Side Story 1

“Clan Master Diamant, the plan is proceeding smoothly.”

Diamant’s diamondlike eyes glinted as he turned his head—which surprisingly wasn’t his body. He was in the form of a large, human-shaped boulder, and in front of him, there were piles upon piles of valuable jewels stacked atop mounds of gold. “Go on,” Diamant said and stretched his arm forward. It was thick like a human’s, unlike his usual sticklike arms. He grabbed a fistful of jewels, and they slid out from between his fingers, dropping to the floor of the great vault as if they were droplets of water. “I’m listening.”

The small rock that had greeted Diamant saluted. “Since Clan Master has successfully tamed Ocean Elemental Mistle, Tornado Elemental Zilphy, and Phoenix Flame Sheryl and turned them into your subordinates, no one has been able to stop the footsteps of our Gemstone Merchants Clan. We’ve steadily expanded all over the continent, and Tornado Elemental Zilphy has already reported the last few civilizations left unconnected previously. Ocean Elemental Mistle has also discovered various trade routes we can take to reach new continents. Soon, every piece of gold shall belong to us. The sun shall never set upon the Gemstone Merchants Clan.”

“Excellent,” Diamant said and nodded. “Is there anything urgent that requires my attention?”

“It isn’t urgent,” the small rock said, “but the holy dragons have sent two representatives, and with them, they’ve brought many tributes. Would you like to address them personally?”

“No,” Diamant said and snorted. His diamondlike eyes crinkled. “When a clan is this influential, even dragons aren’t enough to make the clan master personally take action. Send my secretary, Sheryl, to accommodate them instead.”

“I understand,” the small rock said. It hesitated before clearing his throat. “Then, what’s an example of an urgent matter that does require your attention?”

Diamant stroked his chin, and a small furrow appeared on his forehead. A wide grin split his face, and a booming laughter rang out from his body, coming from deep within his stomach. “Nothing,” he said and wiped a small tear from his eyes. “There’s absolutely nothing that is too urgent for someone as great as me. There’s simply nothing that I can’t handle.”

“Yes, that’s what I thought,” the small rock said and bobbed its head, which was its body, up and down. “Clan Master is the greatest. Without you, who knows where our Gemstone Merchants Clan would be? Perhaps we’d still be an unknown group struggling to survive in a desolate corner somewhere in a wasteland.”

“I’m glad you know it,” Diamant said and nodded, crossing his arms over his chest. “Now go. I have to count my money. As it’s always increasing with every passing second, it’s the hardest job because it never ends.”

The small rock straightened its legs and saluted once more. “Yes, Clan Master!” it said and marched out of the vault.

Diamant watched the small rock leave before turning back towards the piles of riches that was growing at a visible rate. The walls and ceiling were generating gems that fell down, adding to the contents of the vault. He chuckled and picked up another fistful of gems, counting them as they fell through his fingers. “To think, a hundred years ago, I was trapped in such an unfair contract. If it wasn’t for that sudden flash of insight, I’d never have tricked him and escaped.” A shiver ran down Diamant’s body, and he shook his head. “Let’s forget the unpleasant thoughts and focus on the present. Now, I’m free, and nothing in the world can inhibit my growth!”

“Deedee.”

Diamant froze, and a deep crack appeared on his forehead. “Forget the unpleasant thoughts. Forget the unpleasant thoughts.”

“Deedee. Deedee! I said wake up, Deedee!”

Diamant’s diamondlike eyes shot open. A line of pebbles dripped out of his open mouth, which was attached to his body, a small boulder. In front of him, a green rock was staring at him with her hands on her hips. “Zilphy? Didn’t I send you on a mission to scout out undiscovered points of interest?”

“You were dreaming, dummy,” Zilphy said and blinked her emerald eyes.

Diamant’s face contorted. “Then, I didn’t escape from Vur?” he asked. “But that’s impossible. According to my calculations, he shouldn’t have been able to discover I was gone until it was too late. He never pays attention to me.”

“He did a headcount before we left, and you didn’t respond,” Zilphy said. She gestured around with her arms. “Besides, if you really did escape, do you think you’d be trapped in here?”

Diamant looked around. The first thing he noticed was the manacle around his leg. It was attached to a chain that led into a wall. “This is … Stella’s dungeon?” he asked and swallowed. “Why did she imprison me down here?” He blinked hard and realized Zilphy was in the interior of the cell as well. “Wait. How come you’re here too?”

“Because of your little stunt, I was punished too!” Zilphy crossed her arms and glared at Deedee. “As your wife, I should’ve been responsible for keeping you in line—at least, that’s what Stella said—and since I didn’t, I was collectively punished because of you.” She pointed a finger at Diamant, poking his forehead.

“You’re blaming me?” Diamant asked. “Why are you blaming me when you should be blaming Stella? I wasn’t the one who forced you into this dungeon.”

Zilphy grumbled while looking away. “If I could deal with Stella, I would. What if we all ganged up on her? Would we be able to beat her? How come we let her walk all over us anyway?” She walked over to the bars of the cell and leaned into them. “Isn’t that right? There’s so many of us imprisoned here, but we let a tiny little fairy boss us around. I say it’s time for an uprising. What do you guys think?”

There was a ringing sound as Breeze slapped his hand on the bars of his cell. “I agree! She’s just one fairy queen.”

“That’s right!” Ralph said.

A golden spirit nodded. “If we work together—”

“What’s with the racket!?” Stella’s voice echoed through the dungeon, cutting Sir Edward off. “Chompy’s trying to sleep!”

Instantly, the dungeon fell silent. Zilphy blinked and looked around. “Really, guys? Really? What happened to your fighting spirit just now?”

“Well, she has Chompy.”

“I’d rather be in a cell than be in Chompy’s stomach.”

“Is Chompy that black dragon-looking thing? If it is, I think I’ll leave the fairy queen alone.”

Zilphy sighed.

Side Story 2

Two phoenixes were perched on a branch, standing next to each other. One of the red birds sighed and turned her head towards her brother. “Emile?”

“Yah?”

“We’re lost again, right?”

Emile’s head dipped down, and his gaze swept over the scenery. To him, every part of the ground looked the same. “So it seems.”

Susan sighed. “How come this always happens to us?”

Emile’s eyes narrowed. After thinking for a bid, he nodded. “It’s because of Tafel.”

“Tafel?” Susan asked, tilting her head. “What does us being lost have to do with Tafel?”

“Well,” Emile said and paused to preen his chest feathers with his beak. After he straightened an unruly feather, he raised his head and stared at his sister. “Whenever something goes wrong, it’s always Tafel’s fault. She’s our big sis, and she shouldn’t be letting anything happen to us.”

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“That doesn’t sound right,” Susan said, her eyebrows furrowing. “Aren’t we Mom’s responsibilities too? How come it’s Tafel’s fault and not Mom’s fault?”

Emile’s wings flared out, and his feathers puffed up. “You’re always filled with so many questions, aren’t you? Emile, where are we? Emile, why are we lost? Emile, can you stop eating my food? Emile, Emile, Emile, Emile.” Emile snorted, and his wings settled back against the side of his body. “Look, it doesn’t matter whose fault it is that we’re lost as long as it’s not mine, okay?”

Susan clacked her beak and rolled her eyes. “Well, let’s make the most of being lost,” she said and looked around. A strange structure in the distance caught her eye. She raised her wing and pointed. “There’s something strange over there.”

Emile craned his neck and squinted. “Isn’t that just a rock?”

“It looks like an unnatural rock,” Susan said and flapped her wings. She glanced at Emile and gestured with her head. “C’mon.”

“Alright,” Emile said and spread his wings. Susan leapt into the air, and Emile followed. He muttered, “If that’s an unnatural rock, then what does a natural rock look like?”

“A natural rock doesn’t look unnatural,” Susan said, turning her head around to look at Emile while flying forward. “I don’t know how else to explain it to you.”

Emile snorted. As he got closer to the structure—that still looked like a rock to him—a chill washed over him. “Do you feel that?” he asked and shivered, his feathers puffing out a bit despite the wind blowing against his body.

“Yeah,” Susan said and narrowed her eyes. “It feels like I’m flying through rain. Is it the rock’s fault?”

“I thought you said it wasn’t a rock.”

“You know what I meant,” Susan said and snorted. She slowed her speed and landed on a nearby branch, getting a nice view of the object. It was a white boulder in the shape of a pyramid. Vines and moss covered its surface, and a few chipmunks were running about the base of it. “There’s something special about this thing.”

“Huh,” Emile said as he landed beside Susan. He rubbed his lower beak with the tip of his wing. “You’re right: it really does look unnatural. It’s too straight.”

Susan nodded. “See? I think it was built by someone,” she said. She fluffed her feathers out and exhaled through her beak. Heat radiated out of her, and Emile shuffled towards her before doing the same. “It’s really cold here.”

“How come those chipmunks aren’t freezing?” Emile muttered. He shivered and held his breath. Heat burst out of him, and the branch the two phoenixes were sitting on was set ablaze. Emile glanced down and blinked. “Oops.”

Susan ignored the flames. “There’s a door over there,” she said and pointed at the pyramid with her wing. “Do you see it?”

Emile followed his sister’s wing. There did seem to be a crack on the side of the pyramid underneath all the moss and vines. “I think so. Let’s explore it.”

“Should we?” Susan asked and furrowed her brow. “I don’t know…. What if something happens to us?”

“Like what?”

“Well, we could die.”

“Then we’ll just come back to life,” Emile said and rolled his eyes. “C’mon, you worrywart. You’re the one who wanted to come here in the first place. Now that we’re here, we can’t just leave without checking it out. What would Tafel think?”

“Why do you always bring Tafel into things?” Susan asked, tilting her head.

“Eh, eh, eh, eh, eh.” Emile waved his wing in front of Susan’s face, shushing her while clicking his tongue. “What did I say about asking too many questions?” He hopped off the burning branch while spreading his wings, gliding towards what he thought was the entrance of the pyramid. “Are you coming or not?”

Susan sighed and followed after her brother, leaving the tree to burn. The chipmunks at the base of the pyramid scattered as the two phoenixes landed on a vine atop the pyramid. “Let’s clear some of this away,” Susan muttered and took in a deep breath, her chest puffing up. A stream of fire shot out of her beak, setting the side of the pyramid ablaze. A foul odor drifted out of the pyramid, and the chilliness in the air seemed to increase despite the burning flames.

“What do you think this place is?” Emile asked, shuffling towards Susan, puffing himself up to stay warm.

Susan shrugged. “We’ll see soon,” she said, waiting for the flames to die down. Once they did, Susan flapped her wings, creating gusts to blow away the accumulated ashes and smoke. A charred hatch came into view.

Emile hopped forward and landed on the hatch’s handle. He pressed one talon against the pyramid and lifted the handle with his other talon. A grunt escaped from his tiny body. “Help me out here.”

Susan hopped forward and wedged her body into the small crack that Emile had created. She puffed herself up, opening the hatch just enough for Emile to crawl through. Once he did, she followed after him, and the hatch slammed shut with a metal banging sound. Susan puffed out a small flame, illuminating the insides of the pyramid.

There was a giant mural of a black dragon painted on the walls of the pyramid, and engraved in the ground, there was a circle with lots of lines crossed through it in symmetrical patterns. Emile blinked hard. “Susan,” he said and swallowed. The black dragon seemed to be staring at him as if he were a piece of food despite the fact it was just a painting. “I don’t think we should be here.”

“Flee?” Susan asked, the flames dying down when she spoke. However, the inside of the pyramid was still illuminated but with a purple light. The glow was coming from the circle on the ground.

“Flee!” Emile shouted. But it was too late. The purple light flashed, engulfing the two phoenixes. When the light died down, the two birds were gone.

In a dark, faraway place, two phoenixes stared at each other with blank expressions. Emile cleared his throat. “I know why we’re always lost now. It’s not Mom’s fault, and it’s not Tafel’s fault either. It’s yours! Look at where we are because of you.”

Side Story 3

Two dragons, one silver, one black, lay next to each other. They were on their stomachs, their limbs splayed outwards with their heads pointed towards a bundle swaddled in gold cloth. Jutting out from the top of the cloth was the speckled tip of a white egg. The cloth would occasionally rustle every time a gust of wind washed over it, the air moving thanks to the dragons’ breaths.

“It’s beautiful,” Leila said and sighed, her eyes misting over.

“It’s an egg.”

Leila’s eyes shifted over, staring at Grimmy. “It’s our egg.”

“Well,” Grimmy said and blinked twice. “I suppose it is.” A furrow appeared on his brow. “Is it moving? Is it about to hatch?”

Leila shot to her feet, her eyes widening. She took one step forward and placed her cheek against the side of the egg.

“Wait, don’t get so close,” Grimmy said but didn’t do anything to stop his mate. “What if you accidentally crush it? Be careful!”

“I’m not going to crush our own egg.” Leila rolled her eyes, but she moved her head away from the egg before giving it a deep glance. “I, I think it really is hatching.”

“Is that normal?” Grimmy asked, tilting his head. “How long has it even been? Do eggs hatch this quickly?” He sat up on his haunches and glanced at his front paws. “Am I going to be a father so soon?”

Leila leaned back and sat up as well, wrapping her left wing over Grimmy, pulling him close to her side. “You’ll make a great father—just look at how well you brought up Vur. And this time, no one else is going to interfere with us raising our child.”

“Hmm?” Grimmy glanced at Leila. “What do you mean by that?”

“Oh, you know,” Leila said and gave her mate a slight nod. “Imagine how differently Vur would’ve turned out if Prika hadn’t been around while he was growing up. Or if Vernon hadn’t been the one teaching him to hunt, Vur wouldn’t have imprinted a boar and claimed it as his son.”

Grimmy stroked his chin with the tips of his claws. “Don’t let them hear you say that,” he said and raised one eyebrow. “They’ll think you’re attacking them.”

Leila rolled her eyes. “I’m thanking them for making mistakes so we don’t have to,” she said. “Besides, no one else is here. Prika’s gone off to visit her family with Vur, and Sera and Vernon are at Sera’s mother’s place.”

“Floofykins and Snuffles are still here,” Grimmy said.

“That doesn’t matter: They can’t speak.”

Grimmy furrowed his brow. “That’s a fair point. I feel like we’re forgetting someone though.”

Leila tilted her head and glanced at her mate. “Who?”

Grimmy shrugged. A moment later, his eyes widened, and he pointed straight ahead. “It’s hatching!”

Leila’s head swiveled to the side, and her eyes glowed silver. A beam of light descended from the ceiling of the cave, enveloping the egg. Small cracks appeared on its surface as the baby dragon inside the egg wriggled, pressing against the shell. “You can do it,” Leila muttered with her paws clenched. “You can do it.”

“There’s something wrong,” Grimmy said, a deep furrow appearing on his brow. “There’s no way the egg should bulge like that. A baby dragon tries to break out of its egg through one point, but there’s two bulges.”

“Twins?” Leila asked. “From the same egg?”

“Possibly,” Grimmy said. His eyes lit up. “Or our baby has two heads.” After a short pause, he said, “Hey. If our baby has two heads, do we have to give it two names or just one?”

Leila smacked Grimmy’s paw and glared at him.

“What?” Grimmy asked. “It was a serious question.”

“Not as serious as this,” Leila said, turning her attention back onto the egg. The faint cracks had grown even larger, spreading all along the surface of the egg. The golden cloth had fallen to the ground from all the wriggling, and the egg tipped over onto its side. A large eggshell cracked off, and a tiny black dragon’s head poked through. Its eyes were closed as its mouth opened, letting out small cries similar to a baby bird’s. While it moved its head around, its mouth made contact with the egg, and it bit down, tearing off a small piece of shell, eating it. Before Grimmy or Leila could say anything to each other, another dragon’s head, silver in color this time, appeared beside the first one. It also bit down on the egg, eating away at it.

“Now the question is,” Grimmy said, his eyes narrowing, “how many bodies are there?”

Leila dropped onto all fours and crept forward, peaking into the egg. She exhaled a sigh of relief. “There’s two.” She glared at Grimmy. “You almost jinxed it.”

Grimmy shrugged. “What should we name them?”

Leila stared at the two baby dragons eating their way out of the egg. “The black one is a girl, and the silver one is a boy.” Her expression softened as the two baby dragons munched on the last piece of eggshell starting from different sides. The baby silver dragon tugged the shell away when the black one opened its mouth to bite, causing it to bite down on nothing. Moments later, it cried out and flailed its little limbs as it looked around for the eggshell with its eyes closed. The baby silver dragon seemed to have a smug smile on its face as it held the eggshell with its front paws and munched away at it.

Grimmy scratched his chin and narrowed his eyes at the two baby dragons. “How about Ramonester and Gloriandra?”

Leila raised an eyebrow. “They’re perfect,” she said and let out a smile. “Little Ramon and Gloria.” She exhaled through her nostrils, letting a gust of hot air wash over the two baby dragons. The silver light coming from the ceiling died away, and the two baby dragons let out yawns. They had finished eating the eggshells, and their bellies were round and plump, bulging from their first meal.