FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

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Avila and Xiciro flew through the sparsely populated drylands trying to find the Argoon settlement, yet without more of Avet's help, they were flying blind all the time. The Argoon that was their guide was starting to lapse between conscious and unconsciousness, and they feared he would die sooner or later. That was the reason why the two of them were flying in haste, without rest for two days.

After taking a risk of moving through a Dragonsbane encampment (destroying the camp and freeing the dragons along the way), they managed to get to the indicated position in just three days. By this point, they were too exhausted to continue, mostly because food around that region was scarce, and the three of them refused to eat humans (knowing very well that doing so would brand them as evil beings). Not only that, Avet had fainted five hours before they reached the position he indicated, with no way to find out about where the settlement was located.

The position was just the same as the other places they could see miles away: a barren, treacherous drylands with less to no soil nutrients not fit for farming or making a settlement. The only settlements they could find were either facing the sea or built around an oasis in the middle of the drylands. Dragons preferred to live in rock structures and mountains, with no indication that they ever made a dragon settlement at all. Even the notorious dragon prison both Argoons heard about had an unknown position to most of the dragons living there.

With Avet being unconscious and unable to guide them, they did not want to risk getting lost in unknown lands, so they decided to bear their hunger and stay in place, tending to Avet. While dragons did not normally get sun burn, Avet's condition and the fact that he did not use a darkness layer over his body complicated matters. Xiciro slowly lost alternatives in keeping part of his jaws straight, and chunks of his skull had started to fall off, too.

"Without the proper spell to mend his face...he won't survive the exposure for the next three days," said Xiciro.

"There's gotta be some way to stabilize his condition."

"I'm afraid we have exceeded the limit of that. Dragons are always injured, but with a part of its face dangling about, it exposes their soft tongue and brain, which we were trying to protect if not for the ambushes."

"And now we are stuck in a place without any way to find the settlement. Are you sure this is the place?"

"Avet had been giving me the directions ever since we decided to flew past through the camp. This is the place, I'm sure of it."

"But this is a barren wasteland!" exclaimed Avila, referring to the featureless plains.

"I know when a dragon started to become delusional, and of course that was the moment when I lost interest," said Xiciro. "However, Avet tried not to succumb to this weakness and continued to give me direction, which lead us to here."

"Seriously, Xiciro, this is a waste of time!"

"First of all, Avila...do you think our kind have a love for games?"

"Games? Like riddles and stuff?"

"Close, but not quite. It's more like finding a hidden treasure sort of game. Do you remember that time when I assigned traps before you can meet me?"

Even though Avila was reluctant to remember it again, she silently nodded. The older Argoon smiled to her, which gave out an unpleasant aura to Avila. As he walked towards the barren wasteland, he extended one of his legs and felt the air for a moment. Avila could not understand why he did that, but she was given the reason after.

"We cannot find this town because it is hidden," said Xiciro. "I suspected magical shield and optical illusion, but it wasn't something like those. It's something complex and ancient, as if sustaining the settlement's well-being for hundreds of years without failing."

"So basically it's not there, right?"

"It's the obvious answer. Of course, we are not supposed to know unless we follow the rule."

"What's the point with loving games, then?"

"Some of us are more sadistic than others, right?" said Xiciro while grinning.

But Avila realized what he was talking about. Despite of knowing very well that the settlement was there, there was no food or water within their range of flight. Avila could see one at least 7 miles from their position, but that was also just one and no water. They could fly to the sea and catch some fish, but again it was miles away and seawater could hasten dehydration.

And so, they relied on darkness as a shade and took turn tending on Avet while one of them tried to find a way to get into the settlement. So far, both could not find anything, not even a hint. Their only way to get inside was to talk to Avet, to at least give them a hint.

6 hours had passed...

"Have you found anything yet?"

"Is Avet still alive?"

"He is...but he isn't coming around just yet. Do you have any way to give him water? He's burning hot."

"I'll try."

"Hey, you have that portal ability, right? Why don't you use it?"

"I might need a cooldown for at least an hour. Do you think Avet can hold on?"

"I'll try."

And with that, Xiciro opened a portal and went through it. It closed behind him, leaving Avila alone with Avet.

One hour later, the older Argoon returned and sustained the portal to the oasis. He helped Avila carry Avet to the oasis they passed two days ago. It had a decent lake full of food and fresh water, where Avila used to cool Avet down.

She also noticed Xiciro's apparent exhaustion on trying to open the portal, as he started to become pale.

"Hey, don't overexert yourself," said Avila.

"I can't help it. This place is at the edge of my limit, after all. I do this for our mutual survival."

"But why do you do this? This is not like you at all."

"Hmm...survival instinct, maybe?"

If Avila knew him as a comrade, not a former enemy, she would take the word without hesitation and worry, but it wasn't the case here. Despite of their short engagement before Xiciro's 'exile' into the dark dimension, she knew perfectly well that the dragon had a sinister aura around him and make decisions based on logic. He would not take risks, which was exactly the adverse of what he's doing right now.

What he did just now look like a dragon trying to prove his worth to a female dragon, which was common for a dragon trying to mate.

"No, Avila, stop thinking like that!" she thought. "He's far older than you and he already has a lover! There's no way he wanted a young dragon like you!"

But even if Seraphor wanted to fight him for her (if that was the scenario), he would never win. Xiciro had shown her his knowledge in combat more than what he showed her back then, and Seraphor, despite of his powers, could not fight him with only brute force.

Right now, however, her focus was to find Seraphor and Bartoz, and to help Avet by getting to the settlement and give them the help they needed. It was a mouthful, but it was something that they should do.

3 hours had passed...

Avet finally woke up. He was still delirious and slurred his speech for a moment before he came around and noticed the oasis. He looked at the two dragons and said, "H-hey, are we still at the oasis?"

"I backtracked here. We cannot risk getting dehydrated in this barren land, right?" said Xiciro.

"I bet this is not your idea."

Xiciro hesitated for a moment, before he said, "Avila helped you here."

"Did you tell her about...you?"

"I haven't got the moment to talk to her about this, but I will...once we are in the Argoon settlement. Anyway, we wanted to ask you about the settlement. You pointed us to the place, but we haven't been able to get a way to get in."

"Seeing you, I guess you understand how we are undetected for thousands of years, huh? It's true. The settlement is hidden, not only by optical illusion, but also spatially. Thanks to the thousand years old knowledge of dimensions and dark magic, we were able to...hide indefinitely."

"And here I wonder how you lost your eggs in the first place."

"The settlement is fine, but it is not the only one. It's like a capital to smaller settlements scattered throughout the South. I belonged to this main settlement, but I lived somewhere to the East. That was...the first place to fall and we were forced to be their 'dragon'."

"Knowing how strong you are, it's surprising how a settlement full of Argoons could be overtaken."

"Humans adapt faster than us...well at least we are not dead, but we want to fight back. The settlement can only be accessed by a riddle. 'Under the full moon, look past the fool's gold to find answers worthy for history.'"

"What kind of a riddle is that?"

"It is nonsense if you don't understand the meaning of 'Fool's Gold'. It's not literally fool's gold, but it's a metaphor. 'To look past the fool's gold' means to look beyond the obvious to find the answer."

"The obvious is a plain dryland, but what's the 'answer'? How to find it?"

"And that's how the 'under the full moon' works."

"I think I understand," said Xiciro. "It's like the Lunar-dependent illusion magic in the dark continent, but works backwards. Basically, it is hidden unless it's under a full moon."

"Yes, it is."

"But how are we going to see past through the portal?"

"I can't tell you, because only those that had ever been in the settlement once could see the place and enter it. You two need to find a way to get in."

"Well, that's one way to make outsiders stay out. The beauty of ancient magic. It's so simple, but with limited number of dragons knowing it, it's powerful."

"I appreciate your appraisal of our magic, but I suggest you find out soon, for tonight's full moon. I can go in anytime I want, but you two will need to wait for a whole lunar cycle, and I don't want to make you wait in this barren Region."

"Absolutely no hint at all?"

Avet shook and gave them a gloomy expression. It was as if he wanted to help them, but unable to. The Argoons knew how to make things complicated, and both Avila and Xiciro had a share of experience from that.

And so, 8 hours had passed...

The day turned to night. The full moon was already up on the sky. The three of them looked around and found no sign of a door on the sky or any sort of fantastical objects that would come to mind. There was nothing of sorts that they could find around, and especially, not even a hint.

Avet calmly waited for the two of the new Argoons to try and find the gate themselves, even though he had seen the big settlement in plain sight. Avila looked around and tried to find a way, but in the end resorted to thinking her way in. Xiciro, on the other hand, did not look like he was trying at all.

"Look past the fool's gold.... Is it looking for some sort of pyrite?" thought Avila. "Maybe a pyrite mine is the trigger?! No... that's not it. It's too obvious. Any dragons could do that. I don't think this is supposed to be a literal meaning. I think it's more like a self-reflection kind of thing."

"Hey, Avila, do you find anything?" asked Xiciro, breaking her line of thoughts.

"You don't seem like trying."

"It's useless if we get to the same conclusion the same time. Oh, I wish I have the 'eye' to see. It might work."

Just then Avila's eyes widened and her slits narrowed as excitement came to her. That's it, thought Avila. She knew her answer had been in front of her all the time, but she did not bother to use it.

"Xiciro...I think I've found the answer," said Avila with an excited tone. Avet heard her too and look at her, wanting to know how she could find one, as an outsider.

"Really? Would you care to tell me?" asked Xiciro.

"I wish I could, but I can't. Just like what Avet said, it is something we need to find out ourselves. But...I guess it's no use telling secrets."

"Would you care to explain to me, too?"

"Yeah. Never thought I'd say this to myself, but my own curse is actually a miracle."

"Like what?"

"When I was stranded in another world, due to the different type of darkness in that world, my eyes changed contrast and I could not see color any longer. Not only that, I perceive everything negatively. I see light as dark and dark as light. You know how hard it is to walk around with that kind of affliction?

"But then...an old dragon taught me how to control it, now that I'm a Dark Angel and it's easier for me to control darkness. In no time at all I returned my normal contrast and positive light, but I still cannot see color. I've become totally color-blind."

"What does color-blindness have to do with this?"

"If that riddle's meaning is true, the 'obvious' is not the plain, but instead it's the plane of existence. We need to see it with a third eye, which we gained after we got into the settlement. Is that right, Avet?"

Avet nodded.

"I guess I've talked too much. Now, to find the door, we need to see it negatively."

Avila then concentrated, her eyes turned black, only leaving her yellow eyes bright. All the sudden, her vision was flooded by a door directly in front of her. She was surprised that it was directly in front of her all the time, but there was no time to waste.

Grabbing Xiciro's leg, she guided him through the invisible gate, with Avet in tow. All the sudden all their visions were flooded with the image of a big settlement, two times bigger than that of Qeveriyt and comparable to what Dracokin was before its destruction. Many of the dragons living in that settlement were either black-scaled or feather-winged, but most of them had the same crystalline shimmer like the one Avila had 10 years ago. It was like a black-scaled dragon's nest.

"I guess it's best to extend my welcome to you," said Avet. "Welcome to Nia Baleth, the Dark Crystal city. Let me tell you something special. Xiciro and Avila...you are the only outsiders that have ever seen this city after 2000 years without any visitors. You've earned this...spectacle..."

Avet overexerted himself by saying that, and used up all his energies. He was still weak from the pain of his broken face, and went unconscious after. Avila and Xiciro rushed to help, as Argoons around them looked at the three visitors.

It must've been such a spectacle for them, too, to know that two outsiders, the Western Argoons, found their way into the settlement.