, "Well good to see I taught you something then," He said.

True to his word Soap dropped Bertha into a steep dive about thirty minutes later. As they passed through the clouds the village came into view, and it was in trouble. Demons were flying and rampaging around the burning remains of the village and the inhabitants were being gathered up for some ritual, or dinner.

"Ghost, Lucas, get ready to fight we got company," Soap shouted back into the cabin.

"Here lets see how demons like these guns," Price said as he fired up Bertha's weapon systems, "What will it be machine guns?"

"Just don't kill the civilians," Soap said as he pulled out of the dive and started a slow circle over the village. The twenty or so hut-like houses that made up the village were already mostly burned down, allowing for a clear view of the demons and the people they were attacking. The plane barely even vibrated as the three pairs of .50s lit up the startled demons below. The ATA missiles took down the fliers just as quickly as the .50s cleared out the ground space.

"All clear," Soap asked.

"Clear," Price replied, "Taker her down."

Soap activated the vertical landing gear and put the massive plane down just next to the ravaged village. As the four of them exited Bertha they were able to truly see just how timely their arrival had been. The villagers were gathered in the center of their razed homes, but they were all still alive. An old man with deep gray eyes, bald head and short, white beard came forward.

"You've returned," He said to Lucas surprising Soap with his clear English, "These creatures, came from the ruins you went to last time, please stop them before they destroy not only our houses but our family as well."

Lucas came forward and knelt before the old man, "As far as it is within our power we will stop them," He replied, "Now all of you get inside Bertha, and close the doors you will be safe in there until we return."

"There is a control button on the right side of the door press it to close up the plane," Soap said. Then he turned to Lucas, "You didn't tell us they could speak English."

"Only Tamil, their elder, can," Lucas replied, "What I didn't expect were the demons, it may be that our scouting of the temple caused the demon to come investigate it for themselves or more likely the demons were imprisoned there when it was sealed and are now released."

"Either way now we have a mess on our hands," Price said, "Lets get to work."

They started off into the jungle, at first it was easy following the paths that the villagers had cleared but after about the seventh mile the jungle got much denser with the ground covering plants being much more abundant. Lucas drew his sword and carved a path through them under Soap's directions as they followed a GPS to the Temple's location. Lucas hacked tirelessly through miles of jungle showing no signs of stress or weakness as the environment threw everything it had at them; from a tributary of the Amazon river to a swarm of large ants to spiders the size of their heads.

All of which paled in comparison to the first demon they met. To say that the demon was large would be an understatement, the serpent-like creature was a good hundred feet long and had a head the size of a large boulder, most of it was filled with rows of teeth that stuck out from under its lips. The brown-tan coloring of it made it blend in with the trees and scattered patches of sunlight that filtered through the thick jungle canopy. The demon remained perfectly still as they approached it, probably waiting for them to get within its striking distance, or waiting for them to get so close that they couldn't escape. Soap called a halt, even though he could see the top of the temple from where he stood.

"Is it asleep," Ghost asked.

"No," Price replied, "Its waiting, stay on your toes."

"Lucas is there any way you can get this thing to focus on you?" Soap asked.

"Sure is," Lucas said, "After all that's what I do."

"Ok Price, Ghost you two head around the side of its head, almost out of its vision, but let it focus on Lucas, I'm going to head to the other side, Lucas you signal when you've got its attention."

"Trust me bros you'll know," Lucas said as he pulled out the pistol, "Lets see how this little bee stinger works."

Soap drew in power from the demon and melded into the shadows as he moved around the demon. Lucas planted himself right in front of the creature and Ghost and Price were hanging just inside the beast's left most field of view. Lucas cocked the pistol and fired off six shots in rapid succession. The demon roared as it lunged forward, gaping mouth open to devour Lucas, Price, and Ghost opened up on the beast while Soap charged in and leaped onto the demon. Lucas held the demon at bay with his shield and sword while it got its left side riddled by Price and Ghost. Soap was on its head now and pulled out a claymore mine. He shot two holes in the demons head, causing it to jerk up and almost throw him off, so he could plant the mine in such a way that it faced down towards the demon's skull. Then he ran to the back of the thrashing creature, tentatively holding onto it as he turned and shot the claymore. The explosion threw him off the demon as well as throwing Lucas away from its head, but the brains and blood that were spilling out onto the jungle floor was worth the singed hair and bruised knees.

"Creative work," Ghost said as he picked up Soap, "Mind warning us next time though?"

"Sure next time we encounter a giant snake demon in a jungle I'll warn you before I blow it up," Soap said, "Lucas you ok."

"Yeah I'm good," Lucas called back, "Well ok I'm not eaten, or dead, or both, so yeah."

"Right then lets see what this temple has in store for us," Price said.

They pushed their way out of the jungle into a clearing that surrounded the temple. The structure was small, as temples go, only being about thirty feet above the ground, but the twenty foot tall door said that there was more in this temple than the top part. All across it were carvings of K in his various forms and temperaments.

"Dang, This must go way back to when K was working with Lucifer," Soap said, "If its his demons that are in there we should be very careful."

"No blarg," Ghost said, "Like the tip of an iceberg I wonder how far down this goes?"

"With our luck," Price replied, "Very far."

"Lets go we're wasting daylight," Soap said as he started for the door. They made it inside without any other problems, well except the smell which reminded Soap of a stagnant pool of water filled with dead eels. "Guys keep an eye on the walls, If this is a temple built for K then it should have plenty of history on him in it," Soap said, "I'd be interested to know just what our friend used to be." The others agreed with silent nods, each one also keeping an eye out for trouble. Lucas was in front, his shield partially raised, then Ghost and Soap followed by Price. They proceeded in this diamond formation for some time. All the while Soap's eyes were practically glued to the walls, as they told a horrific story of K from long ago.

The carvings depicted K first as him in human form, as he established a kingdom in the Amazon, then as his power escalated his tyrannical rule of tribes long lost to time. A panel came along that showed the tribes attempting to overthrow K but instead when they sunk their blades into his body he erupted into his half form and enslaved half of the tribes as demons. As his increasing harshness and cruelty took hold, he instituted a sacrifice of the ancient people to turn some into demons to replace those that were killed during the frequent attempts to overthrow him. He even went so far as to turn women so his demons could replenish the ranks faster.

As they descended deeper the panels showed K in his true dragon form, as a ruthless, heartless, demon lord who ruled the entire continent from Canada to Argentina. Then the carvings ended, and Soap looked up to see that they were faced with a massive stone door, that blocked their path forward.

"Well that explains why this side of the world developed so much slower than the rest," Ghost said.

"This trumps anything I've ever seen before," Lucas said, "I'm going to have some very pointed questions for our 'friend' when he gets back."

"I want to see whats on the other side of that door," Soap said, "Look at the carving on it, it shows K being dead and imprisoned here."

"We can't risk blowing it up," Price said, "The structure is too unstable for that."

"Pry bars then," Ghost offered as he pulled one free from his backpack.

"No," Soap replied, "This needs a little magic. There is still enough energy for me to pull something together, stand back, I'm not sure what is going to happen when I do this."

Drawing in the remaining demonic energy that lingered in the temple, he placed his hand on the door and released the power through that hand. The structure responded with an audible grinding sound as the door shook then lowered into the ground, what he saw behind the door made even him freeze as it lowered. There in the center chamber, chained to the walls by two dozen chains, was K's skeleton. There was no mistaking it for his because of the circle of neck spikes that surrounded his skull.

"Tread lightly," Price said, "There is no telling what his remains can do even after he is gone."

Unfortunately saying that was the very thing that caused the skeleton to twitch. They froze, another twitch, then a claw ground into the ground.

"Guys, Run," Soap said, "That is K, or what he left here, all of the evil that he caused he poured into that body, and now we woke it up. Run!"

They ran as the sounds of creaking bones, grating stone and snapping chains followed them back up through the temple. "Rise my minions," the hollow voice that sounded almost like K echoed up to them. "Rise and crush these intruders." At that carvings on the walls fell away to reveal the twisted skeletons of things that might have once been human. Some crawled on all fours using their teeth and claws to strike out at the four as they passed, some walked upright and swung wicked looking spears at them or tried to impale them on their overly large horns.

"We have to stop them," Lucas said, "If we don't then this shadow of K will be able to raise and army capable of taking over the entire world."

"I know," Soap replied as he drew to a stop at the entrance of the temple, "But first we must take care of these skeletons, weapons up, they don't get past the entrance."

"Finally," Price exclaimed, "I knew you weren't a coward. Let me guess only the demons inside the temple are coming back to life?"

"Waking up more like it," Soap replied as he discharged a clip from his SAW into the oncoming monsters, "But yeah none to attack us from behind. Lucas take point."

That order was unnecessary as Lucas was already charging the skeletons as ferociously as they were charging them. Soap didn't focus on what Lucas was doing, him being occupied with shooting the demon-skeletons, but even with just glances he saw that once again the Legionnaire was proving his superiority with a blade. As the pests were clearing the dragging of chains and creaking of bones could be heard. "My army my be gone but now you will die by my hand, maggots," The shadow K said as it emerged into the light.

"Oh yeah," Soap said, "We'll see about that, Lucas use the mine."

Lucas dashed forward and slammed his shield into the side of the shadow's head, causing it to grunt and swipe its fore-paws in retaliation, sending Lucas flying backwards. Price and Ghost fired their weapons to draw its attention to them while Soap aimed for the claymore, that was now stuck to the side of K's head. As it turned to fight off Ghost and Price he fired detonating the claymore. K's shadow growled as a piece of its head went flying off, but instead of going down the creature stayed up, albeit with black and red energy leaking from the side of its head that was missing its skull.

"Fools," It said, "I... cannot... die!"

Soap hit the floor as he dodged a wave of the disintegration breath that K was so fond of. Lucas charged back in with a shout and was on one of K's shoulders and hacking away at the bones in his neck. Ghost fired an RPG into K's rear left leg and Price threw a grenade to Lucas who caught it , primed it and stuffed it into an eye socket, before jumping clear. The RPG blew off the leg it hit, causing more of the energy to spill out of the shade, then when the grenade exploded, obliterating the rest of the skull the creature roared a long, pained, howl then collapsed to the ground. Behind it the temple shook and then also collapsed in on itself, removing any trace of its purpose.

"Well, that was invigorating," Price said, "but lets not do it again anytime soon."

"Agreed," Soap said, "lets get back to Bertha before it gets dark."

A few hours later just as the sun was going down, the four arrived back at Bertha. The villagers were still inside and were eager to hear what had happened, they had apparently hear the death cry of K's shade. As Lucas filled in Tamil, Ghost walked over to Soap.

"Hey what do say about sticking around to help these people rebuild, after all we have two days left before we need to go back," Ghost said.

"Well, well charity from you," Soap said, "Whats the occasion?"

"You know how I feel about fires," Ghost said as he pulled just enough of his mask up to reveal the marred skin that he had as a result of almost being burned alive. "I figured since it was Lucas and them who kinda disturbed the nest we might as well help to fix the damage."

Soap though about saying no for just a second, but then he looked out over the villagers. All of them were ready to start rebuilding and none expected any help, they wouldn't think less of them if they just left, but he agreed with Ghost, they had the time and resources to help so they would. He walked over to Lucas who was still talking to Tamil and said. "We'll have plenty of time tomorrow to finish the story, for now open up the food stores in Bertha and get these people something to eat, also see what building supplies we have. The next two days are going to be busy."

Lucas smiled and nodded as he broke off to gather the supplies, Tamil just stared at him before saying "thank you" then walking away. Soap got a pat on the back from Price as he too headed into the plane to help Lucas, followed by a "Good idea lad." Soap couldn't help himself as he grinned and walked over to help distribute the food and water.

Meanwhile back with Bad Co.

Character Haggard

"Phew," Sweetwater exclaimed, "This rubble is heavy."

"Yeah," Preston added, "Hey who's idea was it to stay here?"

"Hey cut it out," Redford said, "As long as I get to fish during the off hours I can do this all day."

"Your just watching," Sweets replied, "How does that count?"

"Its managing," Red stated, "And I've got years of experience managing you all."

Haggard laughed at the banter between them as he hefted another block of marble into a cart. After DC had left, he and the others remained on in Warfang to help with the reconstruction and in case there were any more demons to show up. Grishnake had stayed with them and he and the old orc had gotten along quite well. For someone who was the equivalent of ninety Grish was strong agile and sharp, he also like weapons and explosives almost as much as Hags did.

"Here this should liven you up," Red said as he pulled out an iPod and the stereo attachment. Shortly "We Built This City," started playing to which Sweets groaned but Preston started whistling along to. Grish lumbered up an empty cart being pulled in each hand. He nodded at Red, in appreciation of the music, then grabbed the two full carts that Hags, Sweets, Preston, and yes even Red, occasionally, filled. Then the giant orc turned and dragged the carts off to the Moles' who were reshaping what they could to use in the reconstruction.

"I thought we stayed to help with clearing out the demons," Sweets said, "Why are we here, doing this?"

"Cause they haven't found any demons yet," Red replied as he helped lift a larger block that Sweets was fighting with, "Besides its safer than fighting demons."

"Yeah, I guess that's true assuming that the crumbling buildings don't fall on us," Sweets said.

"Sweets chill man," Hags said as he too moved in to wrangle the large block off the pile and into the cart, "I'm sure we can have demons snapping at our necks soon enough. Wow this guy is really stuck, hey Preston a hand here?"

"Sure thing," Preston said as he walked over and got on the last corner.

"Ok on three," Red said, "One, two, three lift."

With the four of them straining their muscles the large block shifted then came free with a hiss.

"Hissing, that can't be good," Sweets said.

"Lets just get this to the cart," Red huffed.

They maneuvered the block out of the rubble pile and into the cart, before they saw what made the hissing sound. It was the sand-like remains of the mortar that held the blocks together that had flowed down into a opening that led under the city.

"Well there's something unusual," Preston said, "wonder whats down there?"

"Probably nothing good," Grish rumbled as he came up behind them with that stealth that belied his large frame, "We should check it out, you have your weapons?"

"What you mean that you carry fifty pounds of weapons on you while you are dragging those thousand pound carts," Sweets said, "Of course I don't."

"No I actually carry about a hundred and fifty pounds of weapons," Grish stated.

"Well its a good thing that I brought your guns and ammo," Red said, "there in the cooler."

"Is that why we never see you get anything out of it," Hags asked.

"Yup, its cause I don't want to dye in a surprise demon attack when I'm so close to a fishing hole," Red replied, "So I keep up with all your stuff too. Just be thankful we aren't in the real military or I would would be doing something creative and nasty to each of you for not keeping up with your guns."

They got their weapons and then lashing the carts together with the rubble in them used the ropes to lower themselves down into the hole, Grish went first followed by Preston, then Hags, Sweets, and Red. Once they were inside and his eyes had adjusted Hags saw a large ornate chamber, covered in pictographs, and scattered with gold and gems of all kinds.

"Whoa, looks like we can retire," Red said, "this is a treasure fit for a king."

"That's probably cause it is for a king," Grish said as he pointed to a depiction of all the races of Avalar, dragons included, bowing before a large, purple, dragon.

"That can't be Spyro this place is older than he is," Hags said, "Actually its probably older than Malafor too, cause he seems like the type to raid places like this."

"Well if its not them then who is it," Preston asked.

They looked at each other then Hags walked closer to the picture. He waved Grish over, "Hey you picked up how to read their languages while you were here right"

"Yes," Grish replied, "Let me see. Hmm. This is old, only scraps of this dialect remain in the Tower but I can make out three words, Hero, Chronicler, and First."

"Chronicler, isn't Ingitus a Chronicler," Hags asked.

"Yes, the most recent in a long line," Grish replied, "This may be an antechamber in the crypt of the first Chronicler it was said that he was the first one to save the planet and thus he gained mastery over the four elements, like Spyro, plus time was his to warp, like Ingitus."

"Hey Grish, How do you know so much," Sweets asked as the other three moved in to look at the carving.

"I've spent the last twenty years here," Grishnake replied, "And I may be a bit of a history buff."

"Guys if this is an antechamber," Preston said, "Then how much wealth is in the rest of the tomb."

"He's right," Red added, "The city needs money and there has to be a ton of it here." Everyone looked at him like he had three eyes. "Ok yeah and we will get to keep part of it, finder's fee and such."

"That's what I like to hear," Hags exclaimed, "Lets go round us up some loot."

"Well if its the treasure your after then be glad that Red brought the guns," Grish stated.

"Why," Sweets asked, "What's down here?"

"You know those monkey skeletons that were twisted into Malafor's service," Grish continued, "Think about how powerful a dragon would be if it volunteered and remained down here this long."

"Ok now this doesn't sound like a good idea," Red said, "Lets go back up and get the moles to dig this out."

"We can't do that those little guys wouldn't even have a fifth of our chance against whatever would be down here," Preston replied, "I say we at least look around there isn't any guarantee that there are any guards down here anyway."

Red sighed, "Why oh why do I keep letting you all drag me into these situations?"

"Cause deep down you care sarge," Hags replied, "Now come on I see the door over there."

The door was half filled with rubble, probably knocked loose when the building on top of it collapsed, but Grish shoved their way inside. Beyond the door the light from the hole in the chamber's ceiling diminished quickly and they turned on their flashlights. What they saw had even Hags stunned, the hall was not just lined with gold but was made of gold encrusted with gems of varying size and rarity, starting with pink diamonds and getting more valuable from there. They came across several other chambers all filled with history and wealth before the hall came to a dead end.

"Huh, That's odd," Hags said, "No tomb or anything?"

"Its a portal," Grish said as he ran a hand across a raised arch on the wall, "Normally a dragon would have to open these, but sometimes with just the right touch..." The wall flared to life revealing a chamber with a giant carved dragon statue in its center and more wealth than any of them could comprehend. "They can open to a non-dragon," Grish finished.

"That is the greatest treasure ever, of all time," Hags said.

Sweets whistled, Preston just stared, Red and Grish walked through the portal.

"Hey, No fair," Hags said as he to dashed through, "I get to loot some too."

The two whooshes behind him told him that Preston and Sweets had followed him in, Red and Grish were not looting the place however but were intently looking at the dragon in the center.

"Guys come on," Hags encouraged as he grabbed a handful of gems and let them slid through his fingers, "Look at this."

"I think we might want to look at the dragon that is sleeping on it," Grish hissed.

Hags got real quiet as he and the others walked over to Red and Grish who were right at the nose of the dragon. "What do you mean," Hags asked.

"Wait for it," Red replied.

Hags watched the dragon for almost a minute and was about to go back to looting when an almost undetectable curl of smoke came out of its nostrils. "That can't be," Hags muttered.

"Sure is the dragon is sleeping inside a stone statue of itself," Grish confirmed, "Odd that it hasn't woken up yet." Then "Hello!" Grish bellowed the sound echoing off the walls of the room.

"What are you doing," Sweets cried, "Trying to wake it up?"

"Yes actually," Grish replied, "If it didn't wake up for that then noise must not be a trigger to the spell that has kept this dragon in its prolonged sleep."

"If not noise then what," Red asked, "Maybe taking some of the treasure?"

"Probably," Preston said, "It looks like it was meant to be in a public area, somewhere where noise and contact with others would be common, so it must react to the disturbance of a certain object or set of objects."

"Grish what do dragons hold closest to them?" Hags asked.

"Well from what I've seen its knowledge," Grish replied, "Perhaps a scroll?"

"Found one," Red said as he pointed, "But its not going to be fun to get."

Hags followed the indicated direction to see the scroll, clutched in the paw of the dragon.

"Really," Preston said, "I could have seen that one coming."

Grish reach over and pulled the scroll out, Hags and the others backed away but nothing happened.

"Oh get over here you babies," Grish rumbled, "Besides I don't think that this dragon is going to harm us, even once its awake."

"That's great," Sweets said, "But I'd like to stay closer to the portal. Just in case."

"The scroll didn't do anything, see any others," Preston said.

"Hmm," Grish mumbled and scratched his head as he opened the scroll, "This is very hard to read its old and faded and in a dialect that was mostly lost thousands of years ago, however, I can make out two phrases. One is guardians or guarding, and the other is heart, meaning or life. The second one could be any of those though."

"I got it," Hags said suddenly as he understood the puzzle, "What dragons guard most closely, what gives them life and meaning, the one they love. Like C did for K, Spyro for Cynder, the pattern goes on. So that still leave us with how to wake this guy up."

"Well something to do with its mate," Grish stated, "Like that statue over there." He walked over and picked out of a pile of gold coins and jewels a small silver statue only about two feet tall and a foot and a half across, then carried it back over to the stone dragon.

"Here," Sweets said, "I think I see a place for the statue to go on the base."

Grish walked over and set the little statue down, as he did so a line of light cut through the stone encasement of the dragon then another one followed by a spider webbing effect that broke the stone into little pieces that then all fell off the dragon to reveal a shimmering purple hide. Two massive wings shot open as the dragon stabilized itself then it turned its head to look at them and Hags got the full scope of the creature's size. Its eye was his his size, its head as long as a bus, the body the size of a mid-sized battle ship, but despite all that it didn't eat them.

"Ok so we aren't dragon food," Sweetwater said, "That's good."

The dragon whipped its head around to look at Sweets, who froze as it licked him.

"Blagh," The dragon said, "No you definitely are not food, but if not then why are you here, what are you?"

"We are friends of your kind," Grish said, "It was a Leviathan who brought us here, and to help the dragons is the reason we stayed here when the rest of our team left to continue a war against the dark one Lucifer. I am Grishnake, This is Haggard, Redford, Sweetwater, and Preston."

"We are here mainly due to an accident," Hags said, "We uncovered the entrance to one of your side chambers while clearing rubble out of the streets of Warfang."

"Warfang," The dragon said astonished, "its built, its finished?"

"Well its kinda broken right now the demons hit it pretty hard," Red replied, "But yeah it still stands."

"Good, good," The old dragon said, "Ah its been too long since last I was free, I am Orthino, First Chronicler of Avalar and master over the elements. I thank you for my freedom, but I must know how did you figure out what to do?"

"Lets just say that we know some people that are a lot like you," Hags replied, "But right now, we need to get back to the city, its still recovering from the beating it took and this treasure of yours would be perfect to help rebuild it, not to mention your own considerable strength."

"My services you have but not the treasure," Orthino replied, "For it is not mine to give, it all belongs to Yari, my mate."

"You mean that this tomb isn't yours but is hers?" Preston asked, "That explains the pink."

"Yes the Rose-diamonds, her scales were the same color," Orthino said, "I'll come with you, I have remained here too long and the memories of the long past weigh heavy on my mind, but her treasure stays here."

The dragon said that last bit in a no arguments tone, even being old certainly had not taken out of Orthino how to rule, or get his way. Then the old dragon lifted each of them onto his back and opened a portal in the ceiling which he jumped up through, and appeared right out over the walls of Warfang.

"Its more beautiful than I had imagined," Orthino said as he got his first look at the city, "Last I saw of it was just the blueprints. Ah but what a sight it is going to be when it is reconstructed!"

"Looks like we drew out a crowd," Hags said, "here come some dragons."

Two dragons, young ones, one blue-green and the other gold, rose up to meet them.

"Oh hey Chris, hey Ve, look who we found, the first Chronicler of your race, Orthino," Hags said.

"I don't even know what to say," Chris said, "Your a legend of a myth, its an honor."

"Ah cut the crap kid," Orthino said, "My time was ages ago, I may be powerful but I am due no honor from any of you, not until I've helped rebuild my city anyways."

"Well your about as temperamental as old Ingitus is now," Ve said, "I always did like that about him."

"Ingitus," Orthino muttered, "That names is familiar to me, is he..."

"The current Chronicler," Hags finished, "Yeah but he is off with the rest of our squad helping other planets fight off Lucifer's invasion."

"Lucifer, you mean the Lucifer, the head of Satan?" The elder dragon asked horrified.

"Unfortunately yes," Redford said, "You seem to know him."

"Oh I know him, it was his wife who killed mine," Orthino snarled, "Well if its a fight he wants I'll give em one, now lets get this city rebuilt."