the desert winds blew a bit harsher than usual today. Sand blew against the faces of the young dragons as they flew through the air. But Blankridge wasn't deterred; he just beat his wings harder and stayed at the lead of the group. Keith was to the left behind him, with Mary opposite him. And Marble flew at the very back. Blankridge wasn't about to give any implications that he couldn't handle being the leader of a group for the very first time.
"How long until we-?!" Marble started to ask until sand flew into his maw. The others snorted in amusement as the brown drake spat and gagged. "…get there"
"Can't you see the ruins from where we are?!" Blankridge asked; he wore a scarf over his muzzle to keep the sand out. "We're almost there."
"Yeah, keep your wings on, Marble," Keith said with a forepaw over his muzzle. "It won't be long."
Blankridge couldn't believe this was really happening; he was so excited that he swayed from side to side and pushed himself as fast as he could go. After all this time, he was finally off on a big adventure again. Sure, it wasn't nearly as far from home as the Well of Souls was, but any place outside of Glenhaven was still unexplored territory to Blankridge. And those desert ruins were the best place to start that he could hope for.
It was only about an hour's flight to the southeast of Glenhaven; Blank's mom wouldn't have to nag him about leaving home for too long. Plus, he had a good feeling that if anything was worth searching for, then the desert ruins would house plenty of them. And since barely anybody had bothered to come to check out the ruins, that meant that he and his friends would be able to write their own story about the expedition!
Blankridge would never forget that day… well, it was only within the last month, so it was pretty recent. Still, it would be something he'd want to tell people about for years and years.
It had started with a rather mundane field trip: General Jules had gathered up a bunch of the older apprentices and took them to fly around the outskirts of the desert surrounding Glenhaven. There were sand dunes… so many sand dunes; Blankridge thought he would be bored out of his mind. They flew here, there, this way, that way… all as some excuse to memorize the local terrain, or so the General put it. The group landed somewhere to drink from their canteens, Blankridge got bored and wandered off… and took a tumble into a hole in the sand. And then… bam! He found a big, weird device!
…which he accidentally BROKE with his head. But despite getting a bump, Blankridge was glad he did it.
The ruins weren't like much of anything Blankridge had seen before on his last big adventure. There was a multitude of stone buildings; a lot of them were partially submerged into the sands at an angle. There were collapsed bridges that connected many of the buildings, while staircases and broken mechanisms of unknown origins were scattered around.
Blankridge decided to lead his friends to a swift landing in the center of the ruins, right before the largest building of all. After landing, he reached into his satchel and fished around for some items; a notebook, a quill pen, and a bottle of ink. Any adventurer worth his salt kept a journal to take notes, and what better place to start than describing the ominous structure that loomed before him?
It was half the size of Glenhaven Palace, and the exterior was made up of a series of stone columns that held the roof aloft… or rather, they used to, as it seemed like something had smashed through the roof ages ago. The front of the ruins resembled a dragon skull that wore a metal helmet; its jaws were wide open, with most of the stone fangs shattered in half. Something faint and tiny glowed deep within the interior of the skull's eye sockets; something that Blankridge was eager to get his forepaws on if he could.
"Are we sure that this is the place?" Marble asked uneasily.
"How many other desert ruins have you heard about, Marble?" Keith snorted.
"Not many…" The brown dragon grimaced and pressed his talons together. "Still, I'm not liking the looks of that skull."
Blankridge just sighed; Marble was reliable when it came to forging things, but he tended to be a bit uneasy around dangerous places. Perhaps for most dragons, that would be considered normal. Blankridge couldn't fault him for being skittish; he put his journal away and flapped his wings. He then stepped over to Marble to drape one wing over his back.
"Don't worry, bud!" Blankridge exclaimed. He took a dramatic pose and stamped the ground heroically. "As long as we're all in this together, then nothing's going to mess with you!"
"If you say so…" Marble grimaced. Blankridge frowned a bit; he was hoping he could inspire some confidence in his earthly friend.
"Say, Blank," Mary asked as she looked his way. "Is there any reason, in particular, you brought us to this part of the ruins?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Blankridge asked as he turned around.
"You just attracted to the big, scary-looking building with a FACE?" Keith smirked.
"No, no, no… okay, maybe that part's true." Blankridge snorted. "But let's stop and think for a minute: Nobody has ever, ever, EVER heard of these ruins until recently…" He grinned triumphantly. "…When I found that weird, ancient device!"
"Uh-huh…" His friends exchanged dubious glances, which made the orange drake frown.
"What, you think I'm lying about it?" He pouted.
"I mean… it's just a weird story." Marble sighed.
"Well… what, you think I faked all of these really old buildings?" Blankridge extended a forepaw and spun around to gesture at everything in turn. "Sure, I don't know how all this stuff came to be here, or how that mirage managed to last for so long… but here it all is!" He beat his wings in delight. "The Elders sent somebody over to map out the area, but they didn't open any buildings to peer inside. That's where WE come in!
"So… technically somebody's already explored this place?" Marble tilted his head.
"Well, they inspected the OUTSIDE. Weren't you listening?" The orange drake pointed at the big dragon skull. "THAT was left open for anybody to waltz on in… but they were too spooked to give it a try!"
"To our knowledge." Mary snorted. "Someone might have snuck inside and swiped all the cool stuff."
"Even if that were true… what if there's something they missed?" Blankridge snapped his talons. "And what if it's in the biggest, scariest-looking depths of the whole spooky area?" He dug his talons into the dirt and shook his limbs wildly. "There's a reason that this place is around, and yet nobody in Glenhaven's figured it out. You can bet that, if Spyro and Cynder found it, they would have ventured inside to give it a look!" A big grin spread across Blankridge's face. "So let's get the show on the road, baby! We're going to solve the mystery of the desert ruins!"
The others exchanged curious glances. Blankridge did his best to hold his grin despite the awkward silence in the air; maybe he needed more practice giving inspiring speeches.
"Well, we're not going to be solving any mysteries just standing around out here." Blankridge declared. He opened his satchel and pulled out a torch designed for dragons; it had a grip for his muzzle to bite into, and bent at an angle for the fire. He set it alight and picked it up in his maw.
"Let's go, gang!" He shouted around the torch as he trotted forward. Mary soon started up her torch and followed after him. Marble, however, just gazed up with a grumble.
"I don't like this place, Keith." He said to the lightning drake. "I feel like we shouldn't be here."
"Hey, if the Elders gave Blank their permission, then there's nothing to worry about." Keith declared. He patted Marble on the back and urged him forward. "Come on, guy."
Blankridge and his friends passed through the parted jaws of the dragon skull and ventured down a flight of stairs. Blankridge and Mary kept their torches burning bright as they led the way. Marble walked at the back with Keith as the pair looked around at the interior of the ruins.
Much of what they saw was just about as much as Blankridge expected; massive stone rooms with tiled floors. Some doorways designed for adult dragons were here and there, along with platforms and walkways for creatures as small as moles. There were signs that other visitors had passed through the rooms: the floors were swept clean, and several lantern stands were installed along the walls of every room. If there were any valuables to be found, they'd been taken overnight.
The only thing the last adventurers left behind… is sand. Blankridge snorted. What's the point of describing a bunch of empty rooms?
Eventually, Blankridge came to a stop in a small room full of murals and sat on his haunches with a grumble. He put his torch down and adjusted his scarf to hang about his neck. He reached into his satchel to pull out a metal flask. He uncorked the flask and gave himself a swift chug of water; adventurers needed to stay hydrated, after all. But as the cool water splashed down his throat, he couldn't help but feel unease; they'd been exploring around for the better part of an hour and had found nothing out of the ordinary. Just a bunch of old murals, dust, scattered rocks, dust, markings from other adventurers… and as he was oh-so-pleased to find in his bandana, MORE DUST! How could Blankridge's first adventure as a leader have such a lame start?
As Blankridge was relaxing, Keith, Mary, and Marble made their way over to him. The fire and lightning dragons sat down to drink from their own flasks, while Marble continued to walk around and look at the walls.
"Still confident that we're going to have a great adventure today, bud?" Keith asked as he nudged Blankridge on the shoulder. Blankridge just sighed and closed his flask without looking at him.
"I think I'm actually starting to come around about this whole adventure…" Marble said as he came to a stop beneath a mural of some fancy dragoness. "Look at the intricacies of this artwork. You can make out each individual scale! Isn't it awesome?"
"I guess…" Mary shrugged.
"I wish I had some means of recording everything I saw here…" Marble said. His eyes lit up, and he looked back at the others. "Hey, that gives me an idea." He spun around and smiled. "Have you guys ever noticed that, when light from an object goes through a small hole in a box or a room, the image looks upside-down on the other side when projected on the back wall?"
"Huh?" Keith blinked in confusion.
"I might be generalizing it a bit…" Marble shrugged. He sat back on his haunches and held his forepaws close together to form a circle over one of his eyes. "What I was just thinking is: what if someone figured out a way to keep a permanent copy of the projected light? Maybe that could be used to make memories of murals and other things without having to painstakingly paint them."
Blankridge held a dumbfounded look. He then turned toward Keith and Mary for some hope of explanation, but they were just as taken aback as he was. They then all looked at Marble, who frowned and put his forepaws down.
"Uh… maybe I should take the time to write down what I mean when we get back home." Marble chuckled awkwardly and rubbed his head with a thumb-talon.
"Sure, whatever…" Blankridge sighed and stood up onto all fours. He grasped his flask and carefully walked around to gaze in frustration at the murals. "But that doesn't change the fact that something's not right."
"I know that what I'm saying sounds odd," Marble frowned, "But-"
"No, not your image-light-copy… thing." Blankridge snorted. He fanned out his wings. "I'm talking about all of THIS."
"What do you mean, Blank?" Keith asked.
"There has to be more to this…" Blankridge said with a sneer. "You don't carve a massive dragon skull out of stone, stick it on the front of a giant structure… and have it mean NOTHING."
"Maybe it's just for decoration?" Mary asked as she fluttered her wings. "I mean, architects have enjoyed building fancy towers and spires with lots of weird ornamental things. Maybe that skull up front is just one of those."
"But that doesn't make sense!" Blankridge declared. "I've done some reading up on a lot of the fancy ruins that Spyro used to explore, and I can tell you plain as day that you don't put a SKULL on something like a cute decoration." He spun around. "They've been on fortresses deep in the ancient grove, hidden in secret bunkers beneath fiery volcanoes… and most memorably? The original WELL OF SOULS." He stamped his paw. "All of them were ominous, morbid places where bad stuff went down. So if there's a SKULL on the front of these ruins, then that means something bad happened here, too!"
"Blank, take it easy." Keith frowned. "You're going to get yourself worked up over nothing."
But Blankridge didn't feel like taking it easy. He just looked around at all the murals and the fancy figures that gazed down at him. They were so scenic, so flowery… so completely unrelated to the ominous SKULL on the front of the building. They were so out of place, it was like they were mocking him. Poking fun at his thirst for adventure and solving mysteries!
Blankridge growled up at the nearest mural; the one Marble was marveling at. The orange drake gripped his flask hard, flapped his wings, and tossed it at the mural as hard as he could.
Take that! Blankridge hissed.
CRACK
As the flask fell to the floor, Blankridge noticed that part of the mural was gone… and in its place, a dark void. He blinked a few times, making sure he wasn't seeing things.
"Blank!" Marble shouted as his limbs spread out in shock. "You just broke a piece of history!"
Blankridge ignored the earth dragon and stepped up to the mural. It was some kind of blackness in the hole he made. On a whim, he picked up his flask, hovered up to the spot on the wall, and proceeded to bash in more of the mural. Could it be..?
"Blank, stop!" Marble stamped his foot. The earth drake ran up to grab him, but Keith got in the way. "Hey, what are you doing?!"
"Calm down, guy!" Keith insisted. "He might be on to something!"
Blankridge kept bashing in the mural, making the hole bigger and bigger until… the rest of the mural broke away! Blankridge coughed as dust flew into the air; he landed on the ground and gagged for a moment. When he looked up, the mural was in a big pile of rubble on the floor… before the start of a long staircase leading down into the depths.
"Wow…" Blankridge stood up and gazed into the room in awe. He started a new fire on his torch and stepped through to investigate. And the longer the orange drake gazed down that dark stairwell… the more his excitement grew.
He knew it! He just KNEW there was more to the ruins than everyone thought before! Blankridge was practically leaping in the air in excitement as he stepped forward further into the stairwell. But then he stopped and looked at his friends with a massive grin.
"Well?" He flapped his wings and motioned into the darkness. "Shall we investigate the mysterious staircase?"
Marble's jaw had fallen to the floor in horror. While Blankridge made his way down into the depths, the earth dragon struggled not to collapse onto the floor and cry. Keith and Mary frowned at the dragon and patted him on the shoulder.
"Come on, Marble," Mary said. "At the east, the mural will live on in your memory… or something."
Marble moaned sadly as he stood up; he held his head low as he carefully trudged forward into the staircase along with the others.
~~…~~
Blankridge and his friends ventured down deep into the dark depths of the previously unexplored, yet probably dangerous ruins. After the staircase, which spiraled around about halfway down, they arrived at a new chamber of stone. Blankridge could hardly contain his excitement; there was definitely something down here. Would Blankridge have to fight his way through dangerous monsters and horrid beasts? Would there be treasure stored away in chests? Whatever secrets lay in wait, Blankridge couldn't wait to share what he'd found with the Elders!
The four young dragons found themselves inside a massive chamber; an atrium of some kind. The roof rose high into the air and was supported by four more massive columns. But the most striking feature of the atrium was the massive pool of green liquid that filled up most of the floor. The liquid bubbled and burbled like acid; when Blankridge kicked a rock in, it hissed and dissolved within seconds. There were three other doorways besides the one the dragons used to enter; the four cardinal directions.
A series of stone platforms sat in the acid, mysteriously undamaged. They ebbed and flowed in rhythmic patterns in the acid, and some of them even rose up and down.
"What the…?" Marble stepped forward to sneer at the floating stones. "If that's acid, then how are the columns intact? And how long has this murky stuff been bubbling here? And how did it LAST?"
Blankridge's eyes gleamed, and he leaned up to Marble with a snark-filled expression. "Magic."
Marble was about ready to deck Blankridge across the face, but the orange drake laughed about it anyway. Meanwhile, Keith and Mary fluttered their wings as they glanced between the various doorways.
"So, which door should we look through first?" Keith asked.
"We could each go our separate ways to investigate," Mary said. "One for each of the three, and the last one to stand guard or something."
"No way!" Marble shook his head and beat his wings. "The last thing you want to do is to split the group when in a dungeon! You don't know what's lurking around in these rooms! What if they pick us off one by one?!"
"Alright, alright…" Mary shielded her face with her wings and grimaced. "I get the point."
"He's right, though," Blankridge said. "There's strength in numbers…" He looked around and scratched his head with a wing-thumb to think. "Hmm, we came in from the south. So we'll just explore the rooms in a clockwise pattern; to the western door we go!"
With a smirk, Blankridge leaped forward and landed on the nearest platform. He then waited a few seconds and flapped his wings before leaping onto another one. The other three just watched dumbfounded as Blankridge hopped from platform to platform, laughing all the way.
"Come on, guys!" Blankridge declared joyously as he trotted through the air onto a higher platform. "Join me!"
"Couldn't we just… FLY across?" Marble asked. He flapped his wings for emphasis.
"Where's the fun in that?" Blankridge chided. He hopped over to another platform. "Clearly these platforms were made for jumping! Live a little, why don't you?"
Of course, Keith and Mary weren't convinced. They spread their wings and flew through the air over the platforms to get to the other side. Marble was just behind then, grimacing as Blankridge leaped and bounded his way across. The orange drake just rolled his eyes; at least he was having fun.
After his little platforming game, Blankridge led the group into the additional rooms. Upon first glance, the western chamber didn't have much; just piles upon piles of old scrolls sealed with wax seals for various ancient kingdoms. They had once been stacked neatly on a table but said table's left legs had collapsed and spilled the contents everywhere.
There was a skeleton slumped over the desk; it looked like the remains of a cheetah dressed in smelly old robes from a bygone era. The cheetah had a scroll tightly clasped in one hand, and there was an old wooden staff bashed into the side of the skull.
Blankridge found the whole scene marginally fascinating; he took some notes and guessed that the cheetah was an old priest of some kind. Marble, meanwhile, seemed especially interested in the various scrolls spilled around; he picked them up one by one and carefully stored them away in his satchel.
"Can you guys help me out?" Marble asked. "Maybe the Elders can decipher these scrolls and figure out the functions of the ruins."
Keith and Mary shrugged and got to work gathering up the scrolls. Blankridge, however, just rolled his eyes and snort; just what kind of treasure was paper?
"They look pretty cool…" The earth drake said as he gently grasped the cheetah's hand. "Sorry about this, but I don't think you…" He grunted as he tugged on the old bones. "…Need it?"
Marble pulled and pulled, but he could barely budge the cheetah's fingers. He poured some earth magic into his gauntlets, which glowed bright green as he growled again. There was a rumbling noise, until…
SNAP!
Several bones were snapped off the cheetah's hand. Marble tumbled backward with the scroll, nearly crashing into Keith and Mary in the process.
"Whoa, watch it, bud!" The lightning drake yelled as he pushed Marble onto his paws.
"Sorry, Sorry…" Marble sheepishly held up the scroll, and then frowned at the fingers that were now scattered around. "Ah, geez. I didn't mean to do that."
"Welp, you wanted the scroll…" Mary chuckled as she carefully picked up a finger with a bit of cloth. "Almost as badly as he did."
The trio looked at the scroll curiously; unlike all the others, the paper was tinted purple, and was marked with a swirling seal; the glyph of Aether. Marble's eyes widened; he almost dared to pry the seal open to have a look… only to shake his head and put it in his satchel.
"We'll save it for the Elders, like the others." He declared.
"Oh, darn…" Blankridge rolled his eyes as he turned to point out the door. "I guess I'll just have to be left in utter suspense."
Marble simply grumbled before he and the others followed Blankridge back into the atrium. On the way out, Mary wrapped up the old finger in her cloth and stored it away in her satchel; maybe it would make for a fascinating story for the Elders.
And thus, the four dragons left the chamber… ignorant of the old cheetah.
~~…~~
The northern room had, to Blankridge's surprise, an ancient bathhouse. The water wasn't working anymore, but it looked like a place where ancient beings would relax and have a good time… and judging from the piles and piles of BONES, many of them had died in the middle of a bath.
"Yeesh…" Blankridge grimaced as he looked around. He lifted his paw before he accidentally stepped on an old ape skull. Feeling curious, he looked around at the ancient bodies and tried to see if he could find the matching ape…
As he did so, he began to notice something strange; there were plenty of bipedal skeletons scattered around… but only a few of them were apes. He scratched his head as he examined the elongated skulls of more than half the skeletons. They weren't feline… nor were they moles, llamas, lagomorphs… he almost thought they were canines, but something wasn't right. Their proportions were… different, somehow: more primeval and vicious. Their uniforms were of a make he'd never seen before; he guessed that they were suited for living in the desert climate, but many of them were missing feet and/or hands. The one thing that all of the canines had in common was that they'd died fighting off the apes: A lot of them had old, decayed swords either in their grips or at their sides.
"Hey, guys…" Blankridge looked around at the others. "I think these weird wolf things died in a scuffle."
"Yeah…" Marble grimaced. "But why were they all fighting in a bathhouse?"
Keith looked around and shrugged. "Maybe there was a disagreement over whose turn it was to wash off?"
"Come on, be serious." Marble shook his head.
"Well, they certainly picked a fancy place to fight to the death…" Mary said as she looked around at the interior. "It's a shame the water's gone: I could really use a bath in a place like this."
"Sounds like a fun time," Keith smirked. Mary just bopped him on the muzzle with her tail, which made Marble snicker.
Blankridge pulled out his journal and started taking more notes. He tapped his quill to his chin as he considered what might have happened here. It was all an interesting find… and yet he still felt unsatisfied. The apes and the wolf-things had to be fighting over something important… but what?
"Ick…" Marble tripped over one of the wolf skulls. "I really hope they're not the kind of skeletons that magically reassemble when your back's turned."
"You've been reading way too many faerie tales, Marble." Keith scoffed. "What kind of magic could possibly be around to reanimated fallen skeletons that have sat around for a thousand years?"
"The same kind of magic keeping that acid in the atrium bubbly?" Mary asked.
Keith, Marble, and Mary looked around in silence. They then spent the next few minutes smashing every single skull they could find.
When the very last of the skulls had been turned to powder, the four dragons ventured back into the atrium and toward the easternmost door. And luckily for Blankridge, it has the most interesting things so far.
The room seemed to go on and on for ages, stretching farther than any chamber should reasonably go. And the floor they stood on wasn't a floor; it was metal grating, with a dark abyss beneath. Keith nearly jumped out of his scales when he realized what they were standing on. As Blankridge and Mary swung their torches around, they noticed a series of metal torches built into stands around the perimeter of the grating; it was some kind of platform. They set to work lighting up the torches on the platform.
"Geez, how did anybody manage to carve out such a deep abyss under the sands of the desert?" Keith asked as his eyes adjusted to the light. He looked down through the grating and grimaced. "I think it goes all the way to the underworld!"
"Nah." Blankridge shook his head as he lit a torch. "I've SEEN a hole that goes all the way to the underworld; this one isn't nearly as deep."
"How can you tell?" Marble asked.
"Do you see any eerie green lights, or hear moans of the departed?" Blankridge asked as he turned around. "Trust me; this place is a shallow pool by comparison."
"Sure…" Keith grumbled. "It would still give non-flying beings the heebee jeebies to stand around in a place like this…" He looked over at Marble, who was taking more care with his own torch. "Say, do you think earth magic could manage to hollow out the desert sands for a place like this to be possible?"
"I… I don't know." Marble tapped his talons on the grating. "It would take a lot of earth magic from dozens of drakes to be able to pull off something like that. And that's not even factoring in how they managed to build the interior of these ruins…" He turned around and tapped his talons on the wall. "The structural integrity is pretty solid, though. It weirdly stands out when compared to how ancient the rest of this place is."
"I guess we'll figure it out later," Blankridge said.
As the orange drake lit the final torch, the flames ran into a small hole built into the side of the torch on the edge of the wall. The fire traveled up to several more torches along the back wall, which extended up and down and all around to light up another platform across the gap. This second platform had what looked like a control console of some kind, though Blankridge couldn't guess its function from so far away.
"Guys, check that out." He said as he pointed to the new platform. He beat his wings and glided over, with his friends following suit with haste.
As they glided across the gap, Blankridge could swear he saw something partially lit up by the light of the torches off in the distance. There was some kind of vague… bulky shape, with the outside made of a metal he couldn't recognize. Something was lurking in the darkness, he was sure of it.
As Blankridge came to a landing, he found himself gazing upon another massive mural. He stepped forward to get a closer look, only to feel someone tug on his shoulder.
"Don't you get any ideas, Blank!" Marble snapped at him. Looking back, the orange drake saw that Mary and Keith were more interested in the strange console than the mural.
"I'm not going to make a habit of smashing murals, alright?" Blankridge rolled his eyes. He reached into his satchel and pulled out his writing supplies. After making sure he had a good setup, he got to work describing every detail he could. Marble gasped upon looking at the journal, and then scowled.
Blankridge looked at him uneasily. "What?"
"Why didn't you do that earlier?" The earth drake demanded. "You could have used those to describe the mural upstairs before you broke it!"
"Alright, alright, calm down…" Blankridge sighed. "That thing upstairs was a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing. And besides… you could have brought your own stuff."
"Huh?" Marble blinked.
"Yeah, bud." Keith grimaced. He pulled out his bit of notepaper. "We've all got some. Didn't you think to bring some supplies with you?"
"I… uhh…" Marble gulped. He then groaned, blew smoke from his nostrils, and looked away indignantly. "I… I need to borrow some paper."
As Keith gave some paper to Marble, who then wandered off to take some notes of a mural across the way. Blankridge got to work taking his notes on the mural a bit further down the platform.
On the left side of the mural was what looked like a pirate ship… a BIG ONE. Big enough to dwarf a small village that sat beneath it. Wolf-like creatures leaped off the vessel and terrorized villagers down below. The villagers were offering up gold, jewels, and even a few of their own so that the canines wouldn't set their homes ablaze.
"Yeesh…" Blankridge grimaced. He looked over to the right side of the mural…and found himself being glared at by a furious, golden eye.
The eye belonged to a muscular purple dragon… from the center of his forehead. The drake's two regular eyes were nothing but dark holes. The dragon's wings were outstretched wide enough to block out the sun. His underbelly was a sickly red as well, and seven red horns crowned his head. The dragon's forelegs and hind legs, however, were a radiant golden hue. And at the end of his tail was a sword-blade of the same color… well, except for the blood stains left behind as the dragon sliced the head of an ape clean off his shoulders.
That wasn't the end of the detail on the mural. All around the dragon were piles of gold and jewels. Many more apes lay dead at the dragon's feet. And underneath both wings were more pirate ships, which flew all across the skies under the dragon's watch. Blankridge couldn't help but be impressed; someone really took their time to draw out all of the creepy imagery in stunning detail. He wondered if Nellie would like it.
I guess I can tell her about it later. Blankridge nodded to himself. "Hey guys, check this out!"
Keith and Mary stepped away from the console and rushed over to sit on either side of Blankridge and Marble, respectively. Mary in particular was intrigued by the various runes built around the edge of the mural.
"This looks like ancient draconian," Mary said. She placed her forepaw on the stone and felt it around. "Wow, the runes are sticking out of the regular stone. Somebody worked some expert earth magic on this."
"Can you read what it says?" Blankridge asked.
"Well, maybe YOU could if you'd paid attention in that class." Keith snorted. The orange drake's ear frills drooped at that; Blankridge couldn't help it if he got distracted easily.
"I think I can take a crack at it, though." Mary snorted. "I just need a moment…"
The others backed out of the way as the dragoness got up close to the mural. Blankridge held up a torch so that Mary could get some light to study the runes.
"Hmm…." Mary ran her talons over each and every rune out of habit. "Sky…. Vessel…"
"Well, that one was pretty obvious, to be honest." Blankridge shrugged as he looked at the flying ships.
"There's more to it," Mary said as she pointed at a particular rune. "This one means Arena. And these other two work in tandem. Hmm…" She leaned her head down and focused. "Fallen… Mouth? No, that can't be it."
"I wonder…" Marble grimaced. He put his forepaw upon the other edge of the mural. He then yelped and pulled back as his paw shook. "You could have warned me that it was cold."
"Sorry." Mary shrugged.
"Well good try anyway, Mary." Blankridge nodded. He glanced at the right side of the mural again, and locked eyes with the visage of the purple dragon. "Who do you think THIS GUY was?"
"I have no idea." Keith grimaced. "The only purple dragons I know of are Lord Spyro and Malefor."
"Look at all that treasure this guy's hoarding…" Marble wrinkled his muzzle. "What could one dragon do with all of that stuff?"
"Buy things, maybe." Mary wracked her talons on the mural. "There's also the chance that he used that treasure to build the entirety of the ruins. How else could all of this stuff exist?"
"Hmm…" Blankridge scratched his chin. At the very end of the mural, there was an image of that same dragon looming over a console… and the console almost perfectly matched the design of the one on the platform behind him. Blankridge returned his gaze to the strange console that sat in the middle of the platform. There had to be some kind of connection between the two; maybe the secret to activating the console was hidden on the mural.
Blankridge approached the console and inspected the buttons. There was no telling what each individual one could do if there was even still power running through this place at all. He then looked back at the mural and studied the purple dragon's forepaw. Three of his talons were pressed into three different buttons on the left, right, and center. Blankridge had to use both of his forepaws to find the buttons on the console; that purple drake's paw was big… which meant that the dragon himself was even BIGGER. He pushed all the buttons at once… and nothing happened.
"Hmm…" Blankridge scratched his chin. "What am I missing…?"
That's when Blankridge took another close look at the platform. At the very top of the console, above the buttons, was a little hole that had a very tiny, wire-like device peeking out of it. And glancing back at the mural, there was a lightning bolt coming out of the hole and striking the dragon's body.
No, wait… Blankridge squinted his eyes and looked closely; the lightning was going in the hole. Immediately Blankridge's eye frills perked up. "Hey, Keith! Come help me out with this!"
"Huh?" Keith blinked and trotted over to him. "What's up?"
"Put a tiny spark into this hole here, like on the mural." Blankridge pointed at the hole and wagged his tail. "Nice and small, for safety's sake."
"Well, okay…" Keith began charging up his magic.
"Safety's sake?!" Marble exclaimed. He immediately ran up to the two drakes. "If you were being safe, you wouldn't mess with ancient technology."
"Hey, I don't see any murals showing that it's a self-destruct mechanism or a booby trap." Blankridge puffed out his chest. "Besides, when we tell the Elders about this place, they'll probably have somebody activate the mechanism anyway. Wouldn't it be neat to see what it does for ourselves?"
Marble just sighed and backed away. "Fine…"
With a shrug, Keith created a little spark along with his talons and pointed a lightning bolt into the hole. Blankridge stepped up to touch the console… only to be bonked on the back of the head.
"Ack!" He yelped and turned to sneer as he rubbed the spot he was hit. "Who did that?!"
Keith, Mary, and Marble all exchanged bewildered glances. They all shrugged and looked back at him.
"Oh, come on…" Blankridge stood up tall. "Am I supposed to believe that none of you snuck up and-"
Bonk!
"OUCH!" Blankridge rubbed his head again; something landed on the grate before tumbling down into the abyss. He glared… only to realize that none of the three had budged.
"What in the world was that?" Keith asked as he looked around.
As Blankridge and Keith were looking around… there was a ruffling noise in Mary's satchel. She sneered as she heard a pouch opening, and turned to slap Marble's forepaw.
"Hey!" Marble yelped and rubbed his paw. "What was that for?!"
"Don't touch my satchel!" She snapped.
"What?" Marble blinked. "But I didn't touch your-"
More ruffles sounded, making them both flinch in confusion. They looked down at her satchel… and yelped. Something pushed its way out of a pocket and tumbled to the floor in a heap of cloth.
Everyone watched in bewilderment as the small cloth shifted about… before the boney finger of the cheetah fell out. It rolled around on the grate and wiggled forward like a caterpillar… only to tumble down through the grate and fall into the abyss. Everyone blinked and looked at each other uneasily.
"I'm not the only one who saw that, right?" Keith asked.
"Uh…" Blankridge turned toward the console. "M-Maybe we should hurry up and activate this, before…"
Skitter skitter skitter…
Blankridge's ear frills jolted open; something was moving around across the way. He and the other dragons turned back toward the first platform and peered beyond at the atrium. Blankridge saw the glow of the acid pool and inspected the area around it. His fangs subtly clattered as he looked for whatever was moving around in the darkness…
Something stood up tall on one of the platforms. It had glowing, beady eyes as it scowled across the way at Blankridge and his friends. Blankridge gasped as he watched the figure hold up a wooden staff and hiss angrily.
"Wh-What is THAT?!" Marble exclaimed.
The figure gave another angry hiss as he shook its staff around. It growled and hissed as something sounded off in the darkness. And then... many pairs of feet shambled around in the darkness out of view.
"Uh-oh…" Mary shuddered as she stepped up to the edge of their platform. "I don't like where this is going!"
Blankridge and Keith stepped back as the floor began to shake beneath their paws. The noise of the shambling grew louder and louder… until finally, something spilled out through the doorway…
And then an earth bomb was sent flying over their heads. They ducked instinctively as the glowing green magic flew through the air toward the doorway.
BOOM!
An explosion sent bony arms and legs flying everywhere. Blankridge and Keith winced as they watched the bones scatter and come to a stop. Blankridge glanced to the side and saw Marble standing at the edge of the platform with his wings outstretched.
"Well, don't just stand there!" Marble yelled as he channeled a bit more of his magic. "Fight them back!"
Blankridge, Keith, and Mary wasted no time getting into a defensive formation to start sending blasts of magic through the air at the hoards of skeletal bodies. Fireballs filled the area with orange light as the skeletons were set ablaze. Arcs of lightning shot through skeleton after skeleton, making them jolt and flail wildly. Marble sent earth bomb after earth bomb flying through the air in arcs to avoid hitting his friends.
Back in the atrium, the skeleton with the wooden staff made its way down the platforms as it sent its hoards of skeletons after the dragons.
"Should we even ask how these things are coming after us?!" Blankridge asked as he set a few more skeletons on fire. "I thought you guys smashed all of their heads?"
"I guess we missed one!" Keith yelled as he sent some skeletons hurtling into the abyss.
"Well don't blame me!" Mary said indignantly.
"You're the one who stole that guy's finger."
"How was I supposed to know that the cheetah was a necromancer?!"
"Guys, FOCUS!" Blankridge yelled. "We need to get them out of here! That's our only way out!"
The four dragons continued to unleash their magic on the hoards of skeletons. But every time their bones were scattered around… they twitched and shook before rising to reform. Even the ones that were set on fire managed to pull themselves back together, despite the burning.
Some of the skeletons had various bones knocked down into the abyss. But even that didn't stop their assault; they turned toward each other, shambled up close… and began attaching themselves at the chests and waists. The young dragons could hardly believe their eyes as the skeletons formed together into multi-segmented apes and canines.
"This is freaking me out, man." Keith gulped.
The multi-segmented skeletons made themselves just long enough that they could stand up tall and reach out across the gap between the platforms. Their multiple arms reached out to grasp at the dragons' paws in an attempt to form a bridge. Marble responded by blasting the middle section of the skeletons with another earth bomb. There was an explosion of green light, and the floor beneath the dragons' paws rumbled as the skeletons were blasted to pieces.
Blankridge just barely had enough time to stand up to gasp as the front halves of the multi-segmented skeletons still clung to the dragons' platform. He hurriedly smashed their hands to detach their arms to send the rest of them plummeting… but he was nearly slashed at with sharp bony fingers in the process.
"We need to get out of here!" Mary yelled.
"I know that!" Blankridge protested as he launched another fireball at oncoming skeletons. "But that doorway's the only way out!"
"There's got to be something else we can do!" Marble yelled.
Blankridge's eyes darted all around, trying to find an answer. But all he saw was darkness, and angry burning skeletons... and then, he finally saw it; the control console. He hurriedly glanced back at the mural to try to remind himself of what the purple dragon was doing to activate it, and then he scrambled over to it.
"Keith!" Blankridge yelled as he pointed at the hole on the top of the console. "The hole! Shoot a bolt in the hole!"
Keith whirled around in confusion to eye the console. When he finally understood what Blankridge meant, he hurriedly took a deep breath and launched a singular bolt of electricity into the hole.
Blankridge then pressed all three buttons as the current build-up. For only a moment, nothing happened, and Blankridge felt that it was yet another dead end; he shuddered as the horde of skeletons reached out to grasp at the dragons' platform once again…
Rumble rumble rumble.
Blankridge was knocked to the floor as everything shook even harder than before. Keith ended his current as he struggled to stay standing; the shaking got so bad that his fangs clattered. Marble and Mary dug their talons into the grating to support themselves as everything around them shook. The skeletons across the way all stopped and looked around with their neck stumps as if they could see as dust and sand were knocked down from the walls.
"What did you guys do?!" Mary exclaimed.
"I don't know!" Blankridge shouted.
Suddenly, light poured down from up above.
Blankridge and his friends gazed off into the distance as something opened up far overhead. It wasn't much light, being the late afternoon and all, but nevertheless, it was there. The skeletons all looked up, and they threw their limbs out as if to pantomime horror.
As the light shined down, so too did a countless amount of sand. The younglings yelped and scrambled to huddle together; they held their wings up to shield themselves so they wouldn't be buried. However, when Blankridge wasn't immediately engulfed in sand, he realized that the sand was falling into the dark abyss below the platform.
While the dragons were sturdy enough to stay standing, the skeletons weren't so lucky. Their bodies started to fall apart; perhaps the sand was falling between the cracks in their joins. All at once, the skeletons fell apart into piles of bones, most of which collapsed through the grate to fall below.
Soon, there was only one skeleton remaining; the old cheetah. It had made its way out of the atrium and was looming at the doorway. It looked out at the afternoon sky and then turned to scowl at the dragons with its fiery eyes. The cheetah held its staff up and gave an unearthly shriek at the group. It held its staff out, and muttered something unintelligible as the scattered bones around him began to glow…
BLAM!
An earth bomb blasted through the cheetah's torso; it collapsed into a pile of bones, leaving only its legs standing where they were.
"Oh, no you don't!" Marble yelled.
For good measure, the earth drake blasted the cheetah's skull and staff down into the abyss with a few more well-aimed earth bombs. He then sighed in relief as he collapsed back.
"Wow." Keith chuckled. "Good job, Marble."
"Yeah, kudos!" Mary laughed. "That was some nice magic work!"
"Thanks…" He rubbed the back of his head with a wing-thumb. "Guardian Mimet taught me everything I know."
While Keith and Mary were congratulation Marble, Blankridge looked around overhead. He rubbed his eyes to make sure he was seeing clearly. The opening in the air… was rectangular in shape. Some sand still poured into the cracks of the opening, and beyond Blankridge could see the sky.
And beneath the opening, were blank stone walls, going all the way down into the abyss below. But the biggest object in the chamber, the one thing that drew all of the dragons' attention… was something that shouldn't have belonged.
What in the…? Blankridge's jaw nearly fell open.
Soon, the floor finally stopped shaking, and the four young dragons looked upon the massive vessel that sat in the middle of the chamber. Something extended from the platform and onto the deck of the vessel; a gangplank of some kind.
By that point, Keith Mary and Marble realized that Blankridge had been silent. They turned around to investigate… and soon couldn't believe their eyes.
"Is… is that a ship?" Keith asked, looking at it from bow to stern. "What's it doing in a set of underground ruins?"
"And why is there an opening to the sky?" Mary asked, flapping her wings to go get a closer look. She flew up to the top of the crow's nest and looked around.
"Those sails…" Marble said as he looked upon the colors along the mast. "They look like… like…"
While those three dragons were struggling to figure out the mystery of the vessel… Blankridge gave his trademark grin. He'd already figured it out by the time the vibrations stopped. And he was halfway to the steering wheel of the vessel.
Oh, this day was going to be AWESOME.
~~…~~
"Ruby?" Mimet asked playfully. "Ruuuuuby?"
The hatchling giggled and wriggled around in his mother's grasp. He reached up for Mimet's muzzle with his chubby forepaws, which made the dragoness chuckle. Zecht laughed as well as he drank from his glass of tea; he brought his tail around and wiggled it about before Ruby's head. Ruby squeaked in delight and reached out to swat it around.
"He's an adorable boy," Zecht said with a smile. He looked up at the hatchling's parents. "Just like his father, wouldn't you say?"
Mimet scrunched up her muzzle to suppress a laugh. Jules, meanwhile, merely tapped his talon on the table and sighed. Jules gave a few glances toward a nearby wall-clock and grumbled in his throat.
Jules, Mimet, and Zecht were seated on the cushions on the balcony upon Jules and Mimet's manor. It rose higher than most other buildings in the district, giving them a rather sparkling view of the southwestern section of the city. The general was on one of the few breaks he permitted himself when he wasn't patrolling the streets with his soldiers: Mimet insisted he not work himself to the bone all the time.
"Come on, Jules." Mimet leaned over and nudged her husband on the shoulder. "Zecht is only giving a compliment."
"That's not what's got me on edge, dear." Jules huffed. He stood up straight and sighed uneasily. "I'm just a bit worried about that Ember girl. She's still new to Glenhaven; what if she wanders off and gets into trouble?"
"She won't get into trouble as long as Emerald's looking after her." Mimet smiled. "Can't you be more confident in our daughter?"
"And don't discredit Nellie." Zecht declared. "She's a star apprentice of ours. Even if Ember gets into trouble, we can count on those two to keep her safe."
"Well, of course, I'm confident in Emerald and Nellie." Jules sighed and shook his head. "But that doesn't mean I can't still worry about new charges under my protection."
"You need to relax…" Mimet scooped Ruby up in her forepaws and leaned over to present him to Jules. "Here, spend a moment with your son. He's the charge that's within closest reach, after all."
Jules raised an eye ridge as he looked down at the yellow hatchling. Ruby tilted his head and burbled a bit as he looked his father up and down. Those eyes… Jules saw so much in those eyes. With a sigh and a slight ache in his chest, the general carefully collected Ruby and cradled him against his chest.
"Uh… hello, Ruby." Jules gave his best smile. "It's your Daddy."
Ruby reached up and tugged harshly on Jules's stubble. The general groaned in discomfort and tried to lightly open the hatchling's forepaw. "R-Ruby, we don't do that to Daddy."
Despite Jules's best efforts, Ruby held his grip all the tighter. He giggled and wagged his tail as Jules grimaced and struggled to get free, much to Mimet's and Zecht's amusement.
"My, our son's quite the fighter, isn't he Jules?" Mimet grinned.
"You'll make a soldier of him yet." Zecht grinned.
"Oh, you two are insufferable." Jules grimaced as he continued to cradle Ruby. "Just like when you were little brats playing in General Telus's courtyard."
"Hmm, those times sure seem very long ago…" Zecht nodded. "But I happen to recall spending my squire days keeping a certain little riff-raff off of General Telus's property…" He rested his elbow on the table and gave Jules a sardonic grin. "I think he was a farmer; left a lot of straw sitting around after sneaking through the grounds."
"Uh-huh…" Jules said as he scratched behind Ruby's ear frill.
"Oh yes, I remember." Mimet snickered. "He used to carry around his daddy's banjo to use as a pretend sword and would swear fealty to a certain fair maiden to be her knight in shining armor." She couldn't help but look at Jules with bedazzled eyes. "He'd even sing songs about fealty, love, and how her smile shined brighter than any star."
"Yeah, I heard those." Zecht nodded. "Sadly, the whippersnapper was much better at carrying that banjo than he was his tunes."
Mimet and Zecht shared another little laugh: Jules could feel his cheeks flushing a bright pink.
"Th-Those days are long behind us." Jules declared. "I had to trade in my banjo for a real sword."
"Well, that's a shame." Mimet reached over and patted Jules's side. "Those were my favorite songs."
Jules gave a soft sigh. "I know…" His face softened as he beheld his wife. "I remember that first night when I sang to you; your eyes really did light up the sky."
"You should pick up the old habit of singing, Jules." Mimet leaned over to plant a kiss on his cheek. "I'm sure that Ruby would love to hear those old songs as lullabies. I know Emerald did."
Jules gave a slight chuckle. "Well, I'm probably very rusty, you know."
"Can't be any worse than when you started off." Zecht chuckled. Jules shot him a glare, but the water dragon just shook his head. "It's the truth; one's craft only gets better when given time."
"Hmph…" Jules wrinkled his nostrils. "Maybe. But I'll bet that my banjo-playing is still superior to your little flute."
"Oh? Well, what do you say we settle that theory with a bardic ballad battle?" Zecht declared. "I've got free time this weekend if you want to make a little wager, Jules."
"We'll see, Zecht." Jules snorted again. "But don't think that you'll-"
Suddenly Ruby let go of Jules's stubble and started whimpering. Jules immediately looked down with a worried expression. Ruby cried loudly and swatted his little forepaws before himself.
"Ruby?" Mimet asked worriedly. She scooted closer to Jules and lowered her head down to the hatchling. "Jules, what's happened?"
"I-I don't know." Jules looked the hatchling over; there weren't any bumps, cuts, or bruises. He offered Ruby a tiny bit of cooked meat, but the hatchling wouldn't eat. And it wasn't time to clean up after the baby; what was wrong?!
That's when Jules noticed the hatchling occasionally looking off toward the southwest, which would always trigger another round of wails. Immediately Jules passed Ruby into Mimet's grasp and rose up to investigate.
Jules couldn't believe his eyes. The general wasn't overly fond of the sea, though he had seen more than a few sailing ships during his duty as a Guardian. But never in all his life had he seen a ship that traveled in the sky.
The vessel had several red and white sails atop three large masts. The figurehead before the deck had the growling face of some sort of canine on it. The bottom of the hull was covered in metal plates of an unknown make. And a trail of smoke flew out of two large, strangely rotund devices on the stern. The devices must have been what held the foreboding vessel aloft in the air. Whatever the vessel was, Ruby cried even louder as the ominous ship sailed closer and closer.
Mimet carefully cradled her hatchling against her chest. "Mommy's here, little one…"
At once, Zecht was on his paws and gave Jules a serious expression. "Lord General, what should we do?"
Jules's eyes were still wide. He closed his jaws and walked to the edge of his balcony. Down below, several soldiers were patrolling up and down the streets, oblivious to the flying ship that was hidden from view behind a few towers.
Jules took a steady breath and glared intently at the flying vessel. The ship's pattern through the sky was seemingly random. It moved slowly and would turn left and right as it neared the few towers scattered around Glenhaven. As near as Jules could tell, the vessel had yet to launch an attack… but those cannons still looked ready to fire at any moment.
"SOLDIERS, STAND AT ATTENTION!" The general called down to the dragons. They came to a stop and gazed up at the general as he spread his wings wide.
"Take to the skies!" Jules exclaimed. He spread out his limbs and let lightning dance along his scales. "A threat is making its way toward Glenhaven! We must move to intercept this threat before it reaches the palace!"
Even if they weren't aware of what was going on, the soldiers spread their wings and rushed down the street to take off into the sky. In the meantime, Jules glanced back at Zecht. "Captain, you'll be on my left flank!"
"Yes, Sir." The water guardian nodded. He filled his body with aquatic magic and spread his own wings for flight. Jules then looked over at Mimet, who still cradled Ruby to her chest.
"Be safe out there," Mimet said with an intense face. Jules lightly nodded; he knew he could have trusted his wife to be by his side were circumstances different. But with things as they were, Jules ran down the side of the balcony and took off into the air, with Zech right beside him. Before long, they were flanked on either side by half a dozen dragon soldiers. Jules growled as he led the assault on the flying vessel, and the other dragons gave heroic roars of their own.
"We fight for Glenhaven!" Jules bellowed.
His soldiers shouted in unison. "FOR GLENHAVEN!"
As Jules led the assault, his mind raced as to where this mysterious threat could have come from. Was it something sent by Saul as an act of revenge? That couldn't be it: Aeroshard was to the east, and this vessel came from the west. Unless, perhaps, the exiled king had staged an elaborate walk-around to throw everyone off the scent. Whatever the case, Jules would need to capture whoever was piloting the vessel to interrogate them.
For Glenhaven… Jules thought with a growl. And for Ruby and Emerald, and everyone else!
Jules and the other dragons flew down toward the vessel's deck. They all came to an abrupt landing as their forepaws scratched the wooden floors. They roared and beat their wings to intimidate any attackers waiting at the desk. Lightning danced across Jules's scales yet again as he turned to face the nearest enemy…
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" A young lightning dragon fell backward onto his flank. "Don't attack!"
"Huh?" Jules blinked in confusion. He put his wings down and glared at the young dragon; it was none other than Keith, one of Blankridge's friends.
And Keith wasn't alone; there were two other young dragons sitting on the deck of the vessel. Mary and Marble were scared out of their wits to see several dragons armed to the fang and rearing for a fight.
"I told you this was a bad idea!" Marble exclaimed as he covered his eyes with his paws.
"What in the world…?" Jules blinked a few times. "What are you all doing on this vessel?!"
"We were just riding it back home!" Mary exclaimed.
"Excuse me?" Jules raised an eye ridge in anger. "RIDING IT HOME?!"
"Uh, General?" Zecht asked across the way. Jules spun around to see the water guardian pointing his talon toward the back of the ship, where the steering wheel was. And seated on his haunches before the wheel, with a toothy grin on his face, was a dragon who made the general want to ram his head through the nearest mast. Jules shook with rage as he instinctively reached for a pipe that wasn't there.
"Heya, General!" Blankridge cheered happily as he adjusted the steering wheel. "Look what we found!"
~~…~~
Blankridge sat on his haunches in the middle of the Elders' chamber with a pronounced pout on his face. Keith, Mary, and Marble all sat around him, awkwardly looking down at the floor. In the back of the room was General Jules; still quite angry after the ride to the palace. And seated on their three thrones were the Elders: Telus, Attonita, and Krystallos.
They were still some of the oldest dragons in Glenhaven, and their bodies were a little more worn down after four years. It didn't help that the end results of the Malefor Ordeal had taken their toll; their bodies were wracked with just a bit more stress, from the years of ruling over Glenhaven without aid from an earth king.
"Alright, let me see if I've got this straight…" Telus said, rubbing his head with a wing-thumb and blowing green smoke from his nostrils. "After fighting off a legion of animated skeletons, you thought it was a good idea to pilot an ancient piece of technology… right into the heart of Glenhaven, with ALL THE CANNONS FULLY ARMED."
"I didn't know they were armed, Elder," Blankridge grumbled. "I don't even know how they still worked."
"How comforting…" Telus grumbled as well.
"It's not like I was going to attack anything with the vessel." Blankridge wracked his talons on the floor. "I just wanted to show everybody the cool airship my friends and I found."
"Well, you've certainly shown a lot of dragons, Blankridge," Attonita said with a sigh. She glanced over at Jules. "I hope your soldiers are able to calm the people down, General."
"They're doing the best they can, Mother." Jules wrinkled his nostrils. "But they were certainly quite spooked; I doubt the peace will return to Glenhaven for quite a while."
"I'm sorry, okay?" Blankridge declared in frustration. "I didn't mean to cause a panic. I just didn't think it would be exciting enough to come all the way over here, simply SAY that we found an airship hidden in the ruins, and then wait for you to go all the way back to those ruins to dig it up."
Krystallos snorted. "That would have been exactly the right thing to do, young dragon."
"But would you have believed me?" Blankridge flapped his wings indignantly. "When's the last time anyone has seen an ancient ship flying through the sky?"
The three elders exchanged glances, while Blankridge just sighed and lowered his head again. As the elders began to chatter amongst themselves, Blankridge became increasingly uneasy.
"Please don't ground me from going on adventures." The orange drake said. "I want to find some other stuff and bring it back to Glenhaven. Who knows what's still waiting out there to be found? What the deal with that spooky cat skeleton guy was! I don't want my adventures nipped in the bud after I tried SO HARD to convince everyone to let me check them out." He stamped his forepaw. "And damn it, I followed every single rule that was put out before me. Nobody said anything about not piloting airships into Glenhaven's city limits."
"I would have thought it was implied…" Krystallos rolled his eyes.
"Still, you have to admire the lad's tenacity," Attonita said. "We never would have found out that there was a secret layer to the desert ruins without his natural curiosity." She held up the purple scroll and the notes that Blankridge had taken. "Plus, we've found some stuff hinting at the existence of another purple dragon in the ancient past."
"Hmm…" Telus glanced down at the pile of scrolls that the younglings had removed from their assorted satchels. "We'll certainly need to take some time to open and decipher all of these."
"I can get started on that this evening." Krystallos nodded. "I'm certainly interested in reading up on scrolls relating to… to…" He raised an eye ridge at the young dragons. "What did you all say the purple drake's name was?"
The young dragons exchanged uneasy glances.
"We're not really sure, Elders…" Mary said. "But the only clue we could manage to make out was an ancient draconian word meaning Gilded."
"Hmm… Gilded…" Krystallos sat back in his chair and tapped his chin.
"From what we can guess, that purple dragon had a thing for treasure," Keith said. "The murals showed him commanding an army to steal gold and jewels from villages… and take slaves here and there, too."
Attonita grimaced. "Not quite a role model, was he?"
"Still, if his ruins were found near Glenhaven, then it could be a part of the local history." Krystallos wracked his talons on the floor. "And yet we've never read up on any gilded drakes in this region in all our years. How curious…"
"Did I do good, then?" Blankridge asked with hopeful eyes. "Did I do something to help Glenhaven?"
The three elders exchanged glances once again. They spoke in whispers for a time and used their wings to block out the younglings' view. Blankridge felt a pit in his stomach; he didn't like the way that Krystallos was glaring at him. Blankridge looked back at his three friends; they all seemed equally uneasy, especially Marble. The orange drake fidgeted with his talons; had he really gone too far this time?
"Alright, we've come to a decision." Telus declared. Blankridge looked up at the three elders as they all locked eyes with him.
"Blankridge… we forgive you for scaring the townspeople with that airship." The earth elder said. "We'll be sending more dragons to scout out the interior of the desert ruins to see if there's anything still there that your little gang overlooked." Telus put on a patient smile. "And we'll let you know in a week or so which new spot of ruins is open for you to explore."
Blankridge's eyes went wide with excitement. He glanced at his friends: Keith and Mary grinned eagerly, while Marble put on a patient if slightly-cautious smile. Blankridge was just about ready to leap in excitement; Jules was already grumbling and covering his ear frills with his wing-thumbs.
"Don't lose your head just yet, young dragon." Telus scolded. "While it lucked out for you this time, don't make a habit of destroying parts of any ruins you might explore in the future."
"But what if there's stuff hidden behind more ancient walls?" Blankridge asked. "If there was a secret airship hangar behind one mural, who knows what's behind some other ones elsewhere?"
"That's a mystery we're going to have to leave unsolved for the time being." Telus declared. "Any other murals out there need to be preserved for future generations to look upon them in the right circumstances. So resist the urge to smash any more, or there's going to be a serious problem."
"Well, you might want to have someone get to the preserving soon." Blankridge shrugged. "Those ruins were falling to pieces when we traveled through them."
"Duly noted…" Krystallos rumbled in his throat.
"Now's about the time to head on home, little ones," Telus said. "Blankridge, your mother will be worried sick about you, so don't take too long getting back."
"Thank you, Elders..." Blankridge looked at each of them in turn. "Can I keep the-?"
"NO." They said in unison.
~~…~~
Greetings, friends, and loved ones.
Almost was late again with a chapter. But luckily I got it edited just in time!
It's time to take a break from the Glenhaven Gang… but don't worry; we'll be revisiting them again soon. But next time, we check in on some other young dragons as they make their voyages south toward the desert city.
But let's also sit and ruminate on the mysterious goings-on of this chapter: Who is the purple dragon from the mural? How did he build that airship? Does he perhaps have some connection to other pirates seen somewhere before? And what's so Gilded about him? Keep reading to find out!
Tenebra ecce Veritas