Chapter 24

His niece, he needed to save his niece she was a young dragon at fifty years of age. The daughter of his baby sister. Even though she left at thirty at the border of the vast network of tunnels that was safe for at least the time being. Then two weeks ago the tunnel connecting to the chamber, had collapsed. He was frantic, he was supposed to protect her and make sure she at least lived longer than he would. But now she was cut off without food and supplies. He had been to the surface a few times in his youth. But now at one hundred and fifty his body was tired, running always running. Like many of his kind they just wanted to live and die peacefully. Suicide from grief was a common occurrence, peripheral tunnels being breached and then sealed was a common occurrence, people who he had known for years showing up dead the next morning was a common occurrence. It was a bleak world she was born in, a world that cared little, and offered no condolences. He at least wanted her to be happy. Her parents gone, her grandparents, his mother and father, gone. Every day was a death march paved with cold corpses of people he knew, and they were the last of their line that had stretched back to before their people could remember. After gathering similarly grief-stricken volunteers, two weeks later they would attempt to re-enter the tunnel bringing food.

Success, that would be nice, for him it was the only thing he could think about. For others, half of the twenty wanted to help, the other half thought they could at least end their lives in a meaningful way and escape this misery they were born into. For some this expedition was bravery, for the rest it was a form of cowardice. It was an eight-hour hike to an emergency exit much like where they had left their subterranean dwelling. Two hours later, their sworn enemies’ goblins had slithered out of their holes sensing fresh meat, and a feast upon them.

And so here he was, four dead already. Their ancestors had told them survive until the appointed time. His dragon form, his real form, what was that? A bigger target easier to hit with dark magic. He had only been a dragon for a few years in his early infant life. Even if a group of dragons went and terrorized the monsters their entrance would be found, and more of the malicious monster hordes would be in their homes while they were satisfying their own ego, or venting their wrath. The once mighty dragons were brought low.

He was desperate, desperate to save the only tether allowing him to continue living: his niece Wan. Such a story was not uncommon in this world, all such endeavors were doomed, it was a world with no benefactors, no good fortune.

He was thronged about by goblins, nasty foul creatures that could dig as fast as the dwarves that led the excavation teams. They were the foe encountered most often. His old sword could not withstand the onslaught, as the countless tools of destruction rained down upon him. He heard a squelch as his foot slipped on the copious amounts of black and red blood running together. He was sure it was over, his plans, his hopes, his dreams of at least his niece dying a natural death. He was waiting to be impaled and hacked apart as he lay amongst the corpses of his enemies and friends. Then a loud explosion, shrill shrieks, and a shout, an unfamiliar voice all entered his ears. All the creatures stopped and turned their heads. A murmur erupted amongst the goblins, then a howl. They all left the battered battalion, and rushed towards their southern flank, towards one point, towards one man.

“Shit”, Jeremy said as he smirked to himself as his arms were moving through the air like water, “Fuck! Idiot! Big hero moment huh? Fucking Idiot!!!”.

Why was he here, why fight for people he didn’t know? Perhaps it was because he projected his regret onto Wan, and wished for atonement and reconciliation. But to be fair to himself this was the only thing he could do, but he hadn’t expected to take all the focus upon entering. The other people here he didn’t care about, he had one goal save her uncle. With an urge to live and not die he swung, swung, and swung again, each flick of the blade ending the rancid breathing of many goblins. As they pressed upon him, he realized something, in this new unfamiliar warfare numbers were less significant. There was only a limited space as he was the only one fighting, and there were only so many that could attack at one time. The three-meter area around him was a kill zone, it was an automatic death for any who crossed the threshold. The only question was: how long could his stamina hold out. Would he collapse to be only helpless as they rushed him? No! He would live! His life was not his.

Jeremy counterattacked, with his movement his boundary of death moved with each step. He carved into the horde, leaving a wake of blood, guts, and gore. He was amazed at his own abilities; it was almost automatic for him. He suspected it was because of the sword. If he survived, he needed to enquire about the origins of this sword.

Only twenty left, but they turned to flee.

Fearing they would come back with more and learn of this location and the tunnels, or encounter Wan, Jeremy looked over at the shocked group, and shouted, “Chan! Kill them, chase them down, you cannot allow a single one to escape!”.

Chan looked at the young man standing amidst the mounds of desecrated, decapitated, lacerated, corpses. He did not know him, but the spectacle he just witnessed and the strong voice, stirred his heart and he rose.

“AHHHHHH!!!”, with a shout he charged after the retreating goblins and others followed his wild pursuit.

Chan was filled with a new spirit; he would survive this. Twenty goblins were no match for the ten dragons left, even in human form, not in speed or strength. The eyes of an apex predator, which had been dormant for years, surfaced. With sharp eyes, and cold expressions they slaughtered the remaining monsters.

“Well done!!”, an unfamiliar voice reached his ears pushing through the murkiness of his wrath laden thoughts.

“Huff, huff’, Jeremy panted as he took a seat.

After fighting a hundred goblins alone, he had not the strength to stand.

“Jeremy!!!”, Wan came running down the baren slope anxiety clouding her clear eyes, “Uncle Chan, you’re alive”.

Jeremy looked up with a smirk on his tired face, ‘at least this useless dragon is good for my morale’, he thought to himself.

The group of dragons approached Jeremy, with surprise and an elated expression as they gathered around Jeremy, and the approaching Wan.

Wan was about to embrace Jeremy, then a paper folded into a bird appeared before him. He plucked it from the still stagnant air.

“What’s that?”, Wan asked.

“It’s a letter from my girlfriend”, Jeremy responded, he could see her crestfallen expression, her brow twitch upon hearing he wasn’t available.

She was silent, her uncle spoke for her, “Young fellow, thank you!! Not only did you rescue us, but you also saved my little precious niece!”.

Jeremy didn’t dwell on the lack of an introduction, as the uncle began to hug and fawn over his remaining family member.

“You’re safe!! I’m so happy!!! Give your precious uncle a hug!! Are you hurt? Ouch!! Why did you hit me?!”, he said.

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“Stooopppp!”, Wan protested, as she struggled to free herself from her uncle’s prisonlike embrace.

“That looked like magic just now”, Wan sad as she tore herself from her uncle.

“Hmm, probably, she sends one every twenty-four hours like clockwork. That reminds me while I was asleep were there any letters?”, Jeremy responded with a question.

Soon his question was answered as letter came after letter, soon he had no room to hold the letters and they littered the desolate ground.

‘Hmm, fourteen in total, so I was unreachable under the ground. If magic is real then that means that rock conceals magic’, Jeremy thought to himself. So that’s why they stay underground.

“What magic is this it’s familiar and unfamiliar at the same time? Who are you? Would you be so kind as to grace us with the name of our benefactor? I am Chan Tai Il of the Il dragon clan”, the uncle said as he dipped his head in a bow.

Nervously scratching his head, Jeremy replied, “I am Jeremy, a human from Earth”.

Chan’s eyes widened, as he too like many Il dragons knew of the prophecy, the remaining ten dragons also gasped. He began to eye Jeremy suspiciously.

“I’m not gonna hurt anybody. I’m not here for destruction or any such nonsense, I just wanna go home”, Jeremy put his hands up in a non-threatening gesture.

“Do you have the wand?”, Chan asked his eyes turning sharp and focused.

“He says he threw it away, when I found him, he had nothing on him except some armor, clothes, and that sword”, Wan interjected as she pointed towards Jeremy’s still naked blade.

“What she says is true”, Jeremy confirmed, “I left it when I came here. I wanted nothing to do with that object”.

“Hmmm”, Chan said as he eyed Jeremy still with vigilant eyes.

Jeremy held his sword in front of him, one hand holding the hilt, and the blade resting on the other hand, “Do you know this sword?”.

“Hmmm”, Chan hummed, he inspected the blade closer.

They watched together as the black blood dripped off the keen edge and sharp tip. Jeremy saw Chan’s eyes widen once again as they saw the blood shrink. Was it getting absorbed, or dripping off; they could not tell for certain.

“I don’t know that blade”, Chan said as he ran his hands above the portion growing from the hilt, text began to reveal itself with a light blue glow, “But of one thing I am sure, this sword is enchanted; those are characters from the Ancient Text left behind by our ancestors”.

“Come with us, talk to our Elders, maybe they know about this sword, and about you”, Wan suggested.

“Slightly useful”, Jeremy muttered to himself discreetly.

“What was that?”, Wan asked her eyebrows twitched.

“Oh nothing. That sounds like a plan”, Jeremy thought to himself.

The path leading to the entrance before the collapsed cave, was thankfully uneventful. They had sojourned for two hours, not a foe to be seen. Of course, they all tread softly. Even Jeremy wished not to be caught, with his energy spent. He was quiet thinking, considering, digesting all the pieces of information that had come to him as they strode along.

The wand was certainly evil, without a doubt. He had felt it in his soul. It was a good thing he discarded it. Furthermore, he wasn’t some idiot character denying his circumstance; he had familiarity with magic through the main stream media. He had relied on this as a point of reference. He thought of Amy as he began to read through the letters. It was obvious, somehow, she had acquired the ability to use some form of magic like him. ‘Where is she’, Jeremy pondered to himself, ‘Why was she attacked by a dark denizen of this world’. It led to another question: could beings go to and from Earth from here? If they could how could he do it? Was the way out connected to the self-proclaimed dragons, that appeared more human, more vulnerable than the imposing invincible beasts he had imagined. After all his experiences thus far, he could not rule out the possibility of them in fact being dragons.

There was something at work here. The place he came to, the sword he used, the ‘prophecy’, Amy using magic suddenly. Jeremy did not know that Amy had used the setting of the app to make her letters appear like mail in a post box, according to the laws of interfering with the world of humans, but since he had no address and no mailbox and was in a different world it had reverted to its default setting of a paper bird. Correspondence coming from a different dimension, even as flexible as Jeremy’s mind was, and how familiar he was with the fantasy genre due to Amy’s inclination; yet still it was a little hard to accept it as reality. He could get lost considering the whither to’s and why for’s, but doing so would not change the current circumstances. He turned his mind to something more constructive. ‘What does this all mean’, Jeremy thought, ‘What is the end goal, and who set up these occurrences? What role would I play, and what role was I intended to play’. He had too little information. He was thirsty for the knowledge of this world, and hopefully soon he would gain some to quench his thirst for answers.

They entered the tunnel, all wearing their cloaks of concealment, as Wan had called them. An uninspiring name Jeremy had thought. The entrance was obscured amongst a mound of light red sandstone, reminiscent of the scenes on Mars. Maybe they were connected maybe not, all sorts of possibilities popped into his head as his vision dimmed. The beginning of the tunnel was dark, damp and cramped.

“Sorry we don’t have torches, they were all destroyed when we were attacked, but we are dragons, and seeing in this light is as natural for us”, Chan said as he led the tattered party through the rock and stone.

Wan grabbed Jeremy’s hand, she was very assertive and forward, yet still Jeremy allowed it and grasped her hand, “You can follow me I’ll guide you”, she said with a nervous voice. She would be blushing; he was sure; and it may turn into a misunderstanding later; but he had no choice he could not see.

Jeremy smirked, mischievously, “Don’t get any ideas, I’m off the market”.

Was he? Surely Jeremy could still feel Amy’s heart towards him after reading the letters. But he was still anxious and unsure. He was still doubtful of his chances of returning to Earth. He shook his head; he couldn't let himself get discouraged.

Wan withdrew her hand quickly, “No, no, no, I’m not taking advantage of the opportunity”.

Suddenly Jeremy stopped, “I can’t see where are you?”, Jeremy instanly regretted teasing her.

“Don’t tease me like that!”, Wan pouted as she said with a sigh, she strengthened her grip.

Jeremy felt her warm hands intertwine with his, then she squeezed with a vice like grip, a strength that was unbelievable considering her slender arms, “Oww!! Ok! I'm sorry!”.

“Ahem”, Chan coughed.

The party became silent again. They slid through rock passageways, twisting turning. The path seemed too complex and incomprehensible.

As they progressed, even though Jeremy’s vision was stifled by the curtain of black before his eyes he did not feel the touch of a rock for some time. The ground became more even and had a downwards slope. After another hour he began to faintly see the outlines of the walls of the tunnel. They were less natural, with straight lines and sharp corners. It seemed less like the cave he was first in, and more like a fashioned, hewn path that led ever downwards, plunging deeper into the ground. He retrieved his hand as they came upon a door lit with torches. It was fashioned of wood. Jeremy questioned how did they get the material, he saw no vegetation on the surface.

Chan knocked on the wide door in a certain rhythm. Then a knock came back from the other side. The door opened as light poured through.

“Welcome to Honghjuk”, Chan said with a grand sweeping gesture, “This our refuge”.

Jeremy was speechless as crossed the threshold. They were on a terrace. The space opened and Jeremy saw a large subterranean valley with a lake of clear water. His mouth was agape as he looked at the source of light. He gasped as his eyes travelled downwards looking over the side of the terrace, then travelled up wards, his head tilting back and his neck bent as he stared straight up still looking at the massive tree that grew in the center. Nestled in its leaves were fruits, of the type he had never seen before. The hanging fruits emitted a soft white light filling up the enormous cavern. Likewise glowing white flowers, reminiscent of cherry blossoms fell from the branches travelling through the air softly, slowly, drifting on their journey towards the ground, gliding through the air like swans in a pond. It was a surreal sight Jeremy could not fathom, especially considering the lifeless surface. Jeremy looked around and could see people of all different races, and species collecting flowers capturing them in glass containers. He could see human like creatures with butterfly like wings, darting to and fro, from the branches pruning and clipping. Depositing the clippings of the flowered branch in clear vases. Having walked past the part close to the edge, he looked back at Wan who smiled, her face full of relief, an expression and feeling he recognized as he often felt that when he returned from duty. He was shocked seeing how pale her skin was; it was almost pure white. Must be the effect of living underground, he mused to himself. He returned his gaze forward. It, seemed far removed from the appearance of mere survivors, it was abundant with life. Wherever Amy was, he was sure she would enjoy viewing such a fantastic sight, right from one of her books. He sighed, ‘would I ever see her again?’, he thought with a saddened expression.