Chapter 34

This world, this plane of existence, all fell away for Amy with her heart pounding propelling her down the circling spiral of stairs. Her boyfriend was at the bottom. Cling, clang, clash! Amy could hear the sounds of metal striking metal echoing off the cold stone walls; like a blacksmith forging a great weapon of renown. Though she did not recognize it, there was a female scream buried beneath the dissonant cacophony of violence and death. Amy’s legs could not keep pace with her haste. At the last stair, a step misplaced, Amy struggled forward bursting through an archway with lit torches on either side. The light of the ever-lit flames danced on the light-tan colored rock stage this massive library provided. Amy suddenly stopped, her heart burst as she was carried in her emotions. There he was, covered in black blood, with another woman standing, clutching, clinging to him. Amy looked at the sword he was holding. Her brows furrowed, her chest felt like it was tightening trying to strangle her lungs, while a lump was stuck in her throat. Amy could feel it, that sword, there was something. Then the stuffiness in her heart was burned away by foreign emotions that invaded her heart. It was a familiar feeling; she knew the source. Her grip squeezed the wand in her hand, though it felt like it was burning as if it were white molten metal. Her heart was aflame with betrayal, a violent but vulnerable hurt anger, pain, a sense of loss, and mourning. It ignited her own emotions of betrayal and jealousy in a fiery chorus.

Amy was discombobulated, as she had never once in her life felt emotions like these, which seemed like lava trying to burn its way out of her belly. Like a firefighter she tried to stay the conflagrations burning within. She marched forward with heavy, angry steps pounding on the rock floor, tears coursing down her flush cheeks.

‘He did this to me! He did this to me!’, she heard echoing in her mind with each stride forward.

“Amy????????!!!!”, Amy did not recognize his dumbstruck expression, all she saw was his left cheek.

Thoughts flashed in her mind like a shooting star in the night sky. There must be a reason for this. ‘I should talk’. Despite her emerging restraint, still her right hand lifted up above her head. The yet unidentified woman, yelped and fell backwards on her rear.

SLAP!!!!

Jeremy’s body flew sideways, as he took the mighty swing bellying Amy’s small frame. Tables broke, and chairs were smashed as he landed several feet away. Amy stood shocked. She would not be surprised if she looked in a mirror and saw that here eyes were burning holes in their sockets. But the feeling dissipated and Amy was left with the consequences of her inflamed tirade. Amy turned to the woman who was trembling.

“Heee!!!”, the woman clothed in a medieval like tunic crawled backwards in fright.

“Sorry”, Amy said meekly, sheepishly.

As her wrath vanished the space came into focus. There were chunks, halves, limbs, and severed heads of goblins everywhere on the floor. The floor, walls and columns, were painted and splattered with black blood as if it were canvas painted with abstract art. Guilt poked Amy’s heart.

Jeremy groaned. Amy looked.

“I guess I deserved that! But Jesus Christ what a hit! I thought I was gonna die”, Jeremy said.

Amy glared at him, as her unadulterated uninfluenced feelings surfaced; and Jeremy shut his mouth, hanging his head.

“I-it’s not like that…”, the woman said but was interrupted by Amy’s annoyed glare.

“Shhh!!”, Amy snapped in response.

The woman immediately shut her mouth.

“You!”, Amy shook her finger at Jeremy, he was going to be properly punished, “You left without saying anything! Do you know how I felt? I wanted to die!”.

“I’m sorry”, Jeremy said meekly, Amy could see joy, relief, tainted with a bitter regret, all in his downcast eyes as he sat on the floor.

Her remerging wrath deflated at his dejected miserable pitiable appearance; her heart was pierced, but still she kept a stern expression, “As long as you apologize, and demonstrate your remorse properly!”.

Jeremy looked up at Amy. He was surprised. Her small frame was delicate, but intimidating. ‘She looks so sexy when she is angry’, he thought to himself. He wasn’t a masochist, but he truly loved Amy, and even this aspect of her that he hadn’t witnessed before, still was attractive for him.

As if reading his mind, “Hmmph!”, she stomped and turned holding a hand to help Wan stand.

He knew he was firmly in the doghouse.

“My uncle!”, she pointed towards Chan who had been hit with a crude club.

He was groaning. Though Jeremy saw he had killed the goblin before it struck the final blow, he was still on the ground in a fetal position holding his battered bleeding scalp. Jeremy stood up, slashed down with his sword, and all the blood on the sword splattered on the ground leaving the blade completely clean. Drawing it forward with the single edge reversed, the back of the blade rubbing along the thenar webspace of his left hand as a guide, sheathing his naked blade with a tight clink.

Amy turned around from the sound of legs and arms shuffling hurriedly, as her party exited from the same archway she had pounced through.

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“Help him please Veve”, Amy said calmly as she pointed to the man curled up in a ball on the ground, pathetic groans escaping his lips.

“Who is that hunk, he looks like a badass!”, Shatira looked at her boyfriend with hungry eyes.

“Try it and you will die!”, Amy threatened, “That is Jeremy, my boyfriend hands off!”.

Jeremy behind her chuckled, Amy snapped her neck around glowering at him, “Shut it!!”.

He instantly fell quiet and looked down dejectedly.

“You’ve got him wrapped around your finger”, Glyn chuckled as she hugged Amy’s arm, “To think our little sister Amy had such fire!”.

“Dragons”, Osgur uttered as he gestured towards the woman and man.

Amy looked with surprise at the pair as a green light was emanating from Veve’s hand as she used healing magic to treat him.

Kneeling in front of Osgur standing guard behind her, Veve said, “It’s just a concussion and some small lacerations, he should be fine”.

The woman sighed with relief.

“Who are you?”, Amy asked in a softer tone.

“I am Wan, and this is my uncle Chan”, Wan replied, as Amy studied her, “We were saved by Jeremy and we were helping him to find a way to get home”.

“You’ve got quite the boyfriend”, Sean said as he purveyed and appreciated the carnage that filled the first floor of the vast library, he turned his gaze towards Wan, “You are a dragon but a clan I haven’t seen before. Where are we?”.

“We’re in Draegoch?”, Chan said as he sat up, his face a little flushed for showing such an undignified appearance.

“No, we just came from Draegoch, this place can’t be Draegoch”, Shatira challenged him.

“We’ve lived here all our lives like our ancestors before us”, Wan retorted firmly, “This is Draegoch”.

“I think we should talk with them”, Satriana said standing next Lorenn as he nodded in agreement.

Amy saw Jeremy approach to join, “Not you!”, she scolded him and he shrank back like a naughty puppy.

Minerva also glared at Jeremy. Amy couldn’t help but smirk knowing whoever Amy was mad at, so to would Minerva be. She knew Jeremy would have many questions, and so did she; however, she wanted him to stew, and besides they were on a mission to explore these ruins. She could not deny the role she had, or at least that was her excuse she told herself.

“Are there more goblins?”, Osgur asked as they all sat down in a circle to make sense of the situation.

“I don’t know it all happened so fast”, Chan said as he shook his head.

Amy noticed they all looked very much like Asians on Earth. However, their pale complexion was striking.

Wan relayed the story of how she met Jeremy, and all the things that happened thus far. Whenever she mentioned Jeremy’s exploits with a worshipping tongue, Amy couldn’t help but feel a little jealous, but she knew he couldn’t turn his head away from other’s troubles. She could tell by the look in her eyes that this dragon definitely had a crush on her man. She glanced at Jeremy coldly who had apologetic eyes.

“Hmm, I think I vaguely understand what this place is”, Glyn said as she held a slender finger to her chin, “This is Draegoch, maybe it is before the Cataclysm that Radim constantly researches. Maybe we can find a book in this library”.

“What is the name of your clan?”, Sean eyed Chan with intent and focus.

Chan squirmed nervously as he replied, still in shock from almost dying, “We are Il Dragons”.

“I knew it”, Glyn exclaimed excitedly, “The lost clan, the lost tower! So, this is where you all went”.

“What tower? We are in the ruins of an old keep”, Wan commented and queried.

It was all difficult to keep track of even for Amy after experiencing magic and many such wonderous things. A remnant of forgotten history that was what this place was. Was it part of the lost tower that Radim had explained was missing since ancient times? Were they in that place? Amy looked around at the volumes of books lining the tall shelves.

“Maybe we can find a better answer in these books”, Amy thought aloud..

All eyes settled on the desk stuck between two stone columns holding up the floor above. It seemed like a librarian’s desk. Wan shrieked, as they all saw the skeleton sitting in a chair that they all had previously, conveniently, ignored in the heavy tense awkward atmosphere of the not so happy reunion.

They all arose and walked over to the desk with candles still mysteriously lit giving the skull and eye sockets an eerie visage. It was clothed in a splendid green robe, with a book open in front of it. Amy could not read the title, but she understood that it was written in the ancient mother tongue of the draegun. A full book in the ancient language, this was something Liam and Radim said no one had ever discovered in any of the towers.

Glyn picked up the book, while looking at the skeleton.

“I know this dragon”, Wan declared as she looked at the necklace adorning its bare white collarbone, “I’ve heard Xirin tell me about him; although, I don’t remember much about the details. But he was supposedly the one that gave us the mandate to survive. We can get more answers I think if we ask Xirin”.

“Still useless”, Jeremy commented with a wry grin.

Both Amy and Wan glared at Jeremy and said in unison, “Shut Up!”

The two exchanged awkward glances, as Jeremy continued sitting in a corner.

Lorenn went over to Jeremy, slapped him on the back and whispered, but loud enough to enter Amy’s ears, “Cheer up mate. Amy talks about you all the time. It will work itself out in time. She loves you very much you know”.

“A map this is”, Minerva said as she picked up a folded piece of paper.

“Hmm, that’s convenient, it’s as if he wished for someone to find this place. Imagine just staying by yourself to die in a lone place hoping somebody to come”, Sean thought with a thoughtful expression, “Can I see that. It must have been an important mission for him to wait here until he died”.

Amy watched as Sean unfolded the map. Amy had a shocked expression as the map unfolded several times bigger than what the original size was.

Sean pointed to two circles drawn on the map. Amy looked at as well as Sean positioned it at a more convenient position for her to see. Amy drew closer to Sean. She knew it was childish but she was still low key annoyed at Jeremy. Jeremy sighed in the background as Lorenn tried to console him.

“You see this circle?” Sean looked down at Amy practically hugging him, a smirk on his face, he knew this charade, he acted nonchalantly as he pointed to it, “this says exit in the ancient tongue”.

“That isn’t the way we came here”, Wan said as she stood on the other side of Sean.

“Nor us”, Osgur contributed.

“I suppose it might be an exit for us to return to Arbell”, Veve opined.

Just then a loud boom was heard from the ground above. The earth shook violently. A stray pebble punched through the map.

Wan’s face froze with fright, “The White Duke has noticed us!”.