Bray remembered what Gwena had told him about the caves she had travelled through when she had helped in Gwion’s rescue all those years ago.
From what she had told him, he surmised that one of these tunnels must lead to the Hive commander, so ignoring his fear that they would run straight to their deaths, Bray glanced around and saw that the tunnel to the left was glowing with the same ghostly green light as the other two, so he shot into it.
He kept going for a while longer, with Gwion only a step behind, before coming to a halt. As they stopped, Gwion could hear why Bray had stopped; the sound of hundreds of booted feet echoed from somewhere ahead. Bray glanced frantically around him, looking for somewhere to hide.
As panic began building in him, his Mogya started to dissipate, but Bray hung onto it with a fierce determination, knowing that if he let it go, he would become so exhausted that he would not be able to fight. After a few seconds of battling with his errant power, he managed to get it under control.
He then glanced towards Gwion, who had seen him stumble and was watching him with concern more than evident on his face. Bray recovered his composure and winked, before nodding towards a small recess in the wall, before saying, “Let’s get in there.”
Gwion nodded and moved across to help Bray, but the rugged warrior shook the offer off. The two of them crept across the tunnel, stepping from the eerie green light they had been following, into almost complete darkness. As they pushed into the shadows, they realised that the recess was only just large enough for the two of them to hide in, so they huddled down with their backs against a strange slab of rock, facing outwards; waiting for the oncoming force of Zandors to pass them.
Bray and Gwion had only to wait for a few moments before a column of Zandor workers marched past them. Bray waited for ten minutes, before stepping out and peering down the tunnel to where the Zandors had gone - he could see their shadows about two hundred yards further down the tunnel.
As he took a step out of the recess to watch them, they lit a fire, to which they added a strange liquid. As the oddly glowing drops fell, the flames suddenly flashed with a bright white light, which temporarily blinded Bray, forcing him to cover his eyes. He stumbled back against Gwion, rubbing his eyes. After a short time, his sight returned and he was able to take his hands from his eyes. As he re-focused, he noticed that the Zandors’ fire had lit the entire tunnel, making it so bright that it was as if they were standing outside on a hot summer’s day.
Bray was about to grab his son and continue their journey, but Gwion was standing gawping, not at the tunnel in front of him, but at the rock behind them. Bray turned and he immediately leapt with surprise. Staring back at him was a colossal white Dragon, whose huge open mouth showed teeth as long as his dagger.
Seeing the gigantic creature encased in the rock, Bray moved forward and knocked on it. Suddenly he realised that although it was still quite tough, the material under his hand was much softer than the remainder of the mountain.
He peered closer and saw a slightly brown hue in the stone. Bray glanced at Gwion, who was regaining his focus and said, “Looks like Amber.”
Gwion nodded and knocked on the stone before replying, “Looks like a Greater Dragon.”
With this Bray nodded and then thinking about Swarim and his family, added, “We must free it.”
Looking much less certain, Gwion nodded and said, “But - be ready; there must be a reason that it’s encased in Amber.”
Knowing that Amber was the only material through which Mogya could not pass, Bray held his palms flat against the stone. He was not sure what he was doing, but nevertheless, he allowed his Mogya to guide him. He felt its awesome presence trace its way around the shape of the block of Amber. Trusting that if the Dragon meant him harm, his Mogya would not allow it to escape, he whispered, “Free the Dragon.”
With a rush, Mogya sped from his hands and blasted the Amber. Bray stepped back, feeling weak from the exertion and watched as the stone began cracking. As Bray and Gwion stared in awe, the Amber began breaking into tiny pieces around the huge, white serpentine body. The Dragon’s mouth snapped closed and then its body flopped uselessly to the floor.
Gwion and Bray stared in despair at the muscular white body. They then spun around as they heard hundreds of feet running towards the recess; the Zandors were charging towards them, drawn by the strange sound coming from the recess. Bray steadied himself against the weak feeling ebbing through him and glanced at Gwion, who already had his sword out. Gwion grinned menacingly at him and growled, “Ready to defeat the Zandor horde before they ever get near Velumia.”
Bray scowled back at his son, but remaining silent. He simply pulled his sword from its scabbard and then set his feet slightly apart, in a fighter’s stance, ready to repel the oncoming enemy creatures.
Tales from the Past
Bray swallowed his fear and grinned at his son, as they saw the shadows of the charging Zandors draw nearer. He then stepped forward and glanced around the corner of their hiding place. This was almost a fatal mistake, because, as he leant forward, a curved scimitar clattered into the rock, mere inches above his head.
Bray immediately ducked and swung his large Sentinel blade wildly. Luckily, for him, it struck the Zandor attacking him in the throat, killing it instantly. However, as it fell to the floor, another of the mantis-like creatures leapt over it and thrust at him. Bray managed to get his blade up just in time to block the ferocious strike, but he was off balance, which left him open to another attack.
Gwion saw his father’s predicament and struck swiftly, slicing the Zandor across its unprotected arms. The insect-like creature howled a high-pitched scream of pain and dropped its scimitar, allowing Bray to regain his balance, before stabbing it through the heart.
The Zandor died quickly, leaving Bray and Gwion with nothing to fight. However, this lull was only temporary; within seconds, the remainder of the Zandor column was upon them. Bray struck, as quickly as he could, but he was still weak from using his Mogya.
Knowing that his power could be the only thing to save him, he allowed it to flow through him. He knew that once the fight was over, he would be unconscious for a while, but now his only concern was getting his son out of there. As Mogya flooded his muscles, he began fighting with a speed and intensity, which caught the Zandors by surprise. Gwion saw what his father had done, so he too, allowed Mogya to course through his veins.
The two Mogya enriched warriors hacked and sliced their way through the first few unorganised ranks of Zandors. After a while, the weight of numbers on the enemy’s side began to push Bray and Gwion back.
Bray spun and kicked one Zandor in the head, as he stabbed another through the chest. As the two Zandors died and Bray charged into another, Gwion sliced a mantis-like warrior across the throat, before punching another in the face; sending it bowling into one of its companions.
The mass of Zandors suddenly realised that although the two warriors were fighting far faster and more aggressively than anything they had ever come across, they had the upper hand. Because of this, the Zandor Commander, who was standing at the back suddenly let out a loud click, which made no sense to Bray, but it seemed to rally the Zandors, sending them charging at the two human warriors.
Bray and Gwion suddenly found themselves fighting shoulder to shoulder, defending themselves against what looked like certain death. Bray thrust at the closest of the enemy soldiers, but this exposed his ribs, which enabled another of the insect-like warriors to slash at him, grazing him with its wickedly bladed scimitar.
His Mogya instantly healed the wound, but the instant pain made Bray flinch, which gave the Zandors the chance to press their advantage.
Gwion blocked a savage blow and sent a complicated riposte back at his assailant, ending in its death, as his blade passed through its heart. He then noticed his father grimace in pain and tried to spin to help him. As he did so, the Zandors swarmed over Bray, dragging him to the ground, which made it impossible for
Gwion to aid him.
Gwion panicked, allowing his guard to slip slightly. One of the more astute Zandors noticed this and stabbed him through the shoulder. Agony racked him, as the scimitar passed through him. He dropped to his knees, which pulled the blade from the enemy soldier’s hands. Gwion grasped it in both hands and biting his tongue to stop himself screaming, pulled it from his shoulder. As it came free, his Mogya healed him instantly, but he was now on his knees and at the mercy - or lack of it - of the Zandors.
Gwion glanced up at the mantis-like creature surrounding him, with defiance in his eyes, not ready to accept his death. Suddenly a plume of flame erupted from somewhere behind him. It raged past him, consuming the Zandors, but not touching him. Gwion stared in shock at his father, who was lying on the floor with four burning Zandors sitting on him, but, just like Gwion, the flames were not touching him.
As the fire scorched the ground and disintegrated the Zandors, Bray sat up and glanced back into the recess to where the flame was coming from. Staring back at him through bright green eyes was the white Greater Dragon that he had freed earlier. The majestic beast continued blasting the corridor until the last of the Zandors died and then closed its mouth. Seeing the kindness reflected in the Dragon’s eyes, Bray released his grip on his Mogya and promptly fell unconscious.
Hours later, Bray opened his eyes and saw that he was still in the small recess within the mountain. Through blurry eyes, he peered across at a small fire, which was flickering a few yards away from him and saw Gwion sitting next to it, deep in conversation with the Dragon. He sat up and rubbed his face. Gwion heard his movement and turned to him, before saying, “Nice to see you awake.”
Bray smiled and was about to speak, but he was interrupted by the Dragon, who spoke with a delectably feminine voice. She bobbed her head and said, “Your son has been telling me of your history. It is wonderful to meet a descendant of Eleremy.”
Bray had long since learnt that he was descended from humans, Elves and the Ancient ones, but Eleremy was a name he had never heard before. He cocked his head curiously and asked, “Who?”
The Dragon did not have chance to answer, because Gwion interrupted her, by excitedly declaring, “Vif told me that Eleremy is my Great Grandmother.”
All these names were too much for Bray’s tired head to deal with, so with a grimace he asked, “Who is Vif?”
The huge Dragon chuckled and speaking softly, replied, “I am Vif.”
Bray nodded and then replied, “So how did you come to be encased in Amber all the way down here.” He then pointed at Gwion and continued, “This time let her answer.”
Gwion scowled at his father as Vif explained, “Thousands of years ago a creature with no known gender learnt how to use Mogya. However it was an animal prone to cruelty, which corrupted its Mogya.” She paused briefly and then seeing that she had an avid audience continued, “The Light kept forgiving it for its mistakes, but we Greater Dragons knew that it was an error to keep pardoning it, so I was sent to kill it.”
She then sighed and said, “Unfortunately, I finally caught up with the creature at the same time as The Light decided that it could no longer be allowed to prowl around Earit corrupting the planet.”
Shaking her massive head, she continued, “I tracked the creature here to its lair. However, as I crawled in, I saw that The Light himself was trying to reason with the creature. Unfortunately, it would not listen, so, not wanting to kill it, The Light filled its lair with Amber, which would stop it using Mogya, trapping it forever and me with it.”
Vif dropped her head onto her forelegs, so that she was almost lying flat and mournfully continued, “I have been in that Amber for thousands of years, but have been aware of everything around me.” Glancing across at Gwion and then back at Bray she said, “Many years after, I had to watch helplessly, as a number of Elves stumbled across the creature and freed it. They did not see me, so I have been here ever since.”
Bray stood up slowly and moved across to Vif, before saying, “I think the creature you’re on about is Merihim. We are on a mission to capture it in mortal form, because two hundred years in the future it has taken spirit form and has control of most of the planet, with only a small force of Sentinels and Elves fighting it.”
With this Vif cocked her head curiously and asked, “Where are all the Greater Dragons?”
Bray shrugged and replied, “I only know three Greater Dragons, Ratora, Swarim and Primero their son.”
Vif seemed to ponder this briefly and then replied, “I have heard of Swarim and Ratora, but they were no more than hatchlings when I first went in search of the creature. Figado-Ogro, the high chief of the Greater Dragons said that if I failed then the remainder must flee, as there would be no place for us in a world ruled by the creature. He must have fled when he thought that I failed.” She then shook her head and said, “Anyway, it is of no consequence. If this Merihim you speak of is the creature I was hunting then I must help you.”
Bray smiled and nodded at the Dragon as he said, “Thank you, Vif. I must ask you not to kill the creature though.”
Seeing fury building in her eyes, Gwion quickly added, “If we do then we’ll make its spirit far more powerful. We must take it to the future, where its spirit dwells, and lure them together, to kill it.”
Vif controlled her growing fury and mulled this over before saying, “Alright then, I’ll help you capture this Merihim and then I’ll go with you into the future, I have wished for nothing more than to see it die. However, if you wish to kill the creature, we must travel to the Dragon’s lair to find a necklace that once belonged to Merihim’s mother.”
Bray cocked his head curiously and said, “But we were told that all we had to do is bring Merihim’s spirit and its body together and it will die.”
Vif shook her large head, as she heard this. She then replied, “To a degree, what you have been told is correct, but to kill it you must make it mortal. Bringing the creature’s spirit and its body together will cause it great pain, but won’t bind it into a living being. The touch of the precious stone in the pendant will do this.”
Bray was about to ask how this was so, but she cut him off by adding, “Before Merihim corrupted Mogya, it used to wear the necklace as a reminder of its mother. It is the touch of the familiar, and the guilt that will come with that, which will bind the creature’s spirit with it body.”
Gwion raised an eyebrow, a question springing to his mind. “Never mind all that. How have you survived without food?” He asked.
Vif smiled and replied, “Any being capable of channelling Mogya, who is trapped in Amber will be preserved perfectly until the day they are released. This includes the food in their belly. I had eaten only an hour before I entered the creature’s lair, so I’m still not hungry.”
Gwion looked impressed, as she said this, as he said, “Well we had better get out of here, before another patrol of Zandors finds us.”
Vif seemed to cringe at this, so Bray asked, “What is it Vif?”
The white Dragon shook off her uneasy feeling and replied, “Zandors were created by the creature you have called Merihim to be its slaves. It took thousands upon thousands of humans and then used its Mogya to change them. It then spent nearly a hundred years torturing them into obeying it.”
Bray had never heard this before, so for the first time, he actually felt sorry for the Zandors. However, he did not have chance to dwell on it much longer, because Vif lifted her head and sent a blast of Mogya at the ceiling, which appeared as nothing more than a ripple in the air. The cave roof suddenly began glowing and then grew thinner. As Bray stared up at the roof, he realised that he could see the sky.
As the gateway formed, Vif stood up and looked down at Bray. She then said, “Climb aboard and I’ll fly us out of here. I’ll fly us to the Dragon’s lair. From there we’ll fly to wherever you tell me to go.” With this, she bent her front leg, allowing the two warriors to climb up onto her back.
Bray clambered up to sit
behind her long, sinewy neck and grasped the edge of her thick armour-like scales. Although nowhere near as large as Primero, Vif still made him feel tiny. He glanced back at Gwion and waited until he was gripping Vif with all his might, before saying, “Alright Vif, take us out of here.”
With this, the mighty Dragon beat her powerful wings and they sped through the gateway above. As they hurtled into the air, Vif gave a loud roar and then called, “It feels so good to be out again!”
Bray glanced around trying to get his bearings. Although he was in an Earit much older than he had ever seen before, he quickly worked out where Velumia was. Remaining silent, he allowed Vif to soar high. The massive Dragon flew over the mountains for a brief time and then plummeted, like a stone. Bray and Gwion closed their eyes, nearly screaming in terror, as the ground rushed up to meet them.
Just before, she crashed into the rocky ground; Vif stretched her wings and beat them powerfully, which enabled her to land lightly. Bray opened one eye and glanced around; they were on the ground only feet from a large cave. He shook Gwion and said, “Come on then, I think we are here.”
Once they had slid from her back, the two warriors peered up at Vif. The Dragon bobbed her head towards the cave and said, “This is only one of many entrances to the lair. When you go inside, you must press on a large rock on the left that looks like a man’s head. This will release the back wall, which will open and expose the lair.”
Bray nodded once and then sped inside, with Gwion only a step behind. Once he had entered the large, damp cave, he peered around and spotted the skull-like rock. Moving across to it, he pushed it and stood back. At first, nothing happened, but then a low clicking sound began echoing around the stone walls. A bright light suddenly flashed along the bottom of the back wall and it started to rise.
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