We were led to a small offshoot. It looked to barely have enough space to stand in and was narrow enough to limit combat options. It started at the very end of the tunnel we currently were in and even with enhanced senses I couldn’t tell where it led to. “This doesn’t really look like much. Why are you acting so excited?”

Bella really was excited, she practically seemed to be bouncing on her toes. She gestured wildly at it, “This baby is a money maker! Come on! Follow me in for a bit and you’ll see. This is incredible!”

So we followed her in. Bella and Javi could walk fine but I had to crouch just a little bit. Luckily it wasn’t for too long. After about 10 minutes of walking the tunnel started to get larger. And then it expanded to be much larger than the tunnels we had been in previously. While the stone on the walls had originally seemed rough everything was smoothed out now. It didn’t look man made though, just smoothed out by nature. Yet it was unnatural in how it transitioned to smoothness. “What is this place Bella? It kinda creeps me out.” It really did, but at the same time it mystified me.

“You’ll see soon. We’re almost to the best part.” This girl. She couldn’t just tell us.

She was right though. After just a couple more minutes we reached something much more impressive than what we had seen so far.

A cavern, larger than any I had ever seen. In fact, it could hold an entire kingdom down here. Walkways lined the walls and countless bridges stretched across it. Every bit of stone was carved with symbols and pictures. Javi walked over to the edge and dropped a stone. We waited for it to make a sound but nothing came. Either it was bottomless or it fell too far to be heard. “Woah. What is this? This is amazing.”

“This is the Dragon’s Highway! Oh, right! You two probably wouldn’t know about it. First of all, do you two know what is on the other side of the Westfall?” Me and Javi looked at each other then back at Bella and shook our heads. That hadn’t been in any of the books we had read.

“That is where the Dragons’ Homeland is. It is said that in days long past the dragons would grant power to those who managed to reach them. However, the Westfall was absurdly dangerous. None who ventured into it to try and reach the other side survived. The dragons were compassionate though. To create fairness they made an alternate way to reach their land. Through magic they created an intricate labyrinth that ran under the Westfall. While dangerous, it was much better than traversing the Westfall itself. Soon enough people could take this path and would receive boons. This is that very same Dragon’s Highway that was taken then.”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

It was interesting to hear about but I could tell there was more to this story. Something she was reluctant to mention. “What happened to it? If it was a well known path then why would an entrance be something exciting to find?”

She gave a small, sad smile. “That is the next part of the story. People used the Highway for many centuries. But one day a man grew greedy, just like in many stories. The king of Gradia made the journey to the Dragons’ Homeland. He got his boon and returned. But that wasn’t enough for him. He wanted more from the dragons. He took his army through the Highway and arrived at the Homeland. They took out a few dragons but were practically annihilated. This action angered the dragons greatly. A large force of them flew Gradia. And they-”

Suddenly, she choked up. I had been so engrossed in her story that I hadn’t noticed a tear had rolled down her face. This was clearly personal for her. “You don’t have to tell us all this. We’ll be fine.”

She wiped her face, “No. You two should know about this. It’s an important part of history.” She took a deep breath and steadied herself. “To continue, they flew to Gradia. And they burned it to the ground. For a whole month, they laid waste to the country, making sure not a single building remained. We had abused their kindness and they made sure that it was known, they were not to be trifled with. Some of the survivors from the original army made it back to defend the country in its final moments but they couldn’t stop a large majority of the damage. That country is now known as the Fallen Kingdom.”

Another deep breath. “The country I grew up in became a mark of scorn. We were cast out from everywhere we tried to go, the people afraid the dragons would come for them next.” Her fists were clenched tight now and her face curled with anger. “The fools mistreated us over and over again without understanding a thing about dragons. The dragons don’t care about us. They just wanted to make sure the ants understood their place!”

She had practically spit out her final words before pausing and looking at us. “Sorry I got a bit emotional there.”

We could only stare in silence as a sign of respect to her history. “So anyways, after the dragons were finished with Gradia they sealed off all of the entrances to the Highway. We were no longer worthy of them going easy on us. And this is the first time an entrance to the Highway has been discovered since it was sealed. This is a massive deal.”

“I can imagine. But is it really a money maker as you said? Can we sell the info or something?”

“Oh no, we can’t sell the information. We’ll dutifully report it back to the Union. The reason we’ll get money is because the Highway is supposed to be full of rare minerals and undiscovered substances. Selling those will get us a pretty penny.”

“I see. Do we need to head back then? We’ve already spent more time here than we planned on and I’m not sure I want to stay out here for longer than necessary. Not without learning everything about what happened to me at least.”

“Yeah, good point. Let’s go. The Union’s going to go crazy when we report back.”