(Chapter Thirteen)
(Morndas 6th) (With Draco)
Following the long tunnel down, further down into the depths of the abandoned mine Draco couldn't help but be surprised that such thing actually exists on this island. He didn't really think that he would find something like this since this place looks a lot older than the buildings built on berk, it even looks older then the mine itself, almost as if it was around a couple of thousand years old.
Going down further Draco noticed that the walls were beginning to change color. The walls were now made out of something shiny, at least that's what it looks like. Draco stopped on the stairs for a second and placed his hand on the walls feeling the texture of the wall.
It was smooth, not smooth like some rocks or walls but more like metal smooth. The more he felt around the more he began to notice that there were little stubs in some sort of pattern, almost like writing.
'This isnt normal' he thought still feeling the wall hoping to be able to read or feel what the stubs spelled out, but it didn't feel like anything thing he knows. He holds the torch up to the wall expecting to see the stubs but when the light shined on the wall it showed nothing, only shined off the wall.
He feels around in the area where the light of the fire was lighting, and he could still feel the stubs on the wall. He was very confused, as well interested, stuff like this isnt normal back on Skyrim or anywhere for that matter. He goes back to walking down the steps going further down and down and down.
The further down he went, the more the wall changed and brighter the light shined off the walls from the torch got but after another couple of feet down he began to notice that it wasn't the torch that was now shining, it was the walls.
He takes a look back at the walls and saw a long streak of ocean blue lights leading all the way down the staircase and at the end he could see that they go into what seems to be a room. He stood there for a second trying to make this out but couldn't come up with anything.
The walls looked like something you would see something from the future would have. Not having much of a choice, he continues to go down the steps but stuffs out the fire so that it didn't become blinding with the fire shining off the walls.
Now being able to see he didn't need the stuffed-out torch anymore and tossed it to the floor so that he'll have a free hand just in case he runs into something. He may still be hurting from that fall but it's not going to stop him from getting out of here.
Reaching the end of the steps Draco couldn't help but go wide eyed when he entered the room. The room he stood in was massive, it was bigger then the Great Hall, it even had multiple floors that you can see from where he stood.
He slowly walks up to the railings in front of him and looked around not believing his eyes "This can't be real" he said aloud. Not a second later he was greeted with a huge headache as if someone hit him in the back of his head with a hammer.
"What the hell" he cursed holding his hand up to his head. This feeling he felt, when the headache began felt like one of those when you forgot something but can't remember what it is or that maybe you've seen it before.
The headache ceased, and Draco relaxes once again taking a deep breath. Hoping that he was just dreaming and still knocked out from the fall he looks around again seeing that he wasn't dreaming. He looks over to his left then his right seeing that both sides had a set of doors leading into different rooms but from what he can see, the doors don't have anyway to open them.
Looking around a little bit more his eyes landed on a door on the third level that was open, but something was off. The door looked like it was busted open and it looks recent too. Deciding to go check it out he takes the right walk way looking for a staircase of some kind, but after taking the first step a light shined off from the ground.
He looks down and sees that a trail of light was forming a path leading him to a door that wasn't open before, he then looked over the railing once again and saw that the light lead down to the fourth floor. There was another door that was open but that wasn't open before either.
Draco didn't know what was going on but if this light trail would get him out of here then he'll take it but at the same time it could lead him to the trap. He'll just have to risk it.
Following the light trail to a door on the very end of the right side he couldn't help but look over this place as he walked wondering of what kind of people could make such a place and how it's been hidden for this long but still look so new as if it's been preserved this whole time.
Reaching the end of the first bit of the trail he follows it through a door that lead him into another room. The room he entered was a long-stretched hallway with doors on both sides but like the others they had no way of opening them.
Walking through the hallway he began to hear a strange noise coming from one of these rooms but the closer he seems to get the softer the noise gets 'Is it moving?' he wondered picking up his pace. Passing by each room the sound was now fading until silence took over the hall. He stops hoping that he would once again hear the noise. Nothing…
Not knowing where it was coming from he went back to following the trail of light which turned to the left down another hall with more doors 'What's up with all of these doors? How many people lived here?" his mind was beginning to fill with questions but the more he walks through this strange place the less answers he receives.
(With Fishlegs, Ruffnut, and Astrid)
Fishlegs, Astrid, and Ruffnut were all in the Great Hall sitting around talking about what they should do since they've been doing nothing but work or sit around trying to figure out what to do, except for Astrid which still teaches classes.
"Does anyone have any Idea on what to do today, and no, we're not going to read" Ruffnut looks over at Fishlegs which just lowered his hand.
"Ruffnut, how many times are we going to be going through this conversation, it's getting old" Astrid comments. Astrid's voice was out of her usual tone, it's calm and quite, not loud and aggravated.
"Until we find something fun to do" Ruffnut answers.
"How about we go…" Fishlegs was cut off by Ruffnut saying.
"We're not going to study dragons either" Fishlegs goes quite.
"Then tell us what do you want to do then we'll decide if we want to do it or not" Astrid suggested. Ruffnut almost jumped out of her seat with a big grin.
"How about we go into those caves that I found, there has to be something down there" Fishlegs looked over to Astrid to see what she was thinking. She notices that he's looking at him and shrugs her shoulders. Fishlegs didn't really want to do it but he knows that he'll be dragged anyways.
"Fine, I guess we're going cave diving" Ruffnut quickly got up with a huge triumphant smile.
"Yes, finally something to do besides sit around and be bored for the rest of our lives" Fishlegs and Astrid got out of their seats to follow Ruffnut.
(With Draco)
So far from walking through this place he hasn't found any sign of bodies, bones, or anything to show that there were signs of life here, just this massive structure is the only evidence he has that there were signs of people here.
But the biggest question is how this light activate without anyone turning it on, and he sure knows that he didn't step on any pressure plates while he walked through the cave and into this place.
He continued to follow the light which to seem to be leading him down a narrow hallway with just a couple of doors this time, and this time one of them were open. The door left of him was open and he could see that there was some light coming from within that room. He stops by the door frame and slowly pokes his head inside to see that it was a small room with some strange objects everywhere and some class was scattered on the floor.
'It looks like a fight or something broke out in here but there's no blood or any other signs of something happing in here. He enters the room to get a better look at the other half of the room and saw what looked to be a metal coffin with the glass busted. There was even a label on the glass, but it was torn.
He takes a look at the glass, his eyes widened 'This is some thick glass, it looks to be almost four or so inches of glass, so whatever broke out or something it had to be strong to pull this off' he thought looking inside the metal coffin.
He didn't really find anything in it except for a scale or piece of skin on the bottom. He picks up the scale/skin and examined it 'How is this so preserved if it's been hidden for so many years' he wondered turning it around to see every bit of it.
He decided that he would look around a little more and hopefully find something in here that would tell him what happened here.
(With Astrid, Fishlegs, and Ruffnut)
It took the trio about an hour to get to the tunnels that Ruffnut was talking about the other day. Upon reaching the location it surprised both Astrid and Fishlegs too see how big the entrance was. The entrance itself was about six to seven men tall and the walls looked unusually smooth for it to be natural.
"Well, I have to admit that this wasn't what I was expecting" Astrid says looking over to Ruffnut to see that she had a smug look on her face.
"See, told you guys that exploring this place would be fun" Ruffnut smiled but Fishlegs jumps in and ruins it by saying.
"Technically you didn't say anything about it being fun, you just said that we should go and explore the…" Ruffnut was glaring at him telling him to shut up, which he did.
"You know Fishlegs, sometimes I feel like everyone wishes that you weren't this smart" Ruffnut insulted Fishlegs. He lowered his head with a frown.
"Come Ruffnut, leave the guy alone, aren't we supposed to be exploring some caves or something?" Astrid grabbed Ruffnut's attention away from Fishlegs.
"Yea lets get going" she takes the lead since she already knows a little bit of the layout of the caves.
"Thank you, Astrid" Fishlegs thanked.
"Don't mention it, you know how she gets when you start talking all smart but sometimes, she's right, you don't need to be always so smart" Fishlegs nods his head understanding her words.
The trio enters the large cave just to be greeted with a splitting headache "Don't worry, it always happens when you enter here" Ruffnut calls out from in front of them.
Fishlegs would've said something to that but he decided not to since he didn't want to get anymore glares from her. Their headache only lasted a couple of seconds and when it was gone, they went back to following Ruffnut.
"So Ruffnut, how far have you've gone through these caves?" Fishlegs asked looking around the big tunnel to see that the walls had a weird pattern to them.
"Not far, Tuffnut's been far down in them then me but he told me that he didn't find anything down here, I don't believe him though, whenever he lies, he can't stop smiling and his eyes start to shift side to side"
"You must be close to your brother if you know something like that" she shrugs her shoulders.
"Maybe, but I think its just more of twins intuition or something like that" Both Astrid and Fishlegs didn't know what she was talking about, but they didn't question it since the whole twin thing is beyond them.
"Ok, well, what is the farthest you've gone in these caves?"
"Not far but the weird thing is the futher I went down the stranger I felt, it's like if I've seen this place before but I know I haven't been here before or at least I don't think I have" this wasn't something you would hear every day so Ruffnut saying something like this was strange to the others.
"Another thing, even though I didn't go to far down these tunnels the last time I left the day already went to night, that's why I came back to the village so late" Ruffnut was explaining the time back a couple of years when she first found these caves, she barely went far into them but somehow the day ended up turning to night within minutes of just walking into the caves.
"Now I know why you came back late but you're saying you went down into these caves earlier that day and when you came out minutes later it was already night? That's impossible even for you to believe" Astrid comments.
"I know it sounds like that but it happened" Fishlegs decided to jump in and say "Are you sure that you just didn't fall asleep"
"I don't know, maybe, but if I didn't then what would you make of the quick change of time?" Fishlegs shrugged his shoulders.
"I don't know but whatever happened to you on that day it made the day go by very fast, did you eat anything strange on that day?" She shrugs her shoulders.
"Maybe, I can't remember but I think I would've remembered if I did or not" just as she finished her sentence she tripped over something causing her to fall.
"Ouch! What the hel was that?" she cursed looking back to see that Fishlegs was holding a mace of some kind of mace but it looks different then from the ones they've seen.
The mace at first looked rusted with red covering it all over it but with it becoming dark the further they go down it was hard to tell for sure but the sharp of the mace was different and that's stood out the most. The edges looked sharp like thorns, the metal that it was made out of was smoother then the metals they use and the butt of the handle had like three talons hanging off the bottom.
"What is that?" Raven asked getting back on her feet.
"It looks like some sort of mace I think, it looks different though" Fishlegs was examining the mace trying to figure out if it has some kind indication from where it came from.
"I should've gone further in that day, I didn't think we would find something like this and could you imangine what else we could find down here?" Ruffnut's voice echoed throughout the tunnel.
"I don't know but I think it would be a good idea to get somoe light in here so we can see or we'll end up running into something down here" Fishlegs suggested looking around for some sort of way to start a light.
Astrid joins in on the search as well same goes for Ruffnut. A minute or two there was a sound of someone tripping or running into something "(Grunts)" it was Fishlegs. The two girls heads over in the direction of where they heard Fishlegs grunting.
"You alright Fishlegs?" Astrid asks.
"Yea, I just ran into something" he replies from the corner of the tunnel.
"What did you run into?"
"I think I ran into some crates or barrel maybe, I don't know but I think it's a mixture of both barrels and crates" the two girls go over to where they were hearing Fishleg's voice.
Reaching the heavy man they could barely see the outline of some crates and a barrel sitting right in front of them "What's in them?" Ruffnut asks.
"I haven't checked, I can't see" the trio looked around for some way to light up the area around them.
That one minute turned into five minutes then ten minutes then three hours has gone by, the more they looked the more they got bored and as well wasting time. Getting annoyed Astrid stopped looking for a way to light up the tunnel, at first she suggested that they go back out to get some wood to turn into a torch but Fishlegs had to bring up the fact that they didn't have anything to light it with.
"Ok Ruffnut, we've been at this for a while now and I'm getting tired, lets call it a day then we can come back tomorrow supplied with torches" Astrid wanted to get out of here since that headache of hers was coming back and it was like the one when they entered the cave.
Ruffnut didn't want to stop for the day but she knew that Astrid had a point and that they should go back and return tomorrow with some torches and supplies that they might need.
"Ugh, fine, let's go, Fishlegs! Come on, we're going home!" Ruffnut called out into the dark but there was no respownded.
"Fishlegs come on we're going home!" she yelled again but still no answer. Getting annoyed Ruffnut went into the darkness to look for Fishlegs while Astrid stayed near the entrance.
Not far from where they were looking Fishlegs was just right around the corner looking at something that he was holding. He sounded like he was whispering to himself. Ruffnut was weirded out but this is Fishlegs they're talking about so of course anything to do with him is going to be weird.
She goes and reaches out grabbing him by his shoulder. Her grabbing him seemed to have gained his attention because he turned around and almost jumped out of his sking "Ruffnut (Pant) do that (Pant)"
"What were you just looking at?" she asked. He quickly hides whatever it was behind his back.
"Nothing, it's just a book" She eyes him for a second seeing that he wass lying but they needed to get home so she'll have to find out later.
"Well come on, we're leaving" Ruffnut heads for the entrance with Fishlegs not far from behind her.
"Did you find him?" Astrid asked as she stood near the entrance.
"Yep" she simply replies.
Upon leaving the cave they were greeted to the sun setting behind the ocean "How is it already this late?" Fishlegs wondered.
"See, this was like last time"
"We were looking around that cave for a couple of hours at the least so of course it would've been around the time the sun would set" Astrid stats not wanting to have a long conversation about why the day ended so quickly.
"She's got a point, we were in there for a while and since there was no sunlight we couldn't tell what time of day it was" Fishlegs says.
Ruffnut didn't have anything to say since that's true and all but it didn't feel like they were lookingfor that long while they were in that cave but not having anything to prove that it was just them looking around the cave she stayed quite and followed as Astrid took the lead.
On their way back Fishlegs began to wonder about that cave because even though he may not believe what Ruffnut was saying about time going by faster then normal is true but something felt strange when they were in that cave.
Astrid was thinking about what her plans for tomorrow were. She's got to teach class, she's got to go do her chores, she also plans to go train in the woods but don't know if she'll have time for that since she'll be with Fishlegs and Ruffnut, possibly the others to go cave diving again.
Ruffnut just pouting since they didn't find anything cool except for tat weird looking… Her eyes widened when she realized that they found that strange looking mace "Hey Astrid?" Astrid looks over her shoulder but kept walking.
"I don't know, Fishlegs had it last" Ruffnut's eyes jumped towards Fishlegs.
"Where is the mace Fishlegs?" She asked nicely.
"I-I uh… I think I left it back in the cave" her fake smile fell.
"Are you serious Fishlegs?!" shes snapped. Fishelgs lowers his head.
"That was the only cool thing that we found in that cave so far, and now we don't have anything to show" Ruffnut wines.
"Stop complaining, we're coming back remember, so you'll get your chance to find it again or probably some better" she tried to sound serious but it didnt sound to convencing, well convincing enough to fool Ruffnut.
"You may be right, but I still wish we had that mace" she folded her arms over her chest pouting.
The trio was silent for the rest of the walk back to the village and by the time they got back the sun had fully set behind the ocean so when they were back in the plaza they said their goodbyes and went to their separate homes.
Astrid honestly didn't want to go home just yet but she has a busy day tomorrow and she's got not much of a choice.
When she finally arrived home upon entering the house she was greeted with the sight of seeing her mom seating at the dining table "Astrid, I need to talk to you"
Astrid didn't like the sound of her voice. She went over and sat down in the chair across from her mother "Astrid, your farther and I have been worried about you, you've been… acting different I guess is the nicest way I could put it"
"What do you mean, I seem just fine to me"
"We've noticed little changes in you Astrid and it's ever since that Draco lad has saved you and those kids from that dragon in the arena" Astrid was really not liking where this was going.
Her mother continued "Astrid, be honest with me, do you have feelings for the lad?" that made Astrids face red but not embarrassed red more like mad red.
"Really mom, you think I would fall for someone like him, yes he may be a good fighter, yes maybe he saved my life, but he's an outsider that's far beyond the edges of the archipelago and I don't plan to leave Berk for a man that doesn't have any interest that isnt anything that has to do with him leaving, the only reason he even helped us during that raid was because and these are his words "They were causing me trouble" he didn't do it out of kindness, I don't even believe that his helping useless without a reason, I wouldn't even train that for one hundred gold" her mother just sat there while her daughter rambled.
During that ramble Astrid's mom noticed that her daughter had a couple of different tones in her voice most of them were when she was talking about him being a fighter and him saving her, it sounded almost like admiration "And another thing, he always has that annoyed look on his face as if he doesn't want to give anyone the time of day and a lot of people have been nice to him but all he gives back is an annoyed tone" her mother raised her hand stopping her.
"Ok Astrid I get it but from the way you talk about him it seems like he's on your mind a lot and that's not very normal of you dear" her mother couldn't help but giggle when she noticed Astrids cheeks were getting more red then before.
"I understand that he annoys you dear but just give him some time, he's still new to Berk, like you said he's from beyond the edge of the archipelago.
Astrid eventually calmed down after her mother explained Draco's situation and she has to admit that her mother was right, she may still not like the guy since he did call her uptight but she'll listen to her mom and give the guy some time and maybe he'll even take her up on sparring propersition.
"Do you understand?" Astrid nods.
"Good, now get to bed you got class to teach tomorrow" Astrid nods again and runs up to her room.
Closing the door behind her she quickly changes out of her armor throwing the shoulder pads to the ground as well her armored skirk. She keeps her blue tunic and leggings on but tosses her fur boots off to the side with the other boots.
She jumps into bed (Not literally) pulls the fur blanket over her and closed her eyes slowly, drifting off to sleep. The last thing she thought of was the day she was saved in the arena.