They started slowly advancing towards the lights which they guessed as the main camp. About 150 yards close, Eiden felt the area wards ahead. It took them about 30 minutes to open a space enough for one person to crawl through.
They kept close to the hill and soon realized there were multiple openings on the hillside similar to entrances to tunnels. A few guards were sitting and a few of them standing or walking around, but several openings were left unguarded. The magical pull on him was getting clearer, he pondered awhile, should he grab the invisible magical thread and teleport? No. Not yet.
"I'm going inside through an unguarded one, I think if we get close enough to the dragon enclosure, I'll be able to teleport. Stay here." Eiden crouched low and whispered.
He touched both Ivar and Clade's hands, and crept step by step to the closest opening, with Cissa close behind. The entrance didn't have a door, and the inside walls were neatly lined with smooth granite and marble, creating patterns of complex geometric designs. A low blue light illuminated the tunnel hallway and it was coming from small half-globes of cold light crystals which were set on the ceiling.
They would've marveled at the unexpected beauty of the tunnel if it had not been incredibly tainted by dark magic residue. It was harder to even breathe and Eiden felt Cissa was struggling to sneeze quietly. They moved as fast as they could, without stopping to check the walls of the tunnel hallway which was decorated with writings and illustrations.
It was starting to feel like Eiden's blood was going to be ripped out of the veins by the magical pull coming somewhere in the heart of the hill. He could resist it anymore, without serious power usage, which could weaken his battle magic.
"Cissa, I need to teleport to the place, I can't fight the link anymore, I'll take you, but retreat as soon as you land, take cover. Understand?" Eiden whispered. Cissa nodded and took Eiden's arm, they teleported.
Eiden had his blades of fire ready at the tips of his fingers in both hands and they landed on a vast carven, with black sooty walls. At the instant they landed, he felt like sinking into thick layers of fabric covered with dust. The cavern was only lit by a few torches and flames were sluggishly struggling to keep alive against the dark magic in the room.
In front of him, a huge beast, as black as the darkest night before the dawn, was lying on the floor fastened to the walls with enormous chains. Chains started clattering and smashing on the floor as the black dragon awakened from its slumber by the intruders.
The alarm wards went off with blaring sirens. Trusting Cissa would get out of the way, Eiden let loose the magical net over the black dragon and his fast attacks broke chains one by one. The noose he threw over the huge serpentine neck was tightened. Eiden heard loud noises as people tried to enter the room, Cissa must be holding them off.
"Cissa now," he yelled.
Cissa was supposed to signal Ivar and Clade to leave. Even though the black dragon was greatly weakened, Eiden's magical net could not hold it much longer. Eiden felt Cissa grip him behind yelling "Go". That was the sign he needed, and with all his strength gathered, Eiden teleported back to the cave. They landed in a crash. Eiden knew there was no time.
"Cissa" Cissa was covered with blood but scrambled out of the way. He took his silver knife, slashed the palm, and bled on the runic circle to power it up, draining his magic continuously lighting up the whole trap.The beast was recovering from his shock of sudden teleportation, thumping itself on the floor and slashing broken chains.
Eiden's fire blades severed the net and noose, and icy blasts froze the magic-resistant chains. Frozen chains shattered with the impact of the floor, freeing the beast. His cleansing fire is going to be his weapon, thus the dragon needs its weapon which is black fire.
Eiden took a deep breath and summoned a wave of fire which he banished at the dragon. Dragon countered it with a blast of black smoky ball of magic, and the battle began. The cavern shook as the magical blasts crashed, and Eiden knew he couldn't hold the upper hand if he let the dragon take too long to recover.
He was faster than a heavy beast, he circled it with a shield of fire running around it. The dark magic was burning with heavy black smoke which dissipated when it contacted the wards. Eiden's shield was penetrated by a thick spear-type blast effectively breaking his concentration as he jumped out of the way. But he was ready to tackle the next one when the huge black smog released with its breath, Eiden focused his magic to burn it through the dragon.
But this method was risky because the moment Eiden lost control, he would receive a huge backlash of both his magic and the magic he was countering, which could annihilate him in seconds.
He held his position, calling his fire, and in the next few minutes, it enveloped the black dragon, roaring fiercely wave after wave burning through the dragon. His fire rolled from his extended hands, and for a while, no one outside saw anything but a shadow of a black dragon screaming in agony as it was covered by fire. Eiden felt his body weakening, as his cleansing fire burned through black magic accumulated through the centuries, yet, this was his only chance to find his family, which gave him extra strength to hold his battle stance.
[https://i.imgur.com/o3gTwbt.jpg]
Black Dragon engulfed in cleansing flames
He sensed the darkness was thinning around them. When the barriers to the fire crumbled down, he realized it was successful. After what he felt like ages, there, the obstacles had burned to nonexistence and it was over. The fire slowly died as he fell to his knees panting and the black dragon slumped onto the floor, and stilled.
His body screamed in pain from the strain he put on. Crawling to the edge of the inner circle he used a jet of water to interrupt the outer protective circle allowing others to cross the line. Ierma came running and made him drink water.
"Others? Okay?" he croaked. His throat was burning.
"Cissa got some scratches, but they are fine." She supported him to get up.
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"Did you prepare the potions?" Eiden hobbled to the black dragon, supported by Ierma.
"Yes, my lord. You are too tired. Please take a rest."
"No, we have no time, bring them, and the water, my blood mixed with." Eiden looked closely at the black dragon for the first time. It was about 20 feet long, with leathery wings folded on its back. Its scales were black, but covered with gritty grime, and there were scratches, and signs of forcible removal of scales. It was proportionately smaller than he guessed according to the old drawings.
Eiden took off his clothes, and walking to the pool, submerged himself for a few minutes. The water always healed his weariness when he overworked his magic. He went back to the black dragon when Ierma came bringing healing and cleansing potions and behind her, others came with the large barrel of water mixed with 1/8th of Eiden's filtered blood.
Eiden added the cleansing potion to the water and sent a fast stream of the mixture covering the whole length of the black dragon, washing every scale, every inch of its body. The polluted water then fell into an empty casket to avoid the contamination of their lodging and later would be burned. Secondly, he used the cleansed water from the pool, gently lapping waves rolled over the black dragon.
During the last round, it stirred, and slowly opened its huge amber eyes. Eiden stared at its hypnotic gaze for a moment before breaking away. The massive jaws opened a little, allowing him to pour the water into the mouth. It blinked and looked at Eiden. He heard a thought, not his, oh mind magic, the black dragon must have psychic abilities.
'I want to talk to you' Eiden projected his thoughts. 'My kin, you smell like' The black dragon was talking about his papa. 'My mother's father is your kin, I need help'. The black dragon tried to move his body. It looked as if he was analyzing the body. He shifted, spread large wings, flapped and folded them back, and blinked.
Then, there was a soft red glow starting from the top of the head and spreading through the whole body. The group stared at the scene, astonished and a little scared. Suddenly, the black dragon started to shrink and a rustle of magical wind circled him. The wind blew like music with a whirlwind of unknown colors. It stopped, revealing a man lying down on the ground where the black dragon was, a few minutes ago.
Ierma let out a startled scream and there were gasps from others. Eiden was the first to come out of stupor. He ran to the man and knelt at his side. His eyes were closed, and his breathing was shallow and irregular.
The man was about 7 feet tall, his wavy dark hair was covering his face. His skin, only visible in his hands and face, was dark golden and he was wearing a shiny black iridescent long robe-like garment. Eiden pushed his hair back. His breathing was becoming calm and his eyelids fluttered.
"Ivar, Clade, help me to get him out of here," Eiden called his friends.
"No magic should be done. He's weak, please lift him carefully and we go to the statue hall," he instructed, and followed them.
They placed him on a mat with cushions to lift his head. Eiden mixed royal golden honey with a small amount of warm water and helped the man to drink. Though he didn't open his eyes, was conscious and drank the water eagerly. With the help of his friends, he cleaned the stranger with cleansing water, removing dark magic residue, and then covered the man with a blanket. Eiden turned to Cissa, who was with bandaged hands and cuts visible on face.
"Are you ok, what happened, Cissa?"
"They managed to tear down the door, I got them good," Cissa smiled. Eiden hugged his friend, he knew Cissa was in pain, as he winced a bit.
"Thank you, all of you," Eiden smiled at them with his heart swelling in gratitude.
The next morning, the man still didn't talk, but they managed to feed him a strengthening elixir made from an herbal concoction. Eiden was overly tired, but he felt the danger was coming for them.
"Hello," he greeted the man who woke up in the late evening. He tried to get up and Eiden helped him to a reclining position.
"Hello," he said in a deep voice, a little shaky and raspy by not using it for a long time.
"My name is Eiden Northstar, these are my friends." Eiden introduced them to the man.
"My name is Stravros," he said after a moment's hesitation, probably trying to recall his memories. Then he looked around with eyes widened with wonder.
"How..how did you get here?" he asked.
"Er..we accidentally came here, we needed a place to hide. Do you know this place?" he asked. Stravros nodded and smiled sadly.
"This was one of the abandoned dwellings of my people," he said. Eiden hurriedly explained his parents, their quest, and what happened to him, then what led him to find the black dragon. He looked at Stravros, who was attentively listening to his tale, still holding Eiden's hands.
"Please help me, tell whatever you know to find the key, and you might know what I should do next as Papa did know." Stravros took a deep breath and looked at everyone.
"My child, I'm greatly weakened by dark magic. I might have to leave the mortal plane soon, like my brother, your papa." His brow was furrowed and seemed to be struggling with some painful memory.
"No, please, tell me what I can do to help you." Eiden was distraught by the revelation. Stavros looked at Eiden and sighed.
"Son, I can only be strengthened by the magical flower nectar from a specific flower. But, on your earth, they are gone now, tainted. My brother also must have exhausted his supplies of fish. That's why he had passed away because he must have weakened beyond healing."
"We know the flower," Nub exclaimed, and when Stravros looked at her questioningly she hid her face in embarrassment at the sudden interruption she caused.
"Yes, we know. Bleeding heart flowers, we also know it became poisonous," Eiden explained.
"Can you stand up? I think there's a dead clump of these flowers in the courtyard."
Clade and Ivar supported Stravros to get up and they slowly walked to the garden. Stavros cast a dismal look at dark magic containing flowers and turned to Eiden.
"Burn them, son," he said.
"What, why?" Eiden was surprised, and he refused.
"No, we can find a way to plant them back.”
"Son, you cleansed me with your fire, the seeds won't perish, fire ejects seeds from the pods," Stravros explained and they moved back, giving Eiden space to do magic.
Eiden carefully sent the controlled waves of fire through the garden burning all the dead creepers and plants. They watched black smoke make screaming shapes, rising but consumed by crackling and raging fire, collapsing into white sparks. After a while, the fire burned out leaving a pile of white ashes and black soot.
Stravros stepped forward and made a long sweeping gesture with his hand. Something from ashes flew into his hand.
"These must be grown in a cleansed environment." On his palm, there were three glossy red seeds about the size of a pea.
"Keep them safe, we need to leave, our safe house is in the North." Eiden turned to his friends.
"Shall we go, we might need to take rest more often, not to tire out,” he paused, not knowing how to address Stravros.
"Your papa was like my adopted brother." Stravros looked at Eiden adoringly.
"Then I'll call you Papa since he's gone." Eiden hugged his newfound family.
After numerous layout points, they arrived at the little cottage. A warm meal and rest seemed to help Papa. He started a long tale.
"It began in a faraway place in the universe, billions of years ago."