Heaven's Tower
"I don't know about this."
"Oh, don't be such a baby! It'll be fun! Besides, what would you be doing here otherwise unless you really wanted to? And what would you be doing if you weren't here?"
He grumbled some, but smiled and shook his head, mane waving slightly, filling the air with the sounds of soft chimes. His tail swayed as he followed after her; keeping up was not much of a concern due to their size difference.
She trotted on, looking about, until she found what she was looking for. Her ruby eyes squinted as she cast her gaze upward, looking at the tower she had stumbled upon during her daily excursions from the cave. Her sister was usually off during the daytime hours, looking for food, while he stayed behind to watch after her. His diet didn't consist of the two sisters', so he had no need to hunt.
This day he decided to follow her on her excursion, growing a little worried as they wandered further and further into unknown territory; or at least, it was so to him. The tower wasn't so towering to him, but even he could fit through the front entrance of the place, which was extraordinary in itself, as even an older tree of the forest couldn't stand quite as tall as he. This thought played across his mind as he also pondered how he could have missed seeing such a large construct when their cave gave them a view over most of the forested region, except for the furthest regions, which they apparently must have wandered into.
She urged him forward with slight pleas, and bounding, and he advanced further, the reasoning behind him feeling uncertain dispelled for the time being. Her energetic form enticed and soothed him every time he was unwilling to do something, which was a feat in itself. The red "x" on his chest was a constant reminder of that.
"Don't wander too far..." He called after her, as they came upon the base of the tower.
She looked back at him and smiled, warming him more than the sun, and removing some of the ice that had settled in him upon seeing the incredible structure.
"I'll be fine! Just keep up with me, and I won't ever leave your sight!"
He let out a deep, bassy rumble in his chest, the dragon equivelant to a chuckle. He stood nearly five times taller than her, easily; it would be hard for her to escape his sight.
All the same, this place made him nervous and unsure, but he followed, the grass beneath his paws changing to stone tiles as they proceeded into the tower. One thing he was certain of was that this place was foreboding, and they were the uninvited guests intruding.
She bound about in the atrium of the tower, or at least, that's what it seemed this room was, as it was even larger than the door. He didn't even need to duck his head in here. He looked about, and noticed large, well shaven trees sticking from the tower's walls, which was also lined with a large spiral ramp, which seemed to go on forever in the endless skyscraper.
Her voice bounced off the tall walls, as she exclaimed, "This place is huge!" His ears folded down to keep the deafening tone of her amplified voice from hurting them, as he nodded his silent agreement. His ears perked up though as he saw her begin the descent of the ramp.
"Hold on there! Don't just go running off-" His ears clamped back down as the sound of his own voice in this hollow tower reverberated back through his skull. Instead, he gave chase after her, even though she was already gaining considerable distance up the ramp. He had to take it slower than her so as not to slip, his bulky, scaled wings that normally protected him now hindering his advancement as they scraped and pushed off the walls of the tower.
She laughed as she made her way carelessly up the stone ascension, the berth of the rising platform giving her plenty of room to roam. After a time, the ramp began to level, and came upon a platform. She panted a little, and looked down from the ramp. It was a long drop. He was still following after her, only halfway along, so she decided to scout out the floor herself while she waited for him to catch up.
It was rather unremarkable, though windows that penetrated the sides of the tower allowed for sunlight to pour in. Gazing skyward, she saw that the ramp continued upward, and that there was another story above.
"How tall is this place?" She wondered aloud, as her steps continued to sound off against the walls. Suddenly her steps were joined by louder ones, and her head turned sharply enough to crick her neck, only to see that he had finally caught up with her.
"That ramp was not made for dragons like me..." He said grudgingly of the creators of this place, before noticing the middle of this floor contained a large hole. "But then, I guess that's what the hole in the floor is for, so dragons like me can fly..."
It was then that he realized what he was saying. He looked to her to see a wide grin on her face, her white fangs gleaming in the streaming sunlight.
"Do you think this is a roost?" She asked excitedly.
He dipped his head in thought, then in agreement.
"This is amazing!" She said, bounding off once more, energy revitalized as her wings quivered, wanting to spread. Then her curiosity took over in place of her energy, and she looked to him again, adding in, "I wonder who would make something like this for creatures like us?"
He shrugged his massive shoulders. "Couldn't have been humans. It took one mythological civilization years to build structures like this, and many, many slaves. This tower seems to go on into forever, and not only that, but trying to see it from any distance except up close appears impossible. There is powerful magicks at work here, and I have yet to ever see a human accomplish so much unless gathered in large groups. It would take much to hide a tower of this size from a dragon's eye."
She nodded, understanding. It wouldn't make sense that humans would even make this for dragons as it was, when it was their cities that they were interested in building.
"I guess we could put it off as another mystery of our world, couldn't we?" She said more of herself, though he nodded in agreement.
She looked him in his eyes, the swirling black around the yellow so calm, yet haunting.
"We should keep exploring!"
He let out a long breath, then retorted, "We're flying then. No more ramps. It's not like you'll miss something if we don't take the ramp." His large wings spread, and she followed suit as he kicked off the floor, which didn't even crack from the pressure, and took off in circles until he made it through to the third floor middle opening. He touched down and was taken aback by what he saw. He stared until the sound of her wings catching up snapped him out of it, and watched her as she, too, touched down on this floor.
Her eyes became round as plates when she saw what had caught his eyes as well.
This whole floor was coated in an assortment of treasures; Artifacts, gold, gems. And not only that, but weapons leaned against stacks of books which lay upon works of art in both papyrus and stone. Some of the weapons looked never to have been touched by human hand, while some of the books appeared to be much to large for any human to carry. The works of art depicted beautiful lands, that almost seemed to jump off the page at the viewer, and the stonework contained intricate designs and runes similar to ones written in some of the larger books.
He dipped his head in respect. A worthy hoard for any dragon, though in his opinion, this seemed to be the collection of many, or perhaps a family. He kept his gaze from lingering too long on the gems, though his mouth did water from them, as some were larger than any he could ever have dug up.
And even as this marvel took hold of their minds and imaginations, she spotted that the ramp did proceed upward, signifying that this now almost mythical tower was beyond imagination. Then a note of worry appeared in her voice as she spoke to him.
"There might be an owner to all of this. Won't they be upset that we are near it?"
He couldn't help but have felt the same way, and he nodded towards the ramp.
"We should continue upward, so as not to anger any who might return here."
The fourth floor was an enormous contrast to below, and as their wings cleared the dust away, it was made clear to them that none had been here in many, many years, and that the owners had never left.
In a pile upon the floor were an assortment of bones, human and dragon alike. They lay strewn in some places, while in others, entire sets remained intact, as though the one who had died had died instantly. Then some runes that he could understand caught his eye, and he walked carefully over to them, making sure not to crush any of the bones, sweeping them away when stepping would have been unavoidable. His eyes skimmed the words written there, which lay above the remains of a dragon whose paw lay outstretched towards the wall.
Finally, he turned back to her.
"This tower is ancient. It has existed almost longer than I. The words written here were scribed many a millennia ago. This place is a tomb of history, and the treasures below were the bane of man, myr, and dragon alike. An age of greed I only faintly remember."
Chills ran down her many spine spikes. The souls that possibly roamed this tower were older than her ancestors. And yet, even as she surveyed the bones, the sight of the ramp caught her eye, proceeding ever upward. There at the base of the ramp, lay a solitary skeleton of a man or myr, clutching to a small book.
She pointed it out to him, and he looked at the pages with her help. The words were very small, but her description of each told him he could read almost none of the yellowed words. It wasn't until she came to one of the the last entries of writing that the runes she described were familiar to him. As she explained each one, he played out the words in his head:
"Alsrath 3rd, E423
I have little breath within me remaining. I must record this for the future generations that will come here, for I do not believe I will last many more days. The dragons came upon us. They told us what we were doing was folly, and the older of them tried to convince the younger that had joined our cause to cease. Of course, their ambition was almost greater than ours, and they wished to achieve the same goals as we. The human I took this diary from died recently when he tried to venture higher. I assume he was weak of lung, as he was of a more scholarly build, and the lack of air as our tower grows higher was too much for him to bear. He died slowly and agonizingly, despite our attempts to bring him down, he went higher and higher until he collapsed. Humans. Too forward for their own good. I must rest now...
Alsrath 4th, E423
My illness has furthered, but the fourth floor of the tower is complete, and yet so much more remains to be completed. The air grows thin up here, even for I, though my illness I guess accounts for my inability to proceed further today. The dragons aren't having as hard a time as us smaller creatures, but I can sense that the gravity of the air here is heavier even for their stout forms. The elder dragon did not come today. All that had left, it said, were the lucky ones, and that the rest were doomed. We had one of the younger dragons finally lose faith and she left for the lower skies. It is ridiculous, really, when we are so close.
Alsrath 6th, E423
I slept almost coma like yesterday, and I was only awoken when a lightning storm passed beneath us. The giddiness allowed me to rise at this early time, despite my illness. We are beyond the lightning! It is simply incredible that we can be so far. We are so close! But now I must sleep once more, for the morning, I wish to help my fellow colleagues. My illness seems to be leaving me, I hope it will be gone by tomorrow morning.
Alsrath 9th, E423
We couldn't stop them. So many, we had naught but the weapons in the hoard below. So many dragons had moved into the tower that they just kept a room communal for their vast treasures. Admittedly, many humans who were on this project perished from trying to sneak even a single gold piece away. Foolish, as was our attempt to keep constructing this tower. We have retreated back to the fourth floor, the fifth is far too dangerous now. My illness is gone, but now this wound won't close. I've done my best to mend it, but it won't stop bleeding when I try to replace my stitching. I need to stop and rest now...
Alls writh .. No... Alsrat... NO! Damn the humans! Damn the dragons! Damn my own race!
My eyes are gone! I couldn't even write the date, I'm using magic imprinting to write my words, and I can't pronounce that bloody date! I don't care what day it is anymore! I want to leave, I want to get out of here!
The date, is Alsrath 24th, E423.
Man, myr, and dragon alike. Within each lies the deadly curiosity, the undying greed, the strive for power. Different in form we are, like in mind we remain.
We tried to touch the heavens.
We reached for the stars.
We succeeded,
The results are far
Worse than we can imagine
The truth more horrible than lies
It unravels the mind
It burns the eyes.
We should have listened
To the advice of a sage
We made a mistake
And now it ends the age
Of man and myr
Dragons alike
The way was shut for a reason
There is no light."
The words stopped, and he shuddered heavily. The scripture written was that of a legend he heard when he was younger, for even chaos holds myth. But it was real.
Heaven's Tower. It was said that it was hidden by the very same elder that cursed the builders to be doomed, to prevent anyone from finding misfortune upon this place. Any who found it would hopefully be discouraged by the height, and thus, hidden it remained.
He had never believed that old story, but now he was standing in the heart of it.
Heaven's Tower.
He looked to her.
"This place is not for us." She nodded her agreement, as the higher up she had been getting, the more apprehensive she had become. They descended, past the treasures of ages old, past the vista of the world, and took flight through the archway that was the entrance. As they flew from it, trees passing beneath them and holding their shadows, they turned to take one last look at the tower, but it was no longer there. The enchantment upon the place wouldn't allow any but the most determined explorer to find it. And like the tower, they, too, faded from view, flying home.