The World of Nymoria - Time's Arrow

“Wake up!”

Zuriak is thrown awake by a sudden cold sensation. He springs up immediately, still groggy, and starts mindlessly swatting the air with his claws. After it becomes apparent he’s not hitting anything, he rubs his eyes and focuses on the sole purple figure standing across the cave.

“Oh, of course. Who else would dump water on someone to wake them up.” Zuriak shakes the moisture from his mane and the upper half of his body.

“Hey, I’ll have you know I tried other methods before this. You slept like a rock. Literally. For sixteen hours.” She responds, emphasizing the pauses.

“S-sixteen hours?”

“Uh-huh, look outside, it’s already well-past daybreak.”

Zuriak looks out the cave’s entrance to the sun well over the eastern horizon. A faint golden glow envelopes the rocky slope into the meadow they trekked through the previous day, and the smell of petrichor present in the trees and plants around them.

He looks about the cave and sees nothing but bloody rags and a pair of arrows. Idylya appears to be eating berries from her open palm across the cave. He moves slightly, and a sharp pain strikes him unexpectedly. He looks at his back and sees two new stitches he doesn’t remember getting.

“Try not to twist your back too much, or you’ll rip your stitches.”

“Did you do this?”

“Yup.”

“And you found some food?”

“Yeah, I picked through the bushes this morning. They’re a little ripe, but still edible.” Idylya gets up and walks over to Zuriak, holding out her palm of blueberries. He takes a clawful and eats them all in one bite.

“What even happened yesterday? My memory is a bit hazy.”

“You mean you don’t remember?” Idylya said, concerned. “You were injured, again, so I patched you back up.”

“I remember taking a couple hits from those arrows and getting out of that forest, but I don’t clearly recall reaching a cave. Mostly just bits and pieces.”

“Huh, well you were definitely out of it not too long after we escaped them. Maybe it was the blood loss...”

Zuriak takes a couple steps forward before losing balance and resting up on the cave’s walls. He holds a claw up to his face, seeing double and shakes his head.

“Are you feeling okay? You know you haven’t eaten anything in almost a day, right? You should eat more of these.” She holds out more assorted berries in her claw.

“I’m…good. We should get going while it’s light out.” He pushes them out of the way and motions towards the exit, but she moves in front of him and places her claw against his chest.

“Don’t be dumb, you need to eat something first. We still have a long journey ahead of us until we reach Nymerion.” She pulls out the map again pointing at their location. “You’re going to pass out from exhaustion halfway through, and then I’m going to have to carry you the rest of the way, again.”

“Fine.” Zuriak huffs in defeat. She smiles and holds out a smaller pile of blueberries to him.

“Here, that’s all I have left, but it should be enough for now.” He takes it and eats slower than before, feeling much more sated.

“Told ya. That should hold you over for now.” She picks up the rucksack and slings it around her shoulder. “Here.” She then tosses his stained dagger over to him, still in its sheath.

He catches and stares at it recollecting yesterday’s events remembering the way that cyan-colored kirin with green eyes stared him down.

“Hey, you coming?” Idylya shouts from outside the cave.

He ties the sheath to his left arm and follows her out into the open late-morning sunlight. The two move around the cave and continue their climb higher up the rocky slope, now dry after yesterday’s rainfall. Patches of clouds move through the sky causing shadows to cascade through the coniferous trees around them. Idylya retrieves a compass from the bag and spins around getting a better sense of direction. As they both reach the top, Zuriak gasps at the sight before him. A vast valley separates them from an even taller rocky slope further eastward.

“Once we cross this, we’ll at least be back in Ithral.” Idylya notes, taking out the map.

“I’ve never seen the Valley of Despair from the ground before. It’s...breathtaking…” He adds, staring down into the wooded valley below.

“Hmmm? I didn’t quite catch that. It’s so windy up here.” She says, raising her voice a little. She moves her head fins out of her eyes, trying to get a better look of the valley, and puts away the map.

“Let’s go.” She starts sliding down the gravel slope getting ahead of Zuriak.

“Hey, wait for me!” He quickly follows behind her down the slope trying to keep his balance. They both dodge through trees and boulders as they descend further into the valley. As the slope begins to level off, Idylya slows down and waits for Zuriak to catch up to her.

“Hey, look up ahead.” She points through the trees in front of her to a wide river cutting through the valley, flowing south. They both approach it, and she sticks her head in without hesitation. He does the same, and looks at her under the water. She gives him a wide grin and resurfaces, shaking her head dry. Still underwater, Zuriak washes the grime from his face and mane, then takes a couple gulps of the water. He removes his head and sees Idylya looking up at the mountains towering over them.

“We still have a long way to go.” She comments, swimming through the river to the other side. Zuriak nods and follows her through the water and onto the opposite shore. After crossing, they both shake the water from their bodies and continue onward in silence.

“So, what’s it like controlling two elements?” Idylya asks, looking behind her.

“That’s a random question. Uhhh...it’s definitely hard, that’s for sure. I can’t swap between the two rapidly without focusing, but what made you curious?”

“Nothing really, just trying to break the silence. To tell you the truth, I don’t really like being a water elemental. It’s not as exciting as say...lightning or lava. I’m actually a little bit jealous of you.”

“I’m sure it’s not that bad, and Sarais’s Blessing isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. It feels like I have less control over magic than any other dragon. There’s a noticeable trade-off.”

“Well, don’t worry, I can confidently say that you have more control than someone else I know. Her earth elemental abilities almost got me killed a few times.” Idylya faces forward again as their incline shifts upwards.

“What happened?”

“One time many years ago, she wanted to spar with me to see if she had the blessing, and you know how that goes.” She briefly turns her head back at him. “It’s awakened when a dragon with the gene experiences unrelenting stress and peril. Obviously, I’m not the fighting-type, but she got rough and nearly sandwiched me in-between two boulders.”

“Ouch. Well, it could’ve been worse.”

“Pffft, that was only the first time she tried. I’ve got many more related stories.”

As the slope increases drastically, Idylya stops abruptly and faces Zuriak with a devilish smile. “Race you to the top!” Idylya bolts up the rocky incline, kicking dirt into Zuriak’s face.

“Not again!” He quickly recovers and chases after her, the strain increasing as their slope becomes more vertical. At the midpoint, he surpasses her and winds up revengefully kicking some dust into her face causing her to fall behind a bit more. At the final stretch, he leaps up and falls onto the grassy plateau above him, collapsing. Idylya slows down, realizing she lost, and comes up over the plateau gently.

“Well, well, well, you finally beat me. I was expecting you to keel over this time.” She says as she holds out a claw to him. He takes it and returns to his legs still out of breath.

“Can we…not do…these races anymore? I’ve dealt with enough…these past couple of days.” He wheezes out.

“I’m sorry, I won’t provoke you anymore.” Idylya says remorsefully. “It was probably a bad idea anyway with those stitches.” She catches a glimpse of her handiwork and feels a wave of relief, noticing that they are still intact. Zuriak gets ahead of her and the two enter the forest, one step closer to home.

~

Idylya stops and looks up at the shining afternoon sun, shielding her eyes.

“Nnnngg, it feels like we’re in an oven.” She pants. “It’s the middle of Raina. Weather like this doesn’t usually come about until Solera.”

“It is particularly unusual.” Zuriak responds, moving past her. “As long as we stay in the trees and out of direct sunlight, it shouldn’t be too bad.” Idylya readjusts her eyes to the vibrant green landscape in front of her and trots up to Zuriak, now a good ten meters ahead.

“Remember that heat wave we had five years ago?” Zuriak asks, looking back at her.

“Yeah, it lasted for two weeks that summer, and none of our scholars could figure out why. I remember just swimming in the lake below the city for hours a day just to cool off. I didn’t think much of why it happened at the time, but I did hear some odd rumors like how it may have been caused by a unicorn sorcerer tampering with the weather system.” Idylya replies, remembering as if it were yesterday.

“I heard a different rumor that all the qilins were in their charred forms for those two weeks because of a murder of one of their own and the combined heat from their flames spread out into the surrounding countries.” Zuriak added.

“I haven’t heard that one, but here’s an interesting one. About a week after the heat wave, when I was heading home through the central plaza, I overheard a couple of guards speculate that it might have been one of the winged unicorns; the one who controls the sun. Like she was amplifying the sun’s heat for who knows why. Most speculated that it was a message to those who don’t worship her or something. Of course, we have no way of investigating this theory since dragons are forbidden from entering Canterlot without a royal invitation. It’s not like we’d get an answer anyway even if we could. Those snobby unicorns think they’re so…” She trails off, trying to find the right word.

“Perfect?” Zuriak finishes, raising an eyebrow.

“Infallible.” She corrects.

“I’m pretty sure those two words mean the same.”

“Yeah, yeah, fine mister thesaurus. Perfect is what I meant. They think they are so powerful because they have two goddesses watching over them that can literally bend the natural order to their will.”

“That sounds pretty powerful to me.” He grins, knowingly getting on her nerves.

“No, that’s not what I’m getting at. If they never had their two omnipotent rulers, their country would be far less developed and they wouldn’t have those crazy, self-centered egos. I find them more annoying than the qilins, honestly!” She says, raising her voice.

Zuriak laughs and looks back towards their path. “Wasn’t expecting the conversation to take a turn so suddenly.”

“Oh, right, sorry.” She apologizes.

“Doesn’t this seem like a bad omen though? Perhaps the start of another heatwave, or maybe something bigger?”

“Seriously? One warm day, and it’s a bad omen to you? I doubt it’s anything relating to the qilins as we didn’t see anything strange with that camp, or those hunters. Though…” Idylya trails off and ponders for a moment. “...You killed that qilin hunter yesterday. If we get two weeks of blistering heat, that would lend more credence to your theory. And yet, on the other claw, I do like the idea of blaming the unicorn’s sadistic ruler…” She trails off once again looking up through the leaves.

“Hey, watch out!”

Idylya snaps out of her thoughts only to smack face first into a tall, carefully-carved stone tablet protruding up from the ground. Roots twist and wrap around its smooth surface as if the trees were grasping it while piles of leaves coat the forest floor around it.

“What the fuck? Who put this here!?” She exclaims, holding her nose with both claws to try to relieve the pain.

“Beats me.” Zuriak responds with an arm extending up the rock. “I tried to warn you.”

“Whatever.” She continues rubbing the sore while Zuriak peers up and around the polished monolith, discerning its origin.

“It’s got to be five meters tall and probably two meters wide. Almost looks like it grew here judging by the way it’s embedded in the dirt, but it’s so neatly carved, it leads me to believe someone cut into it.” He looks up on the semi-flat surface and sees faint markings behind all the roots embedded in the stone. Curious, he starts crawling up and around the monolith to get a closer look. Surely enough, there’s illegible text carved into the smooth surface. “Looks like there’s something written all over it.”

Idylya looks up to him, momentarily forgetting the pain, and circles around to the other side. Her leg catches on some of the roots causing her to stumble a bit, but she notices more writing on the back side. She moves her eyes closer, inspecting the hieroglyphs, but struggles to gather any meaning from them.

“Someone was definitely here though, but I doubt it was recent.” She mentions. “From what I can tell, the writing sort of resembles an ancient language from long ago. I remember spending a month learning about the history of southern dragon language in university, and some of the symbols here definitely look familiar. Zyntrithian is the name of it, I believe.”

“I didn’t know you were a linguist. Are you able to translate?” Zuriak asks, still studying the symbols.

“If taking a few classes on linguistics makes me a linguist, then sure.” She chuckles to herself. “But unfortunately, I barely even remember the basic syntax and grammar, let alone the symbols themselves. It’s been years since I last touched the subject, but allegedly, Zyntrithian was once the native language of Ithral. However, after the Great Equestrian war at the end of the second era, it was phased out in favor of the Equestrian ‘common tongue’.” Zuriak crawls back down to her level and looks at the same writing.

“See this one? The one that looks like a ‘Z’ with lines across the center? That means ‘ice’, I think. It’s pronounced ‘zenya’. And this one below it symbolizes ‘disease’ or something of the sort.” She then points to a symbol with a plus sign and a long ‘S’ intersecting the center diagonally. It’s pronounced ‘sho’.

“Zenya sho. Ice disease.” Zuriak iterates.

“Well there’s more to it, but I’m not too certain on what the following symbols mean. Might be worth writing down and examining in the Arcanum of Nymer when we return. There’s several volumes of books on translating Zyntrithian.” She replies, taking out a notepad and charcoal stick from her bag.

“What’s weird is none of our history books or scrolls ever mentions an ‘ice disease’ or any deadly ice event. So then why are there engravings on a boulder in the middle or nowhere? Almost makes me wonder if we are the first ones to discover this lost relic in centuries. Come to think of it, there’s still so much uncharted forest in Ithral, so it’s possible that none of our kind has ever discovered this place until now. Most of our long-distance travel is done by flight, so I suppose it makes sense no one has come across this before.”

She begins copying the columns of symbols in her notebook from right to left, top down, carefully drawing with the tiny piece of charcoal. Zuriak turns away and looks deeper in the forest beyond the stone. A dark, shadowy figure sits motionlessly just beyond the sea of trees. A pair of oddly-shaped branches flay up from the head of the object mirroring each other almost resembling a stag’s antlers. He focuses on it and begins moving forward only to bump into a tough, gritty object catching him by surprise. Resting below and partially buried, he sees a tombstone mostly covered by undergrowth and fallen leaves. He lowers himself and removes some of the foliage obscuring the text on the tombstone’s head. Like the monolith, it contains various symbols, though the patterns and shapes differ.

“Is this a graveyard?” He asks himself. He turns back towards the dark forest, not seeing the mysterious figure anymore.

“It’s...gone?”

Idylya approaches him as she puts away her notebook. “What’s gone?”

“There was something, someone, an object just outside my vision. I swear I saw something, but it’s gone now.” Zuriak scratches his head and looks down at the tombstone again. “Oh yeah, that as well.”

Idylya lowers and inspects the grey block.

“It’s a grave.” She tenses up a bit and looks around spotting some other similar grey objects. Standing back up, she walks over and brushes off the next adjacent block of stone revealing more ancient text.

“We’re on a burial ground.” She whispers to herself. “We should leave.”

Zuriak continues walking through the graveyard inspecting the foreign writing. After passing several down the row, he sees one with no writing.

“No name? Were they preparing for more deaths?” Zuriak looks up from the grave to see Idylya trotting fast through the graveyard. Zuriak sprints to catch up with her.

“Hey, what’s the rush!? We didn’t finish investigating.”

“This is hallowed ground, a sacred place. We shouldn’t be here.” She says, eyes jumping from grave to grave nervously. Both of them walk past more gravestones and move further south, catching glimpses of more burial mounds along the way. Zuriak tries to keep up behind her, not paying any mind to what he’s seeing.

“Do you think the dead are going to rise from the grave?” Zuriak asks sarcastically.

“No, obviously. I’m just getting an eerie feeling, like we don’t belong here. Almost like they or something else is watching.”

“...Alright.”

As they travel further, Zuriak notices the tree shapes becoming more warped, and irregular. Some even have no branches, as if they just broke off and never grew back. Soon, a thin mist begins flooding the forest, and the temperature drops noticeably.

“Are you seeing this?” Zuriak questions, seeing his own breath.

“I don’t have a good feeling about this. Stay close and don’t stray, otherwise we’ll lose each other.” She replies, not looking back. Zuriak nods and sticks by her side as the mist thickens.

“I’ve never seen anything like this. It almost seems intentional, deliberate, like we are being hunted.” He mentions, peering into the white mist. “...or maybe in this case, haunted.” He notes.

“All the more reason to get out of here.” She sharply responds, fear in her voice. She speeds up past him, slowly disappearing in the dense fog around them.

“Hey, hold up, I’m losing you!” Zuriak exclaims, trying to match her speed, tripping over logs and rocks on the hazy floor. Idylya doesn’t react to his call and gets further away.

“Did she not hear me?” He says to himself.

“Hey, slow down!” Zuriak shouts again, louder. He stops and takes a moment to rub his eyes, removing the tears caused by the smokey fog. As he reopens them, Idylya vanishes completely within the mist. Zuriak does a double take and circles around looking for any movement.

“IDYLYA!”

He cups his ear hoping for a response, but nothing comes.

“So much for sticking together.” He grumbles and falls to the leafy floor, trying to stay below the fog.

“I need to get out of here, but where did she go?”

A twinkle of light illuminates in his peripheral vision and grabs his attention. Turning towards it, he sees a shining, translucent orb in the distance piercing through the mist. Drawn to it, he returns to his feet and follows the orb though seemingly not getting any closer the further out he goes.

Is it moving further away?

He continues pursuing the unreachable ball of light not paying much mind to the trees and branches around him. Unable to see the ground below him, his left arm falls through to nothingness causing his whole body to topple down a sloped cliff. Sustaining a few cuts and bruises along the way, he eventually hits the bottom and rolls onto his stomach.

“It would be nice if I could not get hurt for once.” He huffs, talking to no one in particular. He opens his eyes and sees the same orb no longer moving. As he lifts himself back up, he straightens out his back and shakes his mane, removing the dirt and pebbles. Some of the fog clears, revealing the orb and its companion. A light-coated stag stands before him with majestically shaped antlers that almost double its height. It kicks its hooves into the dirt while the aforementioned orb of light rests between its antlers. Zuriak slowly approaches the stag, but as he does, it bolts off deeper into the fog. He chases after it once more, but a strong gust of wind catches him by surprise and clears up all of the fog. Right where the stag was, a large ornamental gravestone rests.

Zuriak approaches the gravestone cautiously. As he walks up, tiny snowflakes float down from the bleak, cloudy sky above.

“Snow…?” Zuriak holds out a claw catching some of the flakes. Soon, the earthy ground is covered in a white blanket of frost despite the light snowfall. Zuriak looks up at the intimidating headstone towering well above his height featuring a neatly chiseled Ithralian lung dragon somewhat resembling himself. He turns his gaze down and his eyes fixate on the blank nameplate.

“Another no-name? This one looks nothing like the ones from before.” He questions, staring into the polished surface. As he’s about to touch the gravestone, the sounds of branches snapping echo throughout the forest. He spins around trying to determine the source, growing more fearful, but fails to see any movement. He turns his attention to the grave again and places a claw on the nameplate.

“It…feels like there’s a heartbeat underneath the stone…” A sudden, strong brush of wind pushes his mane to the side and he feels a strange presence behind him. Turning around slowly, he’s greeted by the same stag from before towering above him. Zuriak stands frozen in shock, unsure how to react. It kneels down to his level and points its antlers towards Zuriak, presenting the orb of light. Zuriak hesitantly reaches for the orb, but before he could make contact, a blinding light engulfs his vision. The light is rapidly replaced by darkness as Zuriak opens his eyes, noticing the grave is now gone. His heart starts racing at the sudden change.

“Where am I!? Hello!?” His voice echoes through the darkness. His claw now rests on polished crystal that is smooth to the touch. He squints into the darkness and into the crystal's reflective surface seeing his own disheveled appearance. His mane is a complete mess, and dirt covers most of his scales.

“It’s been only a few days, but it looks like I’ve been gone for weeks.” Turning directly behind him, he sees light at the end of the tunnel. He takes one last look at his reflection before continuing down the path.

Zuriak rounds the corner, but immediately steps back upon noticing the near ninety-degree drop. Looking around, he sees a cresting sun just over the horizon hiding behind an array of tall mountains. Clouds are present overhead, but giving way to the light of dawn. Along the ledge, there doesn’t appear to be any trail leading from the cave.

“I’ve got to be dreaming right now. Did that stag teleport me here? How could that be possible?” Zuriak ruffles his mane in frustration, trying to make sense of things. “Would I be able to fly?”

He moves an arm up to his neck confirming that the collar is still there, dismissing his dream theory. He peeks just over the ledge, inspecting the severity of falling. Nothing, but pitch black darkness awaits. A cracking sound ripples throughout the canyon and nearby adjacent peaks. Zuriak looks down and notices the crystal rock he's standing on begins to split.

“Shit!”

As the rock splits open, Zuriak lunges for the stable side he came from. He narrowly grabs hold of the cracked ledge with most of his body hanging over the chasm below. He digs his claws into the crystalline rock, but quickly loses grip as the weight of his body drags him down. The rocks his claws are holding onto begins to crack as well. Without any warning, the remaining rocks and crystals on the ledge separate and slide down the slope. Zuriak falls down into the darkness below, closing his eyes, awaiting the impact.

But no impact came. He opens his eyes, seeing the morning sky above and a barely visible crescent moon, glowing on the western edge. He rolls over off his back and scrambles to his claws, absorbing his surroundings.

“It's all so surreal and yet it feels more real than anything.” He walks over to the cliffside overlooking the vast valleys and forests stretching beyond the horizon. To the south, he recognizes the lake he and Idylya traversed a day prior with the little island and waterfall. West of that he sees the clearing where the kirin camp was now completely vacant.

“The Peaks of Peril. I've never been up here before...” Zuriak continues, whispering to himself.

He turns his body around, eyes still glued on the scenery. As he turns his head forward, a sharp object stabs through his chest and exits out his back. His eyes start tearing up in pain and he coughs up a bit of blood, as he sees the culprit. A charred kirin with solid white eyes and blue flames burning off their mane and hooves glares at him while a long, red piece of glass extends from their glowing green horn. Unconsciousness takes hold of him once more before he is able to speak, and he drops to the ground once more.

A familiar cold and wet sensation washes over Zuriak, causing him to bolt upright instantly. He rubs his eyes and slowly opens them, adjusting to the light and rolling onto his stomach. Three figures come into view as his vision sharpens. One of them a maroon, spiky-maned dragon with spiraling horns and light red scales, the other one a grey-scaled dragon with a light green mane, and the third one a recognizable purple dragon currently sealing their water canteen. Zuriak immediately rolls over once more, getting a sense of his surroundings. The same pond he followed the stag to is present behind him, though the gravestone is gone.

“So, it was just a dream after all.” He whispers to himself. “It felt so real…”

“What was that?” Idylya asks. Zuriak shakes his head.

“It’s nothing, but must you do that every time? There are other ways to wake someone up” He retorts.

“It’s the ‘tried and true’ method for you at least. Hasn’t failed me yet.” Idylya boldly responds, stashing away her canteen in the rucksack. Zuriak rolls his eyes.

“Why did you leave me behind? I shouted your name a couple times after we separated.”

“I didn’t hear you. In fact I was doing the same after I lost you. Eventually, the mist faded and I heard voices not too far away. Thank the divines they found me, because I couldn’t make heads or tails of where I was.” She points to the two dragons next to her.

“Good to see you are alive, Zuriak.” The light red dragon holds out a claw. Zuriak takes it and pulls himself up. “When you two never returned after the hunt a couple days ago, a search party was formed. We had groups of six scour the areas north, east and west of Lake Nokova. I’m quite surprised you two got lost in the first place given how you both have been hunting these woods for months now.”

“Where did you two even go?” The grey dragon asks. “Ryn and I have been scanning this area all day while Xellis and a couple others are searching over on the eastern side of the lake. He’ll be relieved we found you two.”

“We made the poor decision to go way too far out past the bounds, Fenrir.” Zuriak answers.

Idylya speaks up. “And we ran into a fierce group of boars. About seven of them. We were outnumbered and had to retreat for a bit. Eventually, it got dark fast and we lost our way.”

Ryn laughs. “You two couldn’t hold your own against a pack of boars? Sounds like you’ve grown soft this past winter.”

“Hey, we were tired, it was late, and we weren’t prepared to take on seven of them.” She spat.

“Sure, sure, next you’ll t-” Ryn cuts his sentence short, now noticing a shiny onyx collar around Idylya’s neck. It was blending in with her violet scales. He turns his focus back to Zuriak seeing an identical collar, no longer being obscured.

“Fenrir, find the other four and head back to the lake. Send the signal for all other parties to meet back up. We’ll regroup in a bit.”

Fenrir nods silently and disappears in the forest.

“You shouldn’t lie to a superior, you know. You were captured by the qilins weren’t you? Those magic suppression collars are made by them to suppress chakra flow. You can tell by the runic markings around the ring.” Ryn runs a claw across Idylya’s collar and gives them a suspicious look. “It would explain why you simply did not fly home...”

“Okay, the truth is we were ambushed by qilins hunters at the border.” Idylya hesitates before continuing. “They overwhelmed us and took us hostage. We were thrown into cages with these magic collars and chains at their camp near the Peaks of Peril.” She turns her head towards Zuriak, nudging him to speak.

“Uh, right, we managed to escape that night when the guards weren’t looking. One of them accidentally left a small sharpened blade sticking in one of the crates near our cells. I managed to pick the lock with it. Once we were far enough away, we used rocks to break the chains. We ran away that night and have been on the move ever since.” Zuriak finishes, making eye contact with Ryn.

Ryn holds his chin processing the news, giving them both the same skeptical look as before. “I see…so, it seems they are advancing on us after being dormant for the last several months, taking prisoners and doing who knows what. They are plotting something, and it’s worth sharing this information with the rest of the Council when we return. Here.” Ryn’s right claw crackles a bit, then erupts in flames forming a fiery aura down to his wrist.

“This might burn a bit.” He uses his left claw to hold Idylya’s collar stable and begins running a fiery claw down the top. The metallic surface slowly melts as Idylya winces in pain. After the metal softens, he runs his nail all the way down, slicing through it like butter. He then separates the collar with both claws and tosses it to the ground while Idylya soothes her burn.

“Was there no better way to remove that!? You could’ve warned me first!” She exclaimed.

“I did say it might burn a bit, and unfortunately no. The only way to open it is with the key...or you burn it with dragonfire. The material they use is so durable that normal fire is not hot enough to burn through it. Overall, it’s not an issue if you’re a fire elemental, but still presents a problem for every other elemental.” Idylya picks up the charred collar and inspects it. “Our metallurgists haven’t been able to identify the metal either, but we believe it’s a rare substance found deep within the Peaks of Peril.” Idylya nods and continues staring into it.

“Alright, Zuriak, your turn.” Ryn says as his claw lights up again.

“Let’s get this over with.” He responds, unamused. Ryn nods and cuts the collar with ease this time and tosses the smoldering object away. Ryn shifts his focus to the scarring around Zuriak’s chest.

“You really took a beating. Good thing you have a healer watching over you.” Both of them look over at Idylya, who picks up the second collar and compares it against her own.

“We should get going, it’s going to be dark soon. You’re going to explain your story to the Council when we return, got it?” Ryn says as he starts hovering. Zuriak nods and looks up at the sky. Not much later, a white flare launches high into the air not far from their position.

“That’s the signal, let’s join up with the rest and head home.” Ryn commands. Before they leave, Idylya shoves both collars into her rucksack discreetly as Ryn takes off. Both dragons fly after him through the trees and into the open sky. Zuriak looks down at the forest below passing by, then turns his gaze to the setting sun, still processing the strange dream he experienced.

There are so many things we know nothing about in this world, magic and phenomena. I have so many questions about what I saw, but I fear none of them will be answered anytime soon.