Chronicles of Yugure: Plummeting Into Uncharted Depths ~Chapter 22+24

[Enoki]

R'member those old chapters of m'book that I posted on here a loong while ago? Well, I've gone and redone the first two original chapters, making them more interesting and all 'round better f'er the reader. (To be honest, I think the original versions of these chapters sucked. >v<") I've d'cided to post m'latest chapter, which I'm quite proud of its length-I've reached 25 pages according to Wattpad on this chapter-and rather liked its content. Do let me know what you think of it, if ye d'cide to read it.

Also, I apologize f'er creating yet 'nother thread on this board. I sadly ran out of space on m'latest thread and 'twouldn't let me add this in. >v<"

Warning, chapter 22 does contain spoilers! If you haven't read the previous chapters, do not proceed. Or, if you won't be following Enoki's adventures closely and most likely won't be reading the book in full, by all means check out m'latest chapter.

Day Twenty-Two

"What do you mean there's no way out!" Sendaar barks at our new found accompaniment to the group, Hotaru, who doesn't seem the slightest bit interested in quarreling with what he calls the "talking chicken".

After we had followed Sendaar back to Hotaru's den we had started a discussion as to how we were to escape this putrid smelling sauna. Hotaru doesn't seem to mind the smell of the gases formed in what he explains to us as part of the volcano, Mt. Kazan, which happens to be where I first entered the Volcanic Isles from. This, however, are the underground caverns that snake in, around, and under the actual volcanic magma chamber. He says we are completely safe unless Kazan decides to erupt. Safe. Right.

"I got her by swimming through one of the side vents. Unless you are invulnerable to lava, I suggest you find another way out." Hotaru shrugs and pops a lava rock in his mouth, crunching down on it with his steel-hard jaw.

"Aren't you coming with us?" The pyroraptin looks incredibly apprehensive, shifting a few steps every minute as if the lava will jump out of its hole and come after him.

The brute just gives another shrug. "I don't see why I would. I'm rather content right here. I've done my share of rebelling against the Mist and I would like to enjoy my down time." Hotaru lies down on his belly, crossing his forearms casually.

Sendaar snorts in disappointment. "Well don't come crying to me when your peaceful little realm turns into a chaotic catastrophe and you're stuck down here going psychotic with the Mist's evil spawn pecking and pestering at you day and night!" The raptin stomps his foot for emphasis.

"Dramatic little bird-brain, isn't he?" Hotaru murmurs to me on the side as he watches Sendaar go into a tizzy.

"Bird-brain?!!" Caws the raptin, grating his talons on the floor like a bull preparing to charge. This meeting is not going how I had planned.

I ruffle my feathers, trying to get a cool draft to enter in my mane. "Alright, alright. Please, we must figure out a way to get out of here without being spotted. The main opening is guarded on different levels, from m'presumption and what ye 'ave told us, Sendaar. Can ye tell me 'gain what ye noticed?" I try to steer the topic back on course. The pyroraptin looks rather pleased with the idea of him sharing his intel.

"Well, I was questioned first before they threw me down here, so I got a decent tour of their base. Apparently, there are at least three levels of tunnels in this underground, rotting pit. Eggs aren't the only rotten smell they have cooking around here. Baby monstrosities are being bred here.

"I never expected to see this, because it's just not natural, but cross breeding wolfwyres with other species is just horrific. They breed like wild dogs and who knows what kind of mutated species shall be formed by this horror. I think they're trying to do cross genetics with them and dragons. Dragons! Can you imagine what would happen if they succeeded to blend the genes of those two? The Mist would have an unstoppable force.

"They are also using the lava here to forge their weapons and armor. Some sort of heating system is set following the lava flow, rerouting the current to their forges. I didn't get to see what sort of metal ore they're using, but I don't think they are using the material we saw on our previous captors because these wolfwyres are wearing armor much more decorated and well crafted."

"Well, what does that mean? Do ye think this is a higher up regiment?" I interrupt with my thoughts.

"It may," he replies. "But it could also mean that these groups aren't working that closely together, so they haven't put their resources together. That may be why they didn't check you for that book of yours. Another reason why we need to get out of here as soon as possible or else they'll eventually find out and all will be lost. They definitely won't trust you to translate it again. The Mist will do anything to keep us away from that book if they get their hands on it."

"What's so special about this book of yours?" Hotaru pipes up after seeming completely uninterested in our talk. He hops down from his perch and wanders a few steps closer to us and lies back down again.

"'Tis m'journal that I've been writing in. It has just 'bout every species cataloged by the gryphon society including new species that I've been studying along the way. The League of Mist wish to use it 'gainst the inhabitants of Yugure as they plow through the realms, conquering them. This cannot get into their hands," I say, waving the book with emphasis. Hotaru's blazing eyes watch the book carefully as I hold it.

"Then why not burn it? Wouldn't that save everyone a whole bunch of trouble?" Hot looks at me contemptuously, playing with a rock.

A sigh. That would be the end of my troubles, for now at least. "B'cause, there is information 'bout the Mist in here as well. Wolfwyres, shadones-they're all in here right along with the rest of the creatures of Yugure. B'sides, a lot of this info can be found right in the gryphon archives."

"And you mean to tell me that the Mist hasn't figured this out yet?"

I shake my head in reply. "I'm 'fraid that the gryphon absence in Yugure's culture the past few hundred years has left a toll on the realms. Not many creatures remember who we are and what we can contribute to the world. The Mist probably doesn't know one iota 'bout the First Realm."

"So, what is your plan after-if-you escape?" Hotaru inquires.

I yawn, stretching out my hind legs and let my hands grasp for air as my arms reach ahead of me. "Head to the Spires and find the one Lady Asha sent me to find. Unfortunately, she gave me no name. I just hope they know I am coming." I say with uncertainty. I haven't thought that far ahead, to be quite honest. With no name, I'll be wandering the Spires aimlessly looking for a phantom.

"Pfft, well that seems like a solid plan," the lava dragon says sarcastically.

I go to reply but he wanders off toward the tunnel exit out of his domain. "Hey, where are ye going?" I call out to him. He waves his hand violently at me to be quiet and he hastens out. I feel as if I should follow him, but before I can go out something comes back in. A bright orange dragon is thrown out of the mouth of the tunnel and lands a few feet away from me. It's Milah.

"You!" I cry out in agony. This is the first time my good judging of character was ever wrong, and now I'm stuck in a pit for my mistake. The traitor jumps up in surprise to see Sendaar and I standing together in this unpredicted scenario.

Hotaru circles up from behind him, like an animal hunting its prey. Milah falls to his knees, "Please, you must hear me out. I had no choice. There were innocent lives at stake. My neighbors, my friends, they were going to use them as carriers-breeding partners to their dastardly genetics program! I couldn't say no to them. I know now that it was the wrong thing to do, but that's why I'm here. Please, you must believe me, sonny. I'm here to break you out."

We all look in shock as Milah explains what has all went down since they hired, so to speak, the palm dragon and what they've been up to. Milah explains in depth the plans to enslave the larger species of the realms into their breeding program, making the captives what Milah says they call carriers. Females will be taken from their homes and bred in a barbaric fashion with the wolfwyres to produce unholy offspring which the Mist will use as their army. I am starting to gain back the faith I had in the palm dragon, but my past experience has made me wary of him. Sendaar seems rather indifferent to the creature; he is just happy to hear this escape plan. Hotaru puffs a cloud of smoke from his mouth, probably eager to get the three of us out of his mane.

"So we'll look like your prisoners, being taken to see the general in command?"

"And we'll all walk right out."

"Do ye think 'twill work?"

"Oh, most certainly, sonny."

"Won't they notice what you three are up to? I mean, once you leave the volcano, they'll know something is up." Hotaru interrupts, making a rather good point.

"Oh, but we won't be leaving the volcano. There's a secret portal hidden somewhere in the caverns above us. I can take us directly to the Spires from there. They won't have a clue!" The pyroraptin chirps cheerfully with a leap of joy to finally be escaping the clutches of the Mist-this time for good. I, too, share this glee. I can finally continue my mission, which would have been already completed if someone more qualified had taken up the task.

'Why did Asha pick me?' I wonder to myself as the rest of the details are drawn out metaphorically.

~

"Are we all set?" Milah asks two hours later. With good timing, and a lot of hiding one's actions, Milah had secured two pairs of cuffs and chains allowing us to blend into our prisoner personifications.

The raptin and I both nod our heads quietly. We're all nervous, except for Hotaru who is nowhere nearby. We had left his home and set our sights on the main cavern, ready to walk past every guard in the fortress-even say hello to one or two with a smile on our faces. Well, that might give us away just a tad.

I pick up Sendaar and follow Milah as he holds onto our leashes. We land casually on the third floor, two levels up from where we had originally been staying. The guards look at us confused, that is until Milah swears at us using words I'm not quite sure of the meaning and yanks at the chains, making us move forward. Both guards look at each other with a shrug at the shoulders and relax, letting us pass by without question.

Sendaar pounces forward slightly behind Milah. He whispers in his ear which way to turn next and I follow suit. One wolfwyre sentry looks at us funny and stops us in our tracks. I dare not let one bead of sweat escape my body, lest I give off a guilty aura making our escape impossible.

"Where are you taking these prisoners? They are not needed for the Carrier Program." He grunts in a monotone voice. The soldier seems perfectly still while he speaks. Sendaar shrivels back behind Milah for protection.

Milah straightens up his posture and looks down at the sentry. "I happen to be taking them to General Vannhyde for questioning." The guard looks at us, still untrusting. But eventually he gives up the staring contest and waves us through. We wait until we are out of sight before we let ourselves heave a sigh of relief and relax our tensed up muscles.

We take a right, then a left, another left, more rights. To be honest, I think I've lost track of what turns we have taken; I seriously hope we don't get separated. I stop counting the turns to myself and mindlessly follow Sendaar and Milah, who have struck up a conversation when no guards are there to listen.

"We are almost there. We just have to go up to the next level and pass a few more hallways until we get to the rocky section. Once we're through there, we should be safe." I can hear Sendaar whisper to Milah as we trudge along. I moan violently on the inside, wishing I could physically scream. The palm dragon nods and we take one final turn to the stairs.

My head slides along the wall in agony of walking the monotonously drab rocky hallways. I can see the top of the staircase, which excites me to the core. Of course this still means more walking once we reach the top. Whoopee.

Milah and Sendaar both murmur something out of the corner of their mouths that I cannot catch, but I realize that it was most likely another curse word as I reach the top to stairs to see a whole squad of wolfwyres waiting for us. Their faces look atrocious and fierce with a snarl to go with. Each of them is pointing a sharp looking scythe at us, all but one, I mean.

The odd one out steps forward and looks at us with a wicked grin. "Now, there, where do you think you're going with those prisoners, Milah? I was informed by one of my watchmen that you were taking them to me for questioning. Now, I don't recall us making an appointment for such an action, do you?"


Milah stands silent, along with Sendaar and I. There is really nothing to say. We are trapped, again. I just wish for once our luck would change. The general pulls out a contraption from his bag slung to his side.

"You're not getting out of here, you know that, don't you? And now, thanks to you, I have to blow this section of the fort. We can't afford to risk you all getting out now can we? Farewell to you three." With that he presses the button on the strange device. The entire ground shakes with a ferocity I have never been aware of. General Vannhyde laughs maniacally as he dramatically swoops away from view, leaving us with his lackeys guarding the exit.

"You seriously aren't just going to stay here, are you?" Sendaar says, trying to tempt the guards to leave their post. "I mean, you'd rather sit here and get crushed by a multitude of rocks than escape death's grasp and live to tell the tale? It's not like we'd tattle on you."

The wolfwyres simply growl at the bribe. Rocks start to tumble off towards us from the ceiling and the stairs behind us begin to quake. The guards begin to force us back, closed to the crumbling staircase. With no way to defend ourselves, we're trapped.

"Get out of the way!" A familiar shadowy voice calls out from behind. I turn just in time to see Hotaru nimbly hop on what was left of the breaking stairs and charge toward us with fire in his eyes.

'Oh wait, there's fire in his mouth too. Oh shiitake mushrooms!' I duck in the nick of time, as just a millisecond before would have been too late as the burning magma dragon leaps to our rescue-almost singeing my petrified wooden antlers.

His muzzle is covered in hot magma as he spews it towards our enemies. The ones hit with this melting blast yelp in suffering slowly being consumed on the floor. A swoop of his fiery scorpion tail stings the closest standing warrior. Magma pulses through the tail and into the tip where it injects the molten lava into the enemy. I'm completely astounded at the efficiency of Hotaru's battle skills and I must remember to ask him if he would ever consider teaching me.

The cries of the fallen must have been heard as reinforcements arrive to aid in their stand off. Hotaru is overwhelmed with enemies and becomes distracted for only a moment. An unfortunate falling of a stalactite injures our friend on his hind leg, handicapping him for the time being. He roars in anger as the rock crushes his foot and ripples over, falling down the tunnel where the stairs had once been. The echoing sound spirals downward, causing an avalanche of rocks to tumble into the hole, blocking the way we came from.

Hotaru tries his best to ward off the enemies, but it's too much with an ankle beginning to swell. Milah looks at us, "You must get out of here, sonny. Take your injured friend and get out of here. This place will collapse any minute." The palm dragon charges fearlessly into the swarm of wolfwyre guards, pushing them away from Hotaru and the exit.

"Come, quickly!" Sendaar urges us into motion. I attempt to aid Hotaru in walking behind Sendaar, but he refuses.

"I'm too hot for you to touch without burning yourself," he replies calmly and moves on the three good feet he has left.

Sendaar quickens the pace, and I worry for Hotaru, who limps rather badly. The raptin screeches to a halt and stares at a wall. "This is it, but it looks like the quaking has caused the rocks to shift. I'm not sure if you two will be able to fit." Sendaar looks us over for measurements.

"Allow me," Hotaru says grumbling deeply. The sound gets louder as his chest expands. His mouth opens to release a blast unlike anything I have seen before. The light is blinding, and I cover my eyes for protection. When the light fades I look to see a neatly formed circle, still cooking off from the high temperature it took to melt away the rock.

"Well done," I compliment him as he pursues the tunnel's other side. Sendaar follows swiftly as I take up the rear. The floor is burning to the touch, but it makes us hasten our pace.

"Over here!" Sendaar shoves me to the left and over a large step. Hotaru follows behind me as Sendaar hops through a vast glowing crack in the wall. We look at each other and both follow our pyroraptin friend.

The air. The grass. A cool breeze hits me like a fresh cup of spring water. It's too astonishing for words. Floating islands hover past us slowly like grazing clouds to reveal lofty plateaus in all shapes and sizes. Like islands surrounded by an ocean of clouds, these plateaus reach farther than I can possibly see. The elevation here is breathtaking, literally; it will take some getting used to, but I can manage.

A sense of calm rushes through my veins, "We made it." My voice is drowned out by another thought. "But Milah..." It pains me to say his name. "Do ye think he..." I choke on my words softly.

"He was a brave man. You should be proud of him." Sendaar pats me comfortingly on my shoulder. Hotaru nods in agreement and lowers his head in respect for our lost friend.

The sky shimmers brightly, but the sun is setting on the horizon. "We should make camp," I say after a few minutes have passed. "We 'ave a war to fight."

Day Twenty-Four

"Splendid! Marvelous! Simply amazing!" I exclaim as I awake to a bustling cityscape view. "The creativity, the glamour, the technology!"

"Would you shut up already?" Hotaru growls and throws a decorative pillow at me. I laugh and duck, letting it skip off the top of my antlers and land besides the wall of endless windows.

"Oh, 'ave a sense of wonder, Hotaru. 'Tis not every day that he get to explore a brand new culture with an amazing level of technology! I mean, on the Clawdashev scale, they're off the charts!" I explain my excitement, watching the groggy Hotaru roll his eyes and turn over in his bed.

I shrug and go to grab my scarf that hangs on a decorative gear positioned creatively on the neutrally painted wall. For the short time wearing it, I've grown accustomed to it. Placing it over my head, I creep out the door with my satchel in hand, ready to explore the city.

The one thing I didn't bring with me was souvenir money; I hadn't even thought of the idea until now. All the shops are centered in the middle of town. I am on the far west side of the plateau, which means I get to take the Coaster Express. The ride to our living quarters was thoroughly enjoyable and I'm excited to take it for another spin.

It really is just a long roller coaster that makes stops at all the stations. The spherical cars pull to a stop, the glass top lifting up to allow passengers in and out. A few elves are startled as they get out, seeing me walk toward the transportation, but they recognize me and smile as I pass by. I wave to them and continue into the nearest vacant pod. I take up the entire car, but I don't anyone really minds.

"Please select destination," the choppy automatic voice calls to me over the speaker. I reply by pressing the button with a square symbol, meaning the shopping center. It answers my input with a click and, "Thank you. Have a nice day!"

The glass dome slowly shuts above me and locks itself in. A jolt rushes through the cars as the wheels begin to send us off. Tall, city buildings blur past me as my car chugs along the track. Exhilaration courses through me and pulls my stomach up to my throat each time we dive down a steep hill in the track. I'm rather wobbly getting out of the car.

"Thank you for choosing Coaster Express," the train bids me farewell and pulls out of the station.

"How exciting!" I exclaim with a smile and start out as fast as I can and still consider it walking. The first two shops can be seen on either side of the road. A few more of those steam engine bikes pedal by and I can't help myself but stare. Like a kid in a toy store, I don't know what I want to look at first.

"I had a feeling you'd be here," a familiar voice calls out, and I turn to recognize Adlanniel coming up on one of those fancy bikes. "Sightseeing before we have to start the day?" She smiles, dismounting her bike.

"Oh yes, I couldn't help m'self. The only problem is I don't know where I want to look first!" The stores all gleam with each a unique sign to draw in customers: some with running cogs, others with flashy lights, and others are beautifully handcrafted wooden signs. My eyes wander distractedly over all the buildings.

Adlanniel grabs my scarf and gives it a tug, making me stop in my tracks. "I know exactly the place to go. Follow me," she leads my on, still holding on to my scarf. I have to follow closely behind or risk choking.

I go to ask where we are going since we are leaving the shopping district, but she interrupts me saying that wherever it is I'll be amazed. I trust her word for what it is and follow her down a confusing combination of twists and turns. She allows me my freedom once we arrive at a large mansion-esque building littered with scrap metal and broken down primitive robots.

"What is this place?" I ask, fingering a robot lying in a pile of scrap metal.

"INTRUDER! INTRUDER! Tzzzzzzz," the automaton rises to life, nearly making me create an untidy situation that is only expected from wild, uncivilized animals. I do manage to topple over a pile of spare tires, however.

Adlanniel laughs, "You know that genius inventor who created the Coaster Express?" I nod, catching on to what she is going to say next. "Well, this is his place. C'mon, he'll want to meet you."

"INTRUDER! INTRUDER! Tzzzz. Tzzzz." The robot persists to shout. I try to quiet the thing, but it talks back to me. "Watch it, buddy! I am programmed with martial arts coding inspired from the great renowned qilin warriors of the Moonlight Tribe." The scrap metal frame stands up to reveal two mismatching legs that practically look like sticks. It waves its arms around madly, showing off its "skill".

I try not to laugh, offering my apologies. However, this does not deter the bucket of bolts from following us up the driveway and onto the porch of the inventor's workshop. Adlanniel bids the robot a wave and a hello, with the robot returning her good will with a polite curtsy.

"Hello, Adlanniel. We weren't expecting you. And who's your friend?" The robot speaks in a more natural voice.

"Ah, m'name is Enoki." I nod with a smile, offering my hand in greeting.

He gives me his hand and gives it a good shake. "A pleasure to meet you, Enoki. The name is Tinco. Sorry about earlier, it's just that it's hard wired into there; can't let the master of inventions' ideas get into the wrong hands-not that your the wrong hands, I uh-mean." The robot stutters, amusingly. I'm quite relieved that I'm not the only one bad with words.

"Tinco! Who's at the door?" A voice calls from behind the thick metal door we stand in front of. An odd looking telescope lowers itself from above the door. I can see an eyeball-immensely magnified from the lenses inside the scope-peering at us with interest. "Ah, Adlanniel, what a surprise. Well, don't just stand there, come on in!" The telescope retracts out of view and the door clicks ajar.

Adlanniel smiles and holds the door open for us. Tinco follows us in awkwardly with large and high steps, letting his legs lift higher than his waist and arms swing wildly. I have a hard time keeping the amusement of this metal man off my face as he strides past us with purpose in his steps.

"Tinco, what are you doing? You're walking like you haven't oiled your hips in weeks." A very short and boyish figure appears from behind the counter.

"Sorry, sir!" Tinco replies meekly, adjusting his posture. It takes me a moment to realize this, but that boyish elf that approaches me really is a boy.

"Y'er a kid," I declare with surprise.

"Well, you're a giant, green jackalope, but who am I to judge?" The boy replies smugly, offering a greasy hand in greeting. "I'm Rilien. You must be Enoki. Bellsulion mentioned you before you arrived."

I am surprised how fast word travels around here, but I guess it would have to be when you are fighting in a war. I accept his handshake, reluctant on the inside seeing that my hand is now covered in oil and mechanical grease.

"Well, I guess you'd like to see what I've been working on for you, eh? This way please," he wanders back behind the counter and pushes a swinging door open for us to head to the back room where all the inventions are-I hope.

Let's just say I'm not disappointed. Gadgets and gizmos buzz all around me. Miniatures of airships hum quietly around the room. I watch with interest as they land on the model landscaping set to the side of the room. A black airship with golden lightning bolt painted on its side slowly floats by my face. It has three balloons instead of just the one that standard airship.

"That's my latest project, the Thunder Transport. Isn't she a beaut? I started her a month or so ago; she'll be finished by the end of this month." Rilien crossed his arms with pride.

"Well, 'tis very nice, but it already looks finished to me."

"Oh, no, I mean the actual ship. It's almost finished. Perhaps we can look at it later." The boy grins smugly as he shows off his genius.

Adlanniel laughs and walks past a table that is set in the middle of the walkway. "Rilien wastes no time when it comes to finishing projects, which reminds me," she says walking over to a low shelf. The elf returns with an intricately carved cherry wood box; gold inlay sprawls over the box in a vine pattern. She opens the box to show crushed velvet and a brand new pair of shiny goggles. My goggles.

I gasp in awe of their craftsmanship. They are much larger than the pair that I was looking at and they seem to be engraved with my name. My eyes start to tear up with excitement. Adlanniel motions for me to try them on and with trembling hands, I reach for them and carefully scoop them up in my claws.

Strapping them on underneath my ears, I pull them over my forehead. My feathers get underneath the strap, so I go around the band and pull them out from under them. Once I put them over my eyes, everything goes a lime green. I  smile with pure enjoyment as I turn my head around to look at everything.

"Do you like them?" Rilien asks, smiling like a cat.

"Oh yes! Very much so, thank you! Thank you!" I emphasize my gratitude multiple times to Rilien, shaking his hand.

"I'm very glad. I do love making those goggles; one of my favorite inventions." Rilien explains while I walk around playing with the toggles of the binocular features.

Tinco is staring curiously at one of the flying airships. He grabs the ship out of the sky and looks closer at it. His metal hand taps one of the running motors, analyzing how it works. He must have tapped it too hard, because the motor cracks off and dangles below, suspended by the wires. The bot jumps with shock and frantically hides the airship in the model town, walking away casually.

I shake my head with sympathy, partially listening to Adlanniel and Rilien's conversation.

"Well, we best get going. We need to meet up with the rest of the team to get those three all up to date on the strategy for defeating these ruffians. You coming with, Rilien?" She asks, lifting my satchel and politely placing my goggles' case inside.

"Oh yes, I'll be on my way in a few. I'm just finishing up on a diagram," he says with a wave goodbye.

We bid Rilien and Tinco farewell and start heading out to the front room. I take one last glance around the woodwork, mechanical models, and broken down clocks before letting Adlanniel usher me out the door.

It doesn't take as long as it felt like it did to get there to return to the Coaster Express. We squeeze into a single cart and enter in our designated station. The ride is quiet, since there isn't much to say. I look out the window using my goggles, zooming in and out of the cityscape. Adlanniel laughs at my childish playing, and I chuckle along with her.

We arrive at a station I've yet to explore and it turns out that it is our stop. Many scholarly looking folks stand around the station's overhang conversing with one another. Their matching uniforms imply to me that they are, in fact, apart of some school, but Adlanniel informs me that this is the brain of the rebellion. This is the Yugurian Guard's center of intelligence, YGI.

The building looks very neat and polished. The rounded sides are a creamy metal, buffed to perfection. It looks almost like a tall flower or a hatched egg, having the walls flair out in a flamboyant style. We are greeted by two polite officers who open the door for us.

The marble flooring reminds me of something rather fancy and more advanced than most cultures dare to try around these parts. I comment my observation to Adlanniel and she agrees with me saying that they have a quarry somewhere down on the surface of the realm that harvests this fine rock. Apparently their artists and architects value marble higher than gold when working on a project.

The shininess reveals my smiling reflection as I look down while we head down the hall. We end up at the end of a narrow corridor with nothing to see but a large metal bolted door. With a grunt, Adlanniel heaves the door open, revealing a long winding staircase downwards. I can only imagine what is down here which gives me the shivers.

She enters without caution. 'Well, if she can do it, so can I.' I tell myself as I walk warily down the steps, closing the door behind me. It gives off an awfully loud clunk noise, creating an echo all the way down the stairs. I start feeling like I'm in the middle of a horror novel, where the hero is walking down that dark and creepy staircase, knowing that at any minute something might jump out at them and-

"Boo!"

I have never screamed so high in my life. My feathers explode around my neck and the tip of my tail, making me look like some highly groomed poodle, as I jump and land on the platform I had just stepped down from. My assailant bursts into a dark laughter that I can only recognize as Hotaru's.

"I see y'er foot is doing better." I say in an angered tone. I look to Adlanniel for support and perhaps a scolding, but she is hiding behind Hotaru quietly laughing her rump off. "Oh, very mature." I sniff and lift my head up, walking with a pompous sway.

"Oh brother," Hotaru mumbles, watching me walk through the door I presume he came from.

My feelings for the place change in an instant. It no longer looks dark and mysterious, but bright and colorful. Multiple doohickeys and thingamabobs  flutter across the very tall room carrying papers and files. It almost looks like our experiment room in Blacktalon's lab, yet much more advanced. There are cubicles on the walls with elves at work doing who knows what.

I spot one elf jumping from their cubicle and releasing a sting on their back that opens up a pair of wings and releases pedals near their feet, which they begin to work at furiously. A puttering sound comes from their back and I spot a small engine beginning to spark to life. They notice me watching and smile at me with a polite wave. I wave back but can't seem to find my facial muscles. They soar down a large tunnel in the center of the wall on the left side of the room.

"Welcome to the heart of the Yugurian Guard Intelligence!" Bellsulion appears from the commanding desk centered in the room. His uniform has changed from armor to a practical green fabric
-almost the same color as my fur-and leather ensemble. His broad shoulders carry a rugged, tanned animal hide that flowed behind him. Stripes are painted on his right shoulder, which I assume portrays his rank.

"Let's get down to business, shall we?" Bellsulion ushers us to a long meeting table in front of a large board with a map pinned of the Spires to it.

Everyone takes a seat except Hotaru and I, since we cannot fit in the chairs; Sendaar fits rather well in the elves' chairs besides his tail. Bellsulion takes a seat at the head of the table and begins to explain his plans: "We know the Mist has been hiring outside forces to aid in his attacks. From our knowledge, some trolls from Mirum Silvis have signed a contract with the League of Mist and have been teaching their battle strategies to the wolfwyre hoards.

"They plan to take the First Realm in a matter of days as a bloody warning to the dragons of Second Realm. We've just received word from the Hikari and Kurai that dispatches have been sent to the gryphons for their safety." I heave a sigh of relief to hear this news. Just then, the doors open once more to reveal Rilien and his robot companion. He nods with respect to Bellsulion and the rest of the company before taking a seat next to Adlanniel. Tinco remains standing behind his maker.

Our leader acknowledges their arrival with a small salute before continuing his allocution, "Now, we need to prepare ourselves for battle. We will be the reinforcements for the dragons during the battle. Our forces are going to be a shock to the Mist as we draw in from the Ancient Catacombs. Our arms will be the second wave the Mist was not prepared for, and that is how we will defeat them.

"The dragons and elves will force the League of Mist back to the Second Realm, where the rest of the dragon forces are ready to attack. Our gryphon friends have a few tricks up their sleeves that we plan to use to our advantage. Now, the good gryphon Professor and I have-"

Ka-klash![/i]

The lights pop from the ceiling and fade slowly out to nothing but darkness. Down here in the underground headquarters, screams of horror can be heard on the surface. A blood curdling roar rattles all sides of our hideout and my innards as I recognize the owner of the roar-Krah. The Mist have found us.

[ArcticGalaxy]

I've actually heard some good things about it. I must check it out when I have some reading time. ^^

[Enoki]

Oh, thank ye kindly! That means much to me. ^u^

[G4RG0YLE]

Awww yiiiiiisssss, keep it coming Eno bab. <3

[Enoki]

Lol, alright. *throws more words at ye*

[Kynvuu]

You have such a beautiful writing style!<3 Will have to go back and read the earlier chapters, this seems like a really interesting read c: Keep up the awesome work'

[CosmoFursi]

It's nice to read a bit about Enoki's adventures :3

I'm gonna start reading your novel! It seems really interesting in this chapter. Great job with all of it!

[Enoki]

Aaaa, thank ye so much f'er all the kind comments. I'm so happy to hear 'tis a hit. <3

[Enoki]

Added my newly finished chapter. Hope ye all enjoy.