Forgotten: Registration
Hey, really sorry for lack of updates; Been waiting on editors and lack of inspiration. Anyway, here is next chapter of Forgotten.
Kay sat in the room as she was told, leaning against the wall, waiting for this Illthian dragon to show up. She wondered how he was speaking through that weird screen, but then again, she had just woken up and had no recollection of what just happened, a floating snake that could talk to her, and she was in abandoned place with skeletons.
She would believe just about anything right now.
The floating snake in question was curled around her, her claw gently stroking his head. For some reason, this felt awfully familiar, but couldn't quite place her talon on it. Her head hurt whenever she tried to wrap her brain around the feeling, but she would figure it out on her own one day.
"So what do you think is going to happen to us?" Kay asked, noting that Illthian should arrive within the next minute or two.
"Hopefully we will be able to figure out where we are." Vormund replied, tongue flicking in and out of his mouth.
"Well that goes without saying." Kay pouted. "I mean, that thing can talk and someone is coming to meet us to take us someplace we don't belong, we don't have a past except for the name Zyrnoth, and we are in a creepy lab that makes me sad. I don't like where we are and I couldn't care less if we find out so long as I never have to see it again."
"That is something I can agree with. I think that we should ask this Illthian regardless to figure out where we are."
Almost immediately, something landed outside. It sounded heavy and there were sounds of metal thumps back and forth before they faded slightly. It sounded like there was a muffler on the thumps, but the rhythmic pattern they followed suggested that this was Illthian. At least, she hoped it was.
They stopped before the door and Kay stood up, ready to attempt to defend herself just in case. Her legs wobbled and wings completely threw her off balance, but she stood as still as possible despite her weakness. Vormund floated beside her, hissing slightly.
The door slowly creaked open, revealing that it was indeed Illthian. He had a look on his face that reminded her of her own, but it also seemed to carry guilt. All of this faded once he laid eyes on her and Vormund, replaced by curiosity and confusion.
"I take it you are Kay Pridewing?" Illthian cautiously stepped forward.
"I am. You're Illthian, aren't you?" Kay confirmed, returning the question.
"Yes, and this is...Vormund, the snake that defies all laws of physics." Illthian stared at the snake, who looked mildly disgruntled.
"Glad I'm not the only one who's confused by him!" Kay giggled before coughing.
"It's nice of the two of you to act as if I am not here." Vormund commented sourly. Illthian raised an eyeridge at this.
"Interesting...Vormund can speak through the mind. I was wondering why he was not speaking." Illthian folded a wing under his chin.
Then, Illthian shook his head and stared intently at the two of them. "I hope you two are not pranksters. I normally don't come out here on the words of strangers, but you two intrigue me." Illthian narrowed his eyes, eyes shifting between them.
Kay couldn't help but feel odd at the way he said that. For some reason, she could feel Vormund's discomfort as well, but he was their only help out of here. He did not seem to me moving to harm her, but instead standing perfectly still, waiting for their move.
"We're honest! I don't know where I am nor do I really care!" Kay threw up her arms, almost falling backwards. "There are skeletons and the like here and I don't like it! Just get us out of here!"
"Good, I was hoping to skip the details of what happened here." Illthian turned, motioning them to follow.
Stepping back into the hallway, Kay realized just how large this dragon was. His head was about a yard away from touching the ceiling, making her feel tiny compared to him. Heck, Vormund even seemed bigger than her, but there was no way he could stand up straight with a body like his. He would simply fall onto his back or stomach and it would be funny.
Sunlight and a warm breeze blasted her in the face as they passed a crack, making her wince in response. The sun was still unnatural against her body and made her feel like a vampire. However, vampires didn't exist, so she was safe from that threat.
Eventually she noted the entrance before her, if one could call it that. It looked like a massive hole had burst from the lab outwardly as evidenced by the debris that scattered around the grassy fields. Stepping out, she almost had to shut her eyes entirely from the exposure to the sun. Even with a claw shielding her eyes, it was still too much to see more than five yards in front of her.
"Can you fly?" Illthian asked from her left.
"No, I'm too weak." Kay replied, making her wings twitch.
"You look it, but I had to ask regardless. The wings look far too large for you as well, so even if you had the strength, I doubt you would even fly anyway."
"So why ask?" Vormund inquired, stretching into the sky. Kay only knew he was doing this as she saw his tail fly into the sky before the sun's rays caught her eyes, making them water.
"I couldn't exactly tell from inside, but in daylight I could easily tell." Then, Illthian paused. What he was doing, she couldn't tell. "You know what; I tend to think better if I am speaking my questions and thoughts, so if I go off and then change subjects, you know why."
"Oh okay! That's fine!" Kay nodded, noting that he went down onto his stomach. "Why are you doing that?"
"You can't fly, so I am going to carry you back. It would be much faster and the two of you don't look like you'd weigh a lot at the moment."
Kay once more looked down on her body, noticing how pale she looked. Outside, she looked like she could be albino from how light her scales were. Blaming the sun for this new look, she made her way onto Illthian's back noticing how oddly cold he was to the touch. His scales were far too smooth, almost like they were fake. Her eyes narrowed slightly, feeling over to see where the scales stopped being so unnatural. Once she reached the left shoulder, everything felt...well...natural like the plants on his spine. It was something she couldn't exactly describe.
Vormund wrapped himself around her protectively, his body also touching the scales. The look on his face told Kay that he thought the same thing.
"Are you secure?" Illthian stood up. Kay instantly grabbed for his bushy mane.
"Yup!" Kay answered enthusiastically.
Suddenly, she felt his powerful wings take off from the ground and the air caressing her body. Looking down, the grass moved by quicker and quicker every second until she had to really crane her neck to see the laboratory. Why she was still looking, she didn't know, but she could have sworn she saw something dart out of it. It must have been a trick of the light.
Staying clear of those thoughts, she closed her eyes and attempted to lean back, almost falling off in the process. The sun was so warm, and had it not been so blinding, she would have loved to stay out here forever. As she flew, her vision gradually began to adjust and what lay in front of her made her jaw drop slightly.
It was a large, grand city that reached for the sky, each of its many crystalline spires reflecting the light. Her eyes grew wide and the urge to break and collect each crystal threatened to overwhelm her. Kay leaned forward on Illthian's back to reach for them.
"What are you doing?" Illthian chuckled. There was a lack of movement in his chest area to signify he had chuckled.
It was, however, effective in snapping Kay out of her trance. "I want the crystals." Kay said shamelessly.
"Why is that?" Illthian asked.
"Because they are shiny." Kay stated, believing it to be a good reason. Maybe she could get a piece and store it in her new home if she were to get it.
"No desire to sell them?"
"Why would I ever do that?"
Illthian remained silent, blinking in what appeared to be shock. Evidently what she had said was bizarre, but she couldn't find any fault in her reasoning. Didn't everyone want to take crystals to treasure forever? Her smile faded to a frown when she thought of this; what kind of world did she wake up to if no one wanted them just to call them shinies and place them so they would shine forever?
Regardless, they soon flew into the city and immediately the scents changed. Instead of the bright, open fields that had the smell of fresh air not contained in a laboratory of death, she was instead met with unknown scents which, if she was honest with herself, kind of scared her. There was no way she could describe them, but the air was stuffy and restricted, and she felt immediately closed in.
"You feel the same way?" Vormund asked her. Illthian didn't react, so he obviously didn't hear them or was just not paying attention. In fact, he was instead talking to someone through a device on his wrist.
"Yeah, I don't like it here." She whispered back, staring down at the multiple dracidons below her. A few looked into the sky and pointed at them, but there were some cheers and shouts. What they said was completely indecipherable. She did, however, hear Illthian's name pop up a few times.
However, Illthian instead veered away from a large building reading 'Vineheart Inc' and headed once more to the outskirts of the city. It was at this time that she started to pay attention to the conversation Illthian was having with the bracelet.
"Are you sure that she looks just as you say?" a sickly voice asked. The voice was rather young, probably not much older than her...however old she was.
"For the third time, yes! You're not that old and sick to completely go deaf on me just yet!" Illthian snapped back, shaking his head.
"I'm just messing with you; you should know this about me. You're starting to act like my mate minus the whole bloody violence that usually comes when she gets angry." The voice laughed before a violent cough came in.
"Take your medicine?" Illthian asked with a concerned tone.
"Yes, Virith, I did." The voice replied mockingly replied. "So you're bringing her by my place? Probably the best time, she's out on a job for at least a week and I'm lonely and could probably fall down without anyone."
"Yeah, just don't move until I get there. Don't want you breaking a hip...again." Illthian added with a small chuckle.
"You just had to bring that up, didn't you?" There was a click from the other side and everything went silent for a moment.
"Who was that?" Vormund asked the question plaguing Kay's mind.
"Oh, just an old friend of mine that thinks he is thirty years younger." Illthian shook his head. "You're going to stay with him for a while. I can only hope he has enough sense to call her his mate. Just don't mind his ramblings."
"...Right." Kay replied with hints of skepticism. Yet, despite the explanation, she felt like this could trust this mystery dracidon.
It was here that she noted that they were descending and she finally took a look at the surroundings. What she was facing was a small cave built into a large mountain with snow forming at the top. For some odd reason, she had the compulsion to just climb to the top as if something were waiting for her there.
Instead, she stared at the rather unimpressive cave in front of her. It was dark and wet, making her feel not at home at all. To make matters worse, she could not see a single shiny! How was she going to live with herself here? She would explode from the lack of something shiny.
Yet, Illthian led her on until she suddenly found herself on a smooth platform. She watched Illthian tap three parts of a rock, being sure to memorize them. Just as she was left to wonder what that was about, the ground below suddenly started falling. Without any knowledge of doing so, she shrieked at the top of her lungs.
Then, it slowed to a stop and lights flickered on, revealing a cavernous, steady room that, surprisingly, did not have a lot of moisture. The room itself was sort of like an oval with small chambers leading away, but if she didn't know any better...and she didn't...she would have assumed that this was the living room.
A large monitor showing a raccoon sneak up on a gull was attached to the back wall, a fireplace somehow burned to her right, and a few pieces of soft furniture lay scattered around. Oddly, there was one cushion, and two smaller ones on each side of the bigger one. The design confused her, but that was immediately sidetracked by the rest of the cavern.
Everything on walls to her left was covered in shiny gems, metals, and even wrappers. It was at this point that she decided that she would fit in here after all.
Of course, it would be at this moment when someone grabbed her from behind that made her scream again. Vormund immediately uncurled from her and slammed her would be attacker away. A thud came from behind her and she whirled around as quick as she could, nearly falling flat on her face from the strain on her body.
Her attacker was a frail dragon with faded silver scales covering his body. Her eyes were drawn to the burns on his chest and around the eyes, the latter giving the appearance to a bandit mask that was seared messily to his face. His horns, spine, wings, and wrist blades were a dull gold color, similar to that of his scales.
Two things stood out the most to her, the first being the device on his chest. It looked like some sort of machine with red liquid inside of it, tubes reaching under every rib towards his heart. Part two to what drew her eyes back to him was in fact his eyes. The eyes on this dragon were a dark amber and lacked any pupil whatsoever, yet despite the fact that she could not see where he was staring, Kay could feel his eyes on her.
"Told you that you weren't as young as you used to be, Serthal." Illthian laughed at the dragon, who slowly got up, holding his chest and coughing.
"Still had enough in me to sneak up on her without her and the snake noticing me." Serthal laughed and stood up, revealing just how tall he was. She had thought Illthian was tall, but this dragon was almost twice her size! He was a giant!
However, as she stared at him, she actually felt a bit sympathetic for the dragon, who looked not much older than her. His body was very boney and looked like it was fighting off some sort of illness or. Maybe he didn't eat enough oranges and grapes...
"So I'm guessing that you are the one that Illthian was telling me about." Serthal flashed her a grin, showing off larger than normal fangs. "Kay, was it?"
Kay nodded, unsure of how to feel around this dragon. There was this dark aura around him that she did not like at all, but yet, she couldn't help but trust his hospitality. Something told her that she would be finding out a lot about Serthal, yet she couldn't shake the fact that she knew him from somewhere.
"I gather he did not tell you about me." Vormund broke the silence.
Serthal jerked his head back in surprise. "No, no he did not. I just assumed that you were some sort of pet."
This seemed to infuriate Vormund. "Don't compare me with a common pet! Some snakes are sentient!"
"Okay, okay...I'm sorry." Serthal raised his wings in a submissive stand, coughing slightly before turning to Illthian. "Mind introducing me to the other one I am sharing my home with?"
"His name is Vormund, and believe me, you are going to be as confused as I am when he decides to unwrap from her." Something from Illthian's body started to beep. "Oh damn, I have to go meet with Mother." Kay shot him a confused look; shouldn't dracidons be glad to see their parents?
"Ouch, that's gonna take a while." Serthal whistled as Illthian started to leave. "I take it I won't see you tonight?"
"Nah, I'll be up later, but probably not as long as you'd expect me to be." Illthian took the moving floor up, leaving Kay and Vormund alone with Serthal, who turned to them.
"Oh, Virith is going to kill me once she gets a look at you." Serthal let out a drawn out sigh, moving to the monitor and typing something on the symbols. "Stay near me, as she may actually pick up and want to see you."
Kay did as she was told, looking at the machine with a look of wonder and confusion. "What is this, by the way?"
Serthal raised an eyeridge at her. "You honestly don't know what a computer is?" he asked before laughing. "When I was a bit older than you, I didn't know what they were and had that same reaction."
"A bit older?" Vormund questioned, "You look like you could be maybe five years older than Kay."
Serthal winked at him, "Oh, there is a lot more to me than meets the eye."
Just before the two of them were about to press, the screen shifted to show the muzzle of a dark green dragoness in a place that looked far above the clouds. The place behind her was dark purple shimmering with blue lightning. The white spine on her back swayed in an invisible wind.
"You're lucky you caught me before I set off." The dragoness narrowed her jade eyes at Serthal.
"Good, cuz if you are going to have any frustration, I want you to take it out on anything you need to do before coming home." Serthal pulled Kay over by wrapping his tailblade around Kay's arm and dragging her over. "Virith, meet our new roommate, Kay and her companion, Vormund."
Virith eyed Kay with a look that made the blue dragoness shy away, waving meekly. "H-hi..." Kay said to the dragoness in the screen. It was like meeting Illthian all over again, except double the awkwardness and fear. It didn't help that Virith's horns rose up before jutting towards the screen as if seeking to impale her.
"Serthal, if this is some sort of trick, I'm not laughing. You know how I feel about the subject of-." Serthal waved off Virith before she could continue.
"I'll talk with you later about it, dear." Serthal said firmly, "Illthian dropped by and gave her to me, so I'm going to take care of her for a while. You know how he is with things like this."
"Unfortunately I do." Virith shook her head, not looking at Kay for some reason. It was there that she noted how similar her horns and spine were to Virith. "I'm not too happy with you staying with a young female like Kay, but I trust you won't do anything you will regret, will you?"
"I'm too weak to do anything like that, and even if I tried, Vormund would beat me." Serthal indicated to the snake again. Kay noted how similar Vormund was to this dragon. Same color and everything...
"It's not that I am worried about...you know what I am talking about." Virith's eyes drifted down to Serthal's midsection, where a previously unnoticed scar could be seen on both his back and stomach. "Don't over exert yourself. I don't want to come home and find that you had fallen and couldn't get up again."
"GOD, WHY DO YOU ALL HAVE TO BRING THAT UP?" Serthal shouted, coughing once more. Kay began to wonder if he was going to cough every few moments. Nevertheless, she giggled at his reaction.
Virith smiled slightly. "Because I'm like that. Seriously though, I don't want to lose you...not yet, anyway." Her voice grew softer.
"If I die, I'll make it as cliché as possible by dying in your claws." Serthal chuckled. "I'm going to take her to get registered, so I'll talk with you soon, okay?"
"Yes, I'll call you tonight." Virith smiled and hung up.
"Right...so that went over a lot better than I thought it would." Serthal moved away and towards a wall. There, a small organic box rested on a crystalline table. "Don't mind her cold attitude; she's just protective of me and doesn't like me with other females unless she is there. Quite the difference from back in the day..."
Serthal tapped the box and it suddenly started to envelop him, creating some sort of organic armor on his body. It looked like all of the scales and flesh had been torn away, revealing black muscles with red veins. It stretched over his chest, wings, tail, and limbs like some sort of sentient being, bonding with him. In fact, it seemed to make him better, but it was an illusion; his scales and wings did not gain their luster and he walked with the same hobble as before.
"What is that?" Kay asked, touching the suit. It felt firm yet soft at the same time and the power radiating from it was a bit overwhelming. It was as if there was technology inside of it.
"A Bio-Suit that I need if I am leaving the cave," Serthal started to explain, moving towards the moving floor again. "It supports my body so that I don't collapse or die out in public, but it only has a certain amount of energy I can drain before it stops working. I'm good for a few hours, though."
"What happens if it fails? Will you just immediately collapse?" Kay asked, nearly screaming again when they started to go up.
"Depends on what I am doing. Few years ago, I was flying and it failed, and I plummeted into the ocean. Almost drowned, but thankfully Illthian pulled me out." Serthal visibly shuddered, jaw twitching.
Kay nodded, unable to reply. Just as they got outside again, she almost caught her wing on a rock and growled angrily at the limb. Kay wished that they would actually work so that she wouldn't have to rely on others to transport her around. Perhaps Vormund could fly her or she can get a Bio-Suit of her own.
"I can't fly you, so we can just take a nice pleasant walk through Leviana. Perhaps grab you something to eat from the state of your body." Serthal walked forward. "Here I thought I was skinny."
Kay scowled but bit her tongue, refusing to make a comment about the way she looked. "I already ate not too long ago."
"Oh, very well then. That just leaves getting you registered and figuring out your element."
"What do you mean by getting registered?" Vormund unwrapped himself from Kay, floating in the air beside her to steady her. Serthal had a dumbfounded look on his face and Kay could have sworn she saw Vormund smirk.
"Ignoring the floating snake's smug look that will no doubt bother my mind for a while now, being registered means that you, for lack of better term, exist. As of now, in the eyes of the world and government, you don't exist and don't have an identity. You cannot hold down a home, can't get any form of income, or whatever you want on your own." Serthal explained, entering the city.
Instantly everyone stopped what they were doing to look at what she assumed was either Serthal or Vormund, making her feel a tad bit insignificant. Then, her spine immediately tingled as she felt eyes on her as well and she hoped she could go back to being unnoticed soon.
"I'd stay close to me," Serthal leaned his head down to whisper, "The crowd recognizes me due to past achievements, but as such, they look for anything they can possibly nail me on. I'm a bit of a hermit and they are going to want to talk to you especially, as I can barely get myself out and they are going to wonder what you did to bring me out. Just ignore them."
Kay nodded, looking down to the ground to avoid the sunlight once again. The ground itself was covered in material similar to what she saw behind Virith, but despite the fact that she should have been electrocuted once every few seconds every time electricity pumped below her, it didn't even faze her. They instead went to all of the crystal buildings and ran up as far as the eye could see.
Sure enough, just as Serthal said, a crowd started to form and she instinctively squished closer to Serthal and Vormund. It was bad enough that she could barely see at the moment and had a small headache forming from the UV ray exposure, but maybe it wouldn't be too bad. Maybe it would be fun, maybe it would be-
"HEY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH HIM? HOW DID YOU GET HIM OUT?" someone blared in her ear, nearly deafening her.
"Err..." Kay struggled to answer, but then someone else came up to ask her a different question. She couldn't quite tell what it was, but she heard something about her body.
"GO AWAY!" Serthal roared with enough force to make her nearly jump a mile into the sky. It was as if someone else was roaring with him. "I mentioned years ago that I didn't want to be approached by your kind, so don't approach anyone in my company." Serthal leaned forward into the one that first blared in her ear. "Do I make myself clear?"
"P-perfectly clear..." most of them said with fear in their voice before scattering.
"Scavengers, all of them." Serthal frowned, "The media knows better than to come close to me, but they try and come after me every so often just in case I reconsider my stand. I'd advise never doing anything you consider odd around them, as they will pick right up on it."
They went on, Serthal leading her through the city as onlookers either waved or stared at them. She almost didn't notice a bystander, but while Kay almost bumped into him, Vormund didn't have time to avoid the avian and instead of creating a small collision, he instead phased right through her and appeared with no injuries. In fact, the avian didn't even see him, but shivered once he went through her.
"What just happened?" Vormund asked the two of them, looking behind him. "Did she not see me?"
"Evidently not." Kay commented back, observing how no one seemed to notice a giant floating snake.
"I think Illthian would like this." Serthal laughed, stopping before a small yet imposing building.
It was made of white marble with pillars holding up part of the roof. There weren't a lot of dracidons coming in or out, but judging from the metal door, it looked like it would be too heavy to pull or push! She turned to Serthal, who looked down at her and smiled before walking up. With a shrug, she bounded up the stairs, unexplainably happy.
Maybe the blinding building was just a bright spot compared to the insanity that this city was to her. There were too many dracidons and even the crystalline towers were starting to get too much for her. Perhaps inside would give her time to relax before she exploded from everything shiny and the sunlight.
Serthal opened the door for her and she skipped inside, finding her balance. Of course, she still nearly face planted at the sight in front of her.
It looked like a giant...thing. That was the best way she could describe it at first, but as she looked at it longer, it was very similar in design to the machine on Serthal's chest. It had long, shimmering purple tubes that connected to something out of her range of vision, a closed off ball in the center, and electrical surges presumably went to power the city.
Regardless, there was another one of those machines set next to the platform that overrode what she assumed was the mind of the city. It certainly seemed like something that would be in such a role.
Serthal led her to the machine and a small glowing platform about the size of her claw came out. "Place your claw onto it," Serthal instructed, "Let's see if you actually have an identity in this thing."
"I thought I had no identity?" Kay asked, watching a few dracidons pop out of previously unseen doors to stare at Serthal.
"Do it anyway, I want to test something." Serthal ordered.
Shrugging, she placed her claw on it and immediately the screen lit up with a 'PROCESSING' logo on it. Then, it said 'Name: ZYRNOTH J. PRIDEWING. Last user log in: 40 Years ago.' Below it, it said 'Not Zyrnoth? Tap talon or paw onto the platform.'
"Hmm..." Serthal muttered to himself, a wing folding under his chin. "Anyway, you're obviously not him, so tap it."
Kay did so, not fully grasping what was happening. The look on Vormund's face told her that he also did have a grip on the situation. The screen faded and was replaced by some sort of wavy lines. It told her to speak her full name, which she did, before it changed to a processing logo once more and required her to place her claw back on.
After processing her, it showed her name and that she was female, but required her age. Turning to Serthal, he simply shrugged.
"You look about twenty, so I'd put that in." he suggested.
After typing in her age, the screen told her that it required her element. It was here that Serthal stepped forward and typed something. It said that she could fill in the information later and that she should have a pleasant day.
"Good, Registration complete." Serthal yawned. "Ugh, Its getting close to my nap time; I completely forgot about it. Let's head to the Throne of Elements real quick." Serthal took out a small device and pressed a button, causing some sort of rift to appear out of nowhere. It was some sort of sideways tornado from the looks of it and it was spinning, which immediately caught her attention and made her fascinated by it.
Serthal motioned her in and she stepped forward into the portal...rift...thing.
--
Kay didn't step out of the portal; no, she was flung out and landed on her face, Vormund bonking off her head. As to why he didn't faze through her, she didn't know, but it hurt! Growling in irritation, Kay went to smack him, but instead was halted by what she saw.
It looked like a giant version of the cave she had seen, but instead of being decorated by shiny objects and the like, she instead was greeted by the four thrones, each appearing to represent the four elements. Also, the roof above her looked like the sky. How that worked, her mind would never figure out.
On the far right, an icy spire and chair lifted itself off the ground, water flowing through the entire structure. It was simply marvelous and the specks of light sparkled every so brightly, immediately gluing her eyes to it and the being sitting on it. It looked like some sort of armored bipedal, but she could not tell what it was. The face of the armor was pure liquid whereas the armor itself was made of solid ice. A large frozen hammer lay across its lap as it stared at her with a chilling gaze.
Directly next to it was a stony structure that was very similar in style to the ice throne, but it had a more benevolent feel to it. Flowers and plants raced up the sides, making her feel stronger and alive for an unknown reason. The elemental was drifting off, stony head resting upon its gnarled claw. It was very large and bulky, wearing no armor to show off its grassy and flowery hide and earthy frame.
Behind them and not on a throne at all was a peculiar elemental. It did not sit in its floating chair that reminded Kay of the core she saw earlier, but it was flying through the blue sky in a hyperactive way. Every time it bounced off a wall, it would simply zoom off in another direction. This, of course, stopped once Kay walked in, allowing her to see that it was very reminiscent to the two other elementals in general shape, but was made of electric clouds and had a tornado instead of legs, which it was using to fly. Blue cloth armor covered its frame and it levitated down to greet her.
"Hihihihihihi!" the elemental shook her claw before zooming off to its chair.
"Wake up, Greial!" A fiery voice spoke as another elemental, this time representing a more female frame, sat down on her molten obsidian spire that rose from a pool of magma. Kay had spotted her sitting on top of her chair, watching the air elemental bounce back and forth. Her eyes were yellow and flaming while her body was a gentle, slender, fiery frame that both frightened and soothed Kay.
"Huh, wha?" the earth elemental snapped awake, showing off diamond eyes. "Oh, sorry Inferna, I must have dozed off."
"You did." The frosty voice of the ice elemental snarled.
"What's up with you today, Inthnar?" the air elemental seemingly calmed itself to ask this question.
"Some of us don't have the energy to zoom around constantly, Kire. I am forever patient, but when you interrupt my thought process, I grow quite bitter."
"Oh...well, we have an organic who wants to talk to us." Kire indicated to Kay and Serthal, the former being lost in the wonders of this area. The frozen grass below her should have made her uncomfortable, yet she did not feel any discomfort.
"Yes, lets set aside our troubles and focus on...wait...I know the male one. He's been to our realms multiple times to help us out!" Greial leapt down with a thunderous boom, approaching Serthal. "What brings you here, Serthal?"
Serthal indicated to Kay, who was just realizing how big everything was compared to her. "She's why. I don't know her element and you all were the ones that crossed my mind."
"You came to the right place." Inferna also jumped off, followed by the other two. "Interesting...I do not sense an element in her." She folded her arms. "At least, not yet. It may be very dormant."
"Oh, so it wasn't just me?" Kire floated closer, Kay instinctively sticking her claw into his tornado. She had no idea why she did that, but the compulsion as there and she did it without shame. It threw her claw out, but to her, it was worth it.
"Kay, why did you do that?" Serthal blinked. Kay shrugged, having no real answer. "Right...next time, ask someone before you do that. It's in invasion of privacy."
"You grabbed me earlier." Kay shot back.
"Don't look up to me too much on manners..."
"Wait, I do sense elements in her." Inferna suddenly approached her. The other elementals looked at Inferna oddly. "Yes, I said elements. I can sense fire burning in her soul, yet it is encrusted by a thick shell of ice." Then, she looked at Serthal. A look of shock crossed his muzzle a few seconds later.
"That means what?" Greial asked.
"It means that she can use two elements, but she cannot get to them naturally." Inthnar towered above her. "No, she is far too weak to grasp them on her own. Even if her body recovers, something is stopping her from using them."
"Is there any way to get them out?" Serthal pressed.
"There is, but we can only supply the raw elements themselves. Have Illthian craft her something so that she can inject herself with the elements." Kire suggested, his breezy voice turning serious. "There is something I must stress, though; use only one element at a time. Using both could bring strain onto the body and literally cause it to tear itself apart."
Serthal nodded and both Inferna and Inthnar presented globes of their respective element. They looked like they could fit on the tip of Kay's index talon and she reached out to touch them. They allowed her to and it felt like tapping glass. It was there that Vormund slithered forward and tapped the spheres. Both vanished in a small flash and he floated back.
"Vormund, what did you just do?" Kay yelled at him, her chance of actually getting an element ruined.
"Something told me to tap them, so I did. I can feel them inside of me, and I believe I can expel them at will." Vormund sounded just about as confused as everyone did. "Honestly, I do not know how this happened, but I suppose you won't need to carry a satchel anymore."
"So the snake can act as a storage unit..." Inthnar folded his gloves. "This one gets more and more intriguing by the second."
"Oh, they can see me..." Vor commented. "Was hoping they could, or else that situation would have gotten awkward."
"No disagreements there." Serthal muttered to Vormund.
"Regardless, we have offered as much aid as we can as of now." Greial nodded to the both of them. "If there is any other aid we can provide in the future, Serthal, just zone in and we will do the best we can."
Serthal smirked before yawning again. "Alright cool, I'll keep that in mind. I really have to go, though, or else I'm going to fall asleep on the spot. I don't really want Kay or Vormund to carry me back, so I'll get in touch later."
"Very well." Inthnar watched Serthal open the portal. "Keep us informed on Kay's progress. We have taken an interest in her and her dual elements."
"Will do." Serthal stepped through without waiting for Kay.
Kay let out a sigh before stepping through, revealing that they had appeared in the cave once again. The suit had turned into a gel-like liquid and started to roll off of Serthal, leaving him to stagger away, motioning her to follow him as he limped into a small cavern.
Inside had a small cushion in a white crystalline room, instantly making Kay form a wide, giddy smile. It wasn't too big, as Serthal had to dip his head in to avoid being stabbed on the crystals, but to Kay, this was perfect.
"This is the guest room for whenever Illthian either dumps someone on us or needs a place to crash if he is hiding from someone. Consider it your home for now." Serthal started to leave, yawning wider than before. "Sorry about the quick tone...but I really need to sleep or else I'm going to be grumpy later. You won't exactly find me the most approachable dracidon then."
Kay nodded in thanks, realizing just how tired she was even though she just woken up not too long ago. It likely had to do with her lack of nourishment and stiff joints, so perhaps a small nap would do her some good as well. Lying down on the blue bed, she felt her eyes drooping as Vormund curled up beside her.
"You think that we'll ever figure out what's going on?" Kay asked him. "Serthal and Illthian are hiding something from us, but for now, I don't know if we should play along or start demanding answers."
"For now, I suggest playing along. We may discover our answers soon enough and I don't want to bite the claw that feeds us just yet."
"Yeah...I suppose I can do that for now. If more things come up, I'm going to lose my patience and explode, though." Kay tapped a crystal beside her, feeling the smooth edges. "I think the thing that is bugging me the most is how Serthal reacted about the soul thingy. If anything, I'd want that explained."
"Indeed, I also noticed it. Inferna clearly said something to him telepathically, but despite me having the same power, I could not figure out what she said." Vormund rested is head on her chest. "For now, let's rest up and start tomorrow with an open mind."
"Alright." Kay rubbed his scalp. The tailblade on him flickered. "Night Vor."
"Goodnight, Kay."