Early Morning - Early Winter : Northeastern Space Rune

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*puff-puff-crash-puff* Casually walking down the beach, we only had the sound of the soft sand beneath our feet and the waves crashing on the distant sandbar to keep us company.

But once we rounded the bend in the beach, Father stopped. "This should be good enough." *flash*

Seeing him change to his dragon form, I promptly did the same, but he didn’t take off immediately.

"Follow me closely. Although this temple has been abandoned for thousands of years, the traps protecting the rune are still active. They are meant to even kill dragons, so don’t think you can be too casual about setting one off."

-Dang.. the traps are that strong?- "Isn’t that a bit excessive? What if someone accidentally sets one off?"

"If a dragon authorized to use this rune doesn’t know the correct path, it is on them. This rune is just one that not everyone can access, unlike those in Bahamut."

-Oh, so it works like a password.. albeit an aggressive one…-

"In any case, you don’t need to worry too much since your mother and I know the temple like the back of our hands." Finally turning away from me with a reassuring smile, he took to the air, with me quickly following suit.

As we started flying away though, I idly glanced back toward the beach and saw the captain walking out of the woods.

Thankfully, I managed to cloak Father and I with light magic before she could look at us, but she definitely still noticed us. -Sh*t.. I didn’t think she’d come out onto the beach so quickly…-

But as I started thinking about what to do, Father spoke up. "The temple is like a maze with only one correct path; if you veer off at all, you will hit traps, so stick right behind me when we go in." He glanced back at me to make sure I was paying attention. "I know it sounds repetitive, but I need to make sure you understand."

"O-of course…" There was a short moment of silence as he turned forward again. "So, out of curiosity, what was the temple originally built for? Was it just to house the space rune?"

"Originally?" He glanced back at me with an odd expression before continuing. "Well, before the great war, this island was quite special. It was known as a ‘Place of Descendant’ to many humans, which is basically just a place where humans believe a god had ‘graced the world with its presence’..."

-Hm?- "You don’t seem to view them in a very positive light…"

"Of course not. The god said to have descended here was Tyr, the god of war, but to the humans, he was also known as the god of the skies, a title that we dragons didn’t take too kindly to."

-Ah…- "Does that mean he was against Bahamut?"

He lightly shook his head. "We have no idea. Some people believe he is still around since he stayed out of the fight with Bahamut during the Great War, but considering he has been quiet for several thousand years now, I find that hard to believe."

"So he at least survived Ragnarok?"

"Yes, but many older ancients still believe he died afterward from injuries inflicted in other battles."

-That makes me wonder though.. who were they fighting before the final battle with Bahamut?-

But although I really wanted to ask Father about it, I ended up staying quiet.

At least that was until the temple started coming into view.

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-W.. Woah…- Cresting the not-so-distant horizon was an absolutely unfathomable structure, towering several hundred meters into the air and spanning over a kilometer in every direction.

Even as a dragon with an extremely warped sense of scale, it felt gargantuan.

"How the hell…" I couldn’t help but stare in awe as we approached.

The entire structure was made of beautiful white stone, with incredible carvings, gold, and gems littered all over the outside, but it had also seen better days.

Vines and other foliage had completely overtaken many of the lower areas of the structure, with entire trees growing out of holes and cracks in certain places.

And as for the top, the rooftops had mostly been completely away, leaving dozens of holes in the building that only made it look more surreal as if I was looking back in time.

"When I was at the academy, we were taught that this temple was built by humans, but I find it hard to believe. It’s too similar to ancient draconic architecture, even in the carvings…"

Looking over at Father, I noticed he wore a face of indifference. -Is he like that because he’s seen it so many times, or something else?-

Continuing to follow after him, we quickly approached the temple before descending toward one of the many roofless outer towers of the temple.

Seeing him land on the edge of the opening in the roof, I got a bit nervous it would collapse, but before I could even consider landing with him, he jumped into the hole.

-I guess I should do the same…- Doing as I thought he expected, I landed momentarily and jumped in as well.

But as I came out of the bottom of the tower and into a massive, 150-meter-tall hallway, I looked around and noticed I couldn’t see Father anywhere. -Ah sh*t…

Too afraid to touch the ground, I tried to hover in the hallway, but I barely had enough room. -Can I see where he stepped?-

Looking along the ground, there were clear areas where the dust had been disturbed by a step, but the exact spots weren’t too readily noticeable. -Do I just go for it?-

As I thought that, Ilios tapped my back and gave me all the reassurance I needed.

-Well.. Here goes nothing!- *THUMP* Dropping down, I landed on two feet while holding my other two up in the air. -Sweet, that's one…- Looking forward, I saw the next set of steps and hopped to them.

*THUMP* Once again, a moment of silence followed my landing. -Can I get more confident with these?-

But the instant I even considered picking up the pace some, a massive rune twice my size lit up beneath me. -Sh*t…-

*FWOOOOSH* In an instant, the entire hallway was engulfed in a fire so hot it could melt iron. -But compared to nuclear, this is nothing…-

Giving the blaze a moment to calm down, I looked around again to see where to step next.

But the dust was gone. -You can’t be serious…-

And just like that, I was left with only one option. -Welp… The rune is probably at the center, right?-

Quickly drawing a general mental map of the direction I needed to go, I gently set down my other legs and lowered my posture. "Hold on tight, Ilios!"

*CRACK* Immediately ripping through the sound barrier, I disappeared from where I was, and blasted down the hall at an insane speed.

Abusing my thruster magic to the fullest, I darted through several hallways at just above mach, with only the burnoff of my thruster magic alleviating the pressure fluctuations I left in my wake.

Then, after barely a second and a half, I came into a colossal room several hundred meters wide and slammed myself into the ground to stop myself.

*CRUNCH* The flooring of the room shattered like it was made of simple stone as I dug my claws into it, but it was actually sturdy enough to slow me to a halt almost immediately.

"Phew…" Letting out a quick breath I looked into the center of the room, where Krystallo, Mother, and Father stood on a large stone platform next to a black sphere on a pedestal.

"There he is!" Mother immediately ran over and hugged me like she thought I was dead.

"Is something wrong, Mother?"

"Haah, that numbskull over there didn’t wait to make sure you were behind him when he started." She immediately looked back at Father with eyes of anger.

"It’s alright, Mother. It was partially my fault for not following him super closely when we entered the tower. Plus, I'm here in one piece, am I not?" I felt bad that she was taking it all out on Father.

"Hmph, he’s lucky you’re here already. I was about to throw him back down the hallway to get you."

As I went to try and reassure her again though, Krystallo came running up. "Hehe.." She wore a childish smile that was drowned in confidence and pride. "I knew you would make it!"

"Haah, at least I didn’t worry you." Gently rubbing my cheek against hers, things finally started to calm down, and Mother took the lead.

"Hooh… Alright, in any case, now that we are all here…" She quickly glared at Father before looking back at Krystallo, Ilios, and me with a half-forced, but excited smile. "I believe it's time we go to Bahamut! Shall we?"