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Chapter 18: Following and listening to Xamirh

Landing at the Pyramid's entrance, the three dragons enter the more than worthy building and begin to walk through its decorated corridor the pair of kins motivated to reach their destination in contrast of the young one who merely follow, uncertain of the future and staying close to his guardian...

From the great ones' mind, especially that of Kraydirn, the little seer deduces they are going to an important place, where many projects have taken place, where tools and instruments as well as scrolls and tablets are numerous, and where Xamirh probably is, but not why they go here. Suspicious but able to do almost nothing about it, the nightwing continues his march alongside giants, remaining calm silent…

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Descending to what is probably the underground part of the building through along set of stairs a bit too big for him, but relatively small for the great ones, Darkstalker gets a heavy feeling he can not really describe as he marches on the cold stone lit by glowing markings on the walls, with the two determined dragons beside him.

As they go deeper into the below, the nightwing senses essences coming from their general direction more and more. Such a sensation makes the nightwing thinks deeply again, and he blinks as he realizes that the thing his mind perceives is similar to the pulse he sensed before, but far more distinct and powerful...

Such an accumulation of energy… Is their a room where theses great ones store essences? Likely, but for what purpose? Will I take part in something involving such power?

I hope not...

Marching straight through a final corridor, the three dragons arrive at the end of it serenely, where a set of two enormous door is standing, marked with a line of symbols larger than any other just above. But despite the gigantic closed entrance, the young one can clearly see all the essences radiating from behind, with some come from a great dragon, likely Xamirh if he remember his aura correctly, but for all the other ones, he does not know.

Well… this is it.

Preparing himself for what is to come, the night dragon focuses and slows his breathing as the two great dragons open the doors with their titanic strength, surely drawing the attention of the one behind...

With the entrance finally open, the group finds what is inside the room, a gigantic yellow reading a part of a scroll as big as him. On the sides are shelves, so many shelves... and each contains scrolls or tablets, all somewhat organised... Stepping inside, the more Darkstalker progresses in the room, the more he feels he is in some kind of library. But looking at the farther half of the room, the nightwing can see it leads to other ones, where essences emanate even more...

Seeing his guest arriving, Xamirh closes his scroll and puts it down before speaking to them, appearing relaxed contrary to his first appearance for the young one.

- "Ivein ythias rynaz, kes ivein Darkstalker. Lieju alm-uthue surh masne?" Asks the yellow dragon in a casual voice, his mind not contrasting with that tone.

- "Ko." Answer the two great dragons, expecting their kin to be here, and happy to see him.

- "Kes yl temylkes surh alomu oje ythe hute ojtea." Says the dark blue dragoness as she takes a step to distance herself from the smaller one, but still stays close enough to him.

- "Aquj ythe tunis veliaf. Surik." Replies Xamirh simply.

And with that, the great dragon grabs the scroll and puts it back in a shelve before leaving his pool calmly. Walking forward, he lets the others follow him deeper in the place, having in mind to test something once at his destination...

Entering into the room on the right, the four dragons are now in a place not devoid of shelves, but one where they take less place over its circular wall. Tools and large instruments are present if anyone wants to use them, not that the nightwing understand their purposes except for the simplest ones. As for the floor, it is marked with many circles of glyphs arranged in a strict order, giving a clue on what they represent.

These may be for measurement. That room being one of concrete research like in a lab may not be too far of a stretch…

Now being settled, the three great dragons look at Darkstalker, making him panic for a second before he calms himself, keeping his mind in good shape despite the pressure of the great ones' attention.

Seeing his worry, Akhanta reaches him and guides the young one to the center of the floor before taking a step back, turning to her kins while keeping an eye on him.

Using a spark of their power, the two others giants activate many mechanisms inside the floor, opening compartments and revealing rods with a polished gem at the top of each one. And moving to guide the essences, the two gigantic entities end up creating a web of power centred around the dark blue dragoness and the nightwing.

A moment later, the seer can feel his inner energies extending, his sun growing until it becomes a large mass of essences that he can watch in details. Following his instincts, the night dragon knows his power is growing, but still stares at the image of his extended inner sun, oddly captivated despite fear creeping in his mind…

His essences have changed since last time, but how much depends on how one looks at it. While the intensity of each one is not the same as before, and their interactions are way stronger, one could already see the causes of that in the past, the seeds of power.

As Xamirh and Kraydirn finish to take notes, they start to cut the web and make it fade away, little by little. It only takes a few minutes before the whole thing disappears, leaving Darkstalker and Akhanta back to normal...

Looking at what they have written and comparing it to their past reports, the two titans have differing reactions. While Xamirh is partially surprised by the young one's power, Kraydirn seems to have expected that kind of result.

Getting closer to them, the dark blue giant looks at Xamirh, curious and expecting something before talking.

- "Oij surh yl nebtu Xamirh?" Asks simply the great dragoness, keeping herself closer to Darkstalker since she spotted his growing fear.

- "The surh sulma peuj yth hute ponim." Answers the yellow great dragon, mildly surprised and showing the results to others fully.

- "Astemilu, yth hute olvetu thotias alkara nestoq Gystos." Says the feathered black dragon, answering to Xamirh's reaction with a smirk as he gaze upon what is written on his tablet.

Seeing Xamirh relatively lost, Akhanta explains things to him.

- "Tho hute ostakra thotias alkara kes uniel zait rakar retuhiune."

- "Yth gynhim ofemyl, yth ikane uthu prita yl exuvus." Replies the great one, now having a better understanding of what surprised him.

And with that, the three great ones and their smaller nightwing leave the room. But still, Darkstalker stays suspicious of the yellow giant, knowing his detached attitude, at least when it come to him, will play against him.

Xamirh may be a competent and helpful dragon for all I know, but for me it is a potential threat. I don't need to know what he writes to see his interest in me as a precious object more than the two other… And beside, he already had that attitude when he first saw me...

Passing through the left entrance after returning to the previous room, they arrive at a place full of gems and complex machines whose backbone is often a metallic cylinder. While gems of all colours are present, silver ones are surprisingly rare and all gathered inside what seems to be an hourglass, with the crystals in the lower half and a silver liquid at the higher half. Such halves are almost empty, which makes the nightwing wonder.

What's inside, these stones, their essences, bearing the colours of the moons… They almost feel… familiar...

Shaken out of his thought by Xamirh's approach, the seer keeps his calm and faces the curious great one, who lowers his head while looking at the same object as him before speaking.

- "Lieju uthu bastot heij iole ajek Darkstalker?"

The dressed up nightwing nods, understanding his question enough, but does a little step toward the dark blue kin, who has not lost attention in him.

"Th keyim Zutias olmukara." Whispers the yellow great dragon to the little one, almost in what seems to be a half joking half serious manner.

As the nightwing gets more of an idea of what he said from his mind, Xamirh goes to the hourglass and opens it. At that moment, the young seer realizes what all of that is as he gets from the great one's mind images of him laying on a table, where the great dragons extract essences with instruments. The object is a container for his essences where they are transformed and/or refined.

That was to be expected, they see me more as a prodigious object, so why would they not take my essences if they can...

Coming back, the giant yellow entity lays down a plate at the center of the room, over which some silver gems are. Quickly, the two other giants gather around, suggesting for the young one to do the same.

Now that everyone is focused, Xamirh looks back and forth between the plate and his notes before speaking to the three others.

- "Ythetias gujano mulys ulitos nebtu. Vawrie naxuten hute ajek reza tey yl olmukara ust Darkstalker."

As he finishes his sentence, the yellow one turns his head to focus on the night dragon specifically, speaking in what the seer knows is a more personal tone.

"Lieju uthu gynhim? The feltone tey Zu, kes the ajek obelus. Cuxt yth ykane Zu."

Returning to his normal stance, the grand yellow dragon continues.

"Kes yl kalup ythe gutani thetias, yl kalup eiotof thetias nolmytu."

- "Vezkit, yl olmukara ust Darkstalker surh artufo, thetias muka aftomer ythetias tumok heia muka. Zy tunis iole qaztenis ofemyl." Says Kraydirn, still thinking of what burns in the little one, even as he slept.

- "Ikul ghyt heia higus tho surh u itusme ueris iole surh pemku feshur alomu. Ythe heia tunis ojtea tho sif ashek lihotu cuxt mikest." Adds Akhanta, still being protective of the smaller while not appearing to be in opposion to her kins.

For a moment, nobody speaks. Xamirh itself seems lost in thoughts until he talks again to the dark blue dragoness, his tone far calmer and peaceful, hinting at something similar to kindness and affection. A closer look at his thoughts by the seer confirms these traits are genuine.

- "Yth surh smena ythias rina, Zo okutes amijuho kes detsoue. Ythetias retuhiun surh rakar, ikul yth heia yenuv cuxt yl astimar ust feshur ginavar tho." Says the great dragon, a vague but tenacious desire to protect Darkstalker appearing in his mind.

Taking a little break, the yellow dragon then utters his next word with a voice devoid of power, almost begging for something.

"Onumel yth Akhanta."

- "Yth onumel uthu." Answers the dragoness. Darkstalker can see that while she does not tolerate some of his actions, she still values and "loves" her kin greatly.

Returning to a more formal stance, Xamirh takes a silver stone from the plate. The object is small, barely bigger than a claw for a titan like him, but that does not stop him from looking at it with utter focus. Thinking for a minute about the gem and what to say, he then casts a glance at the nightwing before making his decision.

- "Iole tunis kion." Says the yellow one without any doubt.

The great one then takes the plate and puts the crystals back in the sort of big hourglass. Closing it, the great dragon comes back, his motivation drastically changing as he tries to consider the young one more like his own conscious being. Making sign to follow him out of the room, the three others do exactly that...

A few minutes later, the group arrives at the first place they have visited in that part of the gigantic pyramid. As everyone stop in front of the central pool, Xamirh goes to seek some peculiar scrolls in the numerous shelves this place possesses. Once he gets all of them, the yellow giant returns and unrolls one of them over the pool. Now with its content in plain sight, everyone can see the scene the drawing depicts...

Expect Darkstalker, who is is not as tall as the others, but that problem is quickly solved as Akhanta extends a talon for him to climb. Accepting the help, the young one ends up on the dragoness' head, now high enough to see a huge scroll in its entirety...

A great dragon with two pairs of wings, four eyes and twelve horns is presented. But this time, the Dragon is battered, with a large wound opening his chest and numerous smaller ones, rendering his expression of pain something that is more than understandable. From these many wounds, blood drops from the Being until it begins to take the shape of earth at the bottom of the image.

And at the very top of the image is a line of symbols, like a title.

As everyone else turn to look at Darkstalker, the young one still has his mind occupied by many interpretations and theories for the drawing.

There is no doubt this is their "god", Ankonalmirh, dying. But who could have have killed him? Is such a figure a real god that has existed? Or is it a metaphor, a representation of concept and a message under the guise of an epic scene? Or maybe Ankonalmirh existed, but was simply a mortal, even one that was exceptional, but a mortal nonetheless.

A second scroll is unrolled, shifting the nightwing thoughts as he analyses the second picture.

Over the world now having the sky and the sea, appear and grow trees, beasts and dragons, even if their wings are way too small and so are their front limbs. Under the earth and less "tangible" than before, the form of Ankonalmirh seems to be in a deep slumber. Over each part of the scene, rounded lines and little symbols are present, passing around every elements.

Okay, so Ankonalmirh is definitely a divinity, whatever he was real or not. And by how that second scene focuses solely on the wild world, it may be depicting the genesis of it, or maybe the era that began just after its creation…

A third scroll comes and so does the fourth one, sending the young one into another array of speculations.

Beasts, trees, and dragons are fighting in the whole scene, making it shocking for some to stare at it. Thorns pierce the skin of the animals scratching the trees' bark while dragons plunge their claws into flesh and wood. In that war for survival, the winners feast on the losers' corpse, eating and drinking blood, or whatever essences flow in them.

Gone are the smooth rounded lines, they are now replaced by straight and spiky ones, adding to the scene's more violent aesthetic.

In the next scene, dragons come out of the conflict on the top and start to build their home, staying close to each others like they form a unified group. The wild lands are now behind the walls protecting those who built them. In the background, the dragon god stands and watches, wings unfolded as the creatures whose shape is similar to the Entity begin to dominate the world.

So the dragons came from the merciless wild and begun their own civilization? Makes sense…

But why is Ankonalmirh like that in the scene? Does he guides and influences the dragons and make them into more than beasts?

The night dragon does not get answers to his questions nor does he get new ones as the fifth scroll is laid on the water. What it depicts is something he expected and has seen before to an extent, the prosperous dragon "kingdom", spreading far over the lands and where live all the dragons.

Even the dragon god watching in the background is something he has seen in the Pyramid's corridor.

As the sixth scroll is unrolled, Darkstalker becomes interested as it presents something he saw but did not really know what to make of it.

The dragon kingdom is shrinking, its edges being eaten by sterile lands being devoid of lines and symbols, that extend and bring death.

Ankonalmirh is in the background, but the Dragon's wings are partially folded this time, and his body now bears many scars.

Whatever it is, it seems to have devoured this entire realm…

As the final scroll is unrolled, it confirms what the nightwing concluded from the others.

The kingdom is gone, the dragons are gone, the beasts and trees as well. Only the Five, hidden in their inert Pyramid of black stones and forgettable ruins are what remains.

Not even the sea lasted, and the sky…

It is nothing but a true void now.

Getting back to reality as Xamirh stares at him, surely wondering if he understood what was shown to him in these seven scenes, Darkstalker simply nods, thinking he has seen enough to grasp what happened.

In silence, the great dragon bearing yellow scales closes the scrolls and puts them back while the young one climbs down from Akhanta. Leaving the room alone for a few minutes, Xamirh comes back with a "little" bottle of silver liquid attached to his neckband. Having what he needs, the titanic dragon exits the laboratory part of the building, followed by the others…

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Coursing through the Pyramid, the group finally arrive at the final stage of the Pyramid. Now in that open place, the yellow great dragon gets closer to the edge and urges the others to go with him as he stares at the pitch black sky.

- "Lieju uthu moxon ythetias yukyu Darkstalker?" Says Xamirh in a heavier and slower voice, the light of the beacon at the floor's center exaggerating his imposing form, adding a surreal air to him.

"Yl yukyu iole hute surh fumyrh kes zaven ust oueryk…" As he says such words, the great dragon extends his talons, taken by a passion the seer does not understand well. There is a tragedy, a failure, a feeling of being abandoned, but all of it is abstract in Xamirh's mind, even if he does remember of a sky being filled with his kind.

"Th hute jukin thias olmukara, th hute jukin… almeku." As the speech continues, the two others great beings starts to have their mind tainted by varying degree of sadness and regret, with Akhanta looking down more than her feathered kin.

"Lieju uthu velkat heij iole otije?" The yellow titan turns his head, and now looks at the smaller one, asking, expecting something of him, but the nightwing stays silent, not knowing what to answer...

"Yth genjum heia." Turning his back, the great dragon stares once more at the nothingness that should be the sky.

"Ofemyl, pratus neiatome, iole surh myleia..."

Finding himself looking at the ground, as if he was tired and defeated, the yellow giant regains his stance and unfolds his wings, appearing to be furious at something.

"Alkanyl, esmuya zait yl alzyneia nestoq yth!" Says Xamirh with a thunderous voice, ready to go into a war nobody can see as clearly as him in the moment.

And so, the four dragons ascend from the Pyramid and start their flight, going to where the determined Xamirh leads them to...