As I flew on, and island came up on the horizon.

“Grandfather, how much time do I have left to fly?” I asked wondering if I needed to land.

“A lot, but if the sun is setting by the time you reach that island, land” Grandfather said.

I kept flying and soon enough I could land on the island, but the sun was still very high in the sky. So I decided to keep going. Quite the sight it was, looking over an island with beautiful colors. Though it was barren, no life in sight, no holes creatures could climb in and out of.

“Ah, the dunes. These islands have no water, so they are barren with no life. Very hot during the day, freezing during the night. But the colors are beautiful, most flyers would avoid landing on dunes, as the sand is red hot in the day. They would also be more exposed to Goythlay bandit ships.” Grandfather taught me, and I was very disappointed that such a beautiful island was usually avoided.

“Hmm, alright” I said, still admiring its beautiful warm colors.

I flew to the end of the island, where the sand spilled over. I wondered if it landed anywhere. If the so called ground that was beneath us was even real. But then again, I had bigger problems to worry about, time was ticking and I wanted my mother back. I kept flying, and once again, after a bit, another island came upon the horizon. This time, it would have to be a sun set by the time I reached it. Unfortunately, this time around, it just looked like barren cliffs.

“Oh! I do love islands like these, thankfully I still remember what the words are to get under ground.” Grandfather spoke with a lot of enthusiasm.

“Huh?” I said, very confused.

“Well, these islands have creatures underground, but unlike the elf dwarfs, these creatures are bioluminescent. Which means they glow, and their colonies are really something else. You will see.” Grandfather said.

“If you insist” I said.

I landed on the top of the cliff.

“Stomp” Grandfather said.

“What?” I asked, very confused.

“Just stomp” Grandfather said in a more urgent tone.

So I did, and what looked barren suddenly became carvings and symbols. It looked complicated, and yet, I could tell where the middle was, only because I was standing on it.It looked very nice.

“Ok Wynne, say this, wizushi chikiaves saegnil” Grandfather said.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Wizushi chikiaves saegnil” I said, the words sounded strange, but underneath me a spiral staircase opened up.

I followed the steps, and saw what grandfather meant by it was beautiful. Pink, green, purple and blue lighting was everywhere. It was dim, but since there was so much, it lit the place up nicely. I quickly reached the bottom, because I was busy looking everywhere, but I did not see anything, except for little critters.

“Where is everyone?” I asked.

“It’s abandoned… Strange” Grandfather spoke with a hint of fear in his voice.

“Well, I suppose we set up camp and leave as soon as we can?” I questioned, wanting to leave.

“I guess…” Grandfather said.

The place was very pretty but very eerie, as if it was abandoned for a reason. That reason became clear though. As I looked through the living areas, I noticed, no food or water.

“A famine and a drought at the same time? That is not good, the creatures probably died from dehydration and starvation.” Grandfather’s voice echoed throughout the cavern, as grandfather went to look somewhere else.

“They all died, well except for me, but I am very much near death” A raspy, hollow and dead sounding voice said.

I quickly ran over to where the voice came from, and grandfather floated alongside me. When we got there, we saw a depressing scene. A bioluminescent bird looking figure was there, surrounding it, there was the bones of its people. It looked terrible, just as it sounded, it looked dead and hollow.

“Oh my!” I exclaimed.

“Please, sit.” It said.

I sat down, and it began speaking.

“My name is Aigeor, the eternal one. Though now I should just go by Aigeor, as the title lost its power. After a deadly virus spread through our crops and water, which meant it was deadly to eat. But as more and more dragons went hungry and got dehydrated, they no longer cared and ate and drank. The virus took time to kill you, but it was inevitable. I watched my loved ones die when the virus finally inflicted. But since my title was the eternal one, I could not die. But since I had eaten the food and drank the water, after some time, my title disappeared and the virus finally started doing damage. Now, I cannot move, but when I could, I moved all of the bones around this bed, so that I could at least get some sort of comfort while I died.” Aigeor said sadly.

“Is there any way we could help you?” I asked, not wanting Aigeor to die.

“No. But I want to die, everyone else is dead. I have nothing to live for.” Aigeor said.

Before I could speak, Aigeor closed their eyes, and fell into the deep, eternal slumber of death. I cried, only knowing Aigeor for a short amount of time, I still felt a twang in my heart.

“Wynne, we cannot afford to cry about this. Please just eat and drink and sleep. We must hurry” Grandfather said harshly.

“Fine…” I said, picking myself up and walking away. I did not speak for the rest of the time until I slept. Even if grandfather tried to speak to me, I refused to talk.

I quickly ate food that was good when it was cold, and drank some water. I found a bed, and lay asleep.I woke up in a garden.

“Hello, child o’ mine” A melodious voice spoke all around me. I quickly realized I was in the ageless garden of Pax.

“Greetings, divine goddess Pax.” I said, wondering why they were in my dreams.

“You have done well, please be brave, expect the unexpected” Pax said, and the dream faded away. I woke up to reality and I packed up my stuff and left without saying another word to grandfather. I knew that if I saw mother become an unsavable beast, that twang in my heart that I felt when Aigeor died, would be so much worse. That gave me the motivation to continue.