Aquirya

They were at the opening of the cave. A huge opening in the side of one of the mountains on the island. Twenty guys could walk through the opening arm to arm if they wanted to. They crept into the side of the cave and listened. They didn’t hear anything at first so they continued walking.

“This is the way to his cavern.” Aeyla said starting to walk towards the left.

There were no actual tunnels in this cave, just large caverns and smaller caverns leading to another larger cavern. Atta usually slumbered in a lower cavern in this first cave on the Island. It was safer for Aeyla to come to this cave then the other caves deeper into this island of mountains. Atta wasn’t like other dragons. They were addicted to pride and riches. If you touched a dragons treasure multiple things could happen to you. Atta was different from the beginning. He wasn’t afraid of humans, he wasn’t interested in collecting Gold, eating people, or killing them. He was a gentle Dragon, However he was also loyal, to Aeyla and would do anything to protect her and the people she loved.

They heard some movement up ahead. Aeyla looked back at Niko. She motioned for him to come up to her.

“I hear something down that way.” She pointed down deeper into the caverns and caves ahead. “Atta isn’t here. This is where he’d be laying.” She said after thinking about it for a while.

“We need to go deeper than, and find out what happened to him.” Again something went running in front of them, a black shadow made them look up at each other.

They ran after the shadow, weapons drawn. If Atta was in danger there was no wasting time getting to him.

They ran through more caverns and battled a couple spiders along the way. Pretty soon they came to an area of the caves that had a foggy mist to it. They slowed down, making sure the mist wasn’t some kind of poison. Thankfully it wasn’t, so they crept on. They could hear voices, and loud chanting. It wasn’t orc speak though.

“That’s Dragon Tongue.” Aeyla said to Niko. “But it’s not dragons saying it I don’t think.”

Niko was standing looking around the cavern opening. “They’re shades. Aeyla, Shades have Atta.”

“Shades?” Okay she didn’t remember what Shades were.

“They are Spirits of the dead. They’re not supposed to be here. They can be very powerful and it looks like they’re torturing Atta to get something from him. Do you remember the Dragon Tongue?

“I don’t think so.” She was getting frustrated. Remembering some things but not others. Why can’t I just be the person I was the person that all these people right now are counting on.

Niko had gone into the cavern and was slowly trying to get behind Attar. Aeyla had been following without realizing it. She had also switched her sword for her bow.

“The only thing that will kill Shades is the Fire, Poison, or Slime from a Dragon. Thankfully Attar spews both fire and poison when he’s able to. They have a mask of some sort on him so he can’t do that.” Niko whispered to Aeyla when she got close enough to him. Atta was also unconscious and it looked like a pool of blood was underneath him. The Shades were holding his head up with some kind of spell and it seemed his once transparent wings weren’t transparent any more.

“It seems they are having trouble breaking him to Craceeris’ ways.” Niko whispered as he nodded towards the pool of blood.

“He’s a tough one.” She said hopefully. She could remember Atta, she could remember, her love for him, sort of, and she could remember she knew him. She couldn’t remember the smaller details though. She couldn’t remember the fights and journeys she had with Atta. Nor could she remember any of that with Niko either. She was getting a handle on her weapons though.

Niko noticed that at least Atta was still breathing. The two travelers came on either side of Attars’ tail and they pretty much knew what each would do. Attars’ tail was a double tail, and usually very powerful. Aeyla climbed on the tail and tried to find the wound that was making the powerful dragon bleed and Niko focused on trying to figure out how to get the mask off without being seen, heard, or sensed by the Shades. He was the best hunter in Aquirya but mistakes happen. However this time he couldn’t make any kind of mistake, they were no match for Shades he had to do this completely unnoticed. Huge black ghost looking things with fire in their eyes and very powerful staffs of shocking lightning that would kill both Aeyla and Niko on contact. IT was a good thing the Shades were under Craceeris’ spell and so focused on the chanting of changing Atta’s loyalties. This gave both Aeyla and Niko enough time and “room” to do what they needed to do to save their friend.

Niko slowly walked around the other side of Atta as close to the big dragon as he could. When he reached the front shoulders of the dragon he kept an eye on the Shades. To his relief the Shades had turned around to face the other direction and Attas’ head had been laid at an angle which put it right next to the shoulder that Niko was standing behind. He had to feel around in the darkness to try to find the mask and where it could be either opened or slashed open with his dagger.

Aeyla climbed on top of her friend/pet and went straight for the giant animals wings. She’d healed them once before, Niko had told her the story. She had to heal them again if they were to get off the island with Atta. She had to heal a whole Dragon without knowing if she had the power to do so. She wrestled with that thought while she climbed up the dragon’s tail. When she was comfortable that the Shades were still too into their trance to realize, there were people around, she put out her hands, put them on Atta, took a deep breath, closed her eyes and started praying. Her hands warmed and she opened her eyes. A glow was going over the whole dragon, she closed her eyes again and concentrated. Maybe she did have the power to heal the whole beast. While Aeyla worked on the healing, Niko was struggling with the mask, it was made of something tough and it wasn’t budging. He didn’t want to use fire because he didn’t want to burn Atta in case it made him wake up, move, or yelp in pain. He mustered up the courage, hoping that possibly Aeyla would have Atta healed enough that he’d wake up just as Niko had burned off the mask. If he didn’t time this right, the Shades would surely snap out of their trance and use their shock staffs.

“I can’t do this.” Aeyla said aloud putting down her hands. “I can’t heal him, I don’t know what I’m even doing. I’m not this person that these people think I am.” Aeyla completely forgot where she was and who she could be disturbing. She started crying knowing that she just couldn’t do what she needed to do for her friend.

Niko looked up at her just as he burned off the one side of the mask on Attar, who had started to open his eyes at the healing touch from Aeyla. All at once the Shades turned on the three of them and started screeching. Niko lept up on to Atta as the mask fell off and Atta was able to stand up. When he was fully aware of what was going on. He lifted his wings, lifted his head, in his low voice told the two humans to hold on, and Roared Poison Fire at the Shades who had just lifted their Staffs and were poised to shoot it straight at the leaping Niko. With all his might, Atta started flapping his huge, newly healed transparent wings, and roared at the three Shades trying to gather themselves after the first shot of deathly spew from Atta. A second one took the three Shades right down, screeching as the fell. Atta flew as fast as he could through the caverns, turning, ducking, and listening as he went. The two people on his back held on for dear life.

“Aeyla, you have to realize who you are on the inside. Believe in yourself. You can heal. You do heal. You have healing inside of you because of your love for your friends.” Niko said to her as he held on to her back and to the dragon. “No evil, no pain, is too powerful for true loves healing powers. You need to remember that.”

She wasn’t really listening to him, she knew he meant well but she just had too much doubt. Even though the evidence was right under them that she could heal.

“Where too?” Atta said from in front of them. He had just flew out of the front cavern and was now flying over the Cygra Sea.

“We are going to Komatiite Volcano. We’re going to need your help Atta.” Niko yelled to him over the wind.

“Sure thing sire. I see the Princess is back. Welcome home Princess Aeyla. Thank you for saving me from those dreadful Shades. Craceeris up to no good. She’s trying to capture the minds of anyone loyal to you Princess.”

Aeyla was still a little shaken by her doubt in herself. “How long till we get to her Volcano.”

“An hour or so. I’m a dragon Aeyla, I fly quicker than you can walk remember?”

“No, I’m afraid I don’t really remember.” She said angrily.

“I’m sorry Princess. We’ll be there soon.” Attar was worried about his friend, his companion, He loved her as much as a Dragon could love a human. He was always there for her and she was always there for him. She was always sweet to him, this Aeyla was different. He hoped the defeat of Craceeris would bring back the Aeyla they all knew. The chemistry between Aeyla and Niko was also somehow different to him. Atta was a very intelligent Dragon, you see when he was healed and brought under Aeylas’ “wing” she had Quico teach him things to do with all different kinds of studies. Attar caught on pretty quick too, he was fierce, intelligent, and loyal. A triple threat when it came to Aeylas’ enemies.

They came up on the Cursed Mountains of Sazion. To not be detected they had to take a route through Hostile Lands and land somewhere in the lands. It would be difficult hiding a Dragon, but it would be worth the risk when they could actually get to Craceeris’ Keep deep in the Komatiite volcano range. A hot lava water lake surrounded her Keep. It would be tough getting through the Volcanos as it was, since they weren’t dormant. God knows what else was waiting for them to cross into Craceeris’ “territory.”