//------------------------------// // See What I Have Seen (pt 2) // Story: Fear from the Heart // by Dragon Heart //------------------------------// After reliving the terrible battle for freedom, Hammerheart found himself back in the cold darkness, staring at Zaurus' eyes above the obsidian. He shook his head from the disorientation of the vision, and was astonished by the experience. "Did that really just happen?" He said, still feeling a little skeptical about it all, even though the proof was in the pudding. Zaurus' voice spoke again. "After we had achieved our independence from Legion, I have taken his last words into thought. I traveled the world in search of answers as to who this 'chosen one' could be." Hammerheart sighed. "I told you before, it was just a bunch of nonsense coming from a dyin' freak of nature. But sure, let's see what you've been doin' while I was gone." The obsidian shined white again, and Zaurus' voice began to narrate all that was happening in the image that played in the light. "For two years, after the war, I traveled across the seas in search for clues as to who this 'chosen one' Legion mentioned was." "My search brought me to the forbidden caves of the southern mountains. Its dark passageways and labyrinth of rock walls made it what felt like a trialing race against time." "Upon entering the caves, I could sense something of draconic descent, but it did not feel like a welcoming presence. It felt like something much more hellbent on a darker agenda." Zaurus held a crafted lantern made of a small branch, and a glass ball he found abandoned in the wilderness. Inside the glass ball, extremely bright fireflies created a perfect light source for him to see in the dark caves he had entered. He held his torch to the walls of the cave and examined the ancient paintings upon them that told stories through visionary details. "In the beginning, billions of years ago, the Dragon Gods forged the very world we all live upon with the very elements of nature: Fire, Ice, Lightning, Water, Earth, Wind, Light, and Darkness." Zaurus said as he shined the light upon a painting of the Earth surrounded by eight Dragons, each different colors. "Thousands of years later, they then birthed living beings onto the world through their essences of life." He found another painting, showing the eight Dragons creating a variety of creatures from their hearts and minds. "Pyrkagias, the Dragon God of Fire, was the first to forge the mortal Dragons that could thrive in or outside of his volcanic domain." One painting depicted a red Dragon sitting on a throne, and smaller Dragons flew around and near their father. "Pagos, Dragon Goddess of Ice and Snow, created the creatures that would call her arctic land 'home'." Another painting depicted a slightly smaller white Dragon standing upon an iceberg surrounded by animals that lived in the tundras today. "Thalassia, the Water Dragon Goddess, ruled the oceans with the aquatic animals of her making." Another painting depicted showed a blue serpentine Dragon in the ocean depths, fiddling her claws among schools of fish. "Keravnon, Dragon God of Lightning, gifted all creatures with the blessing of life." Another painting depicted another serpentine Dragon, but it was orange and shot bolts of lightning upon animals, bringing them to life. "Geiosi, the Earth Dragon Goddess, grew the trees and grasses that flourish the world." Another painting depicted a green Dragon sitting in a field of grass within a ring of flowers. "Anemou, the Dragon God of Wind and Air, formed the birds and other winged beasts from his clouded breath." Another painting depicted a grey Dragon swirled amongst clouds and birds. "Elafry, the Dragon Goddess of Light, used her beautifully bright warmth to spread happiness among the inhabitants of the Earth during the day." Another painting depicted a yellow Dragon flying over varieties of animal, with an aura pouring onto them. "And Skoura, the Dragon God of Darkness, gifted them all with comfort through slumber during the world's nights." Another painting depicted a purple Dragon flying over animals with Z's over their heads. Zaurus continued to read through ancient history, coming upon a painting of the eight Dragon Gods standing in a row before a plethora of creatures alike. "Together, all living things lived under each others' wings in unity and harmony. But then something so surprisingly sudden shattered that peace long ago." He said as he came across a warp painting of what must have been the chaos from the past. "But who, or what, brought forth destruction among them all?" The sound of pebbles moving caught Zaurus' attention, and he turned and looked for the source. His light illuminated the vast interior of the cave. The ceiling was well over fifty feet high. Large fissures were present all around that led to the deepest parts of the Earth. And Stalagmites obscured a clear view of anything within Zaurus' sight. He could sense something was nearby. He sniffed the stale air, and could smell them, too. He could suddenly see his own shadow in front of him. His torch was not making it. He turned to see what looked like a flaming King Cobra reared up with its hood spread open. It struck at him, but he swerved out of its way, dropped his torch, and spat a ball of venom on its head. The cobra hissed from the venom that splattered its head. Zaurus then stretched his claws out and slashed the serpent's neck open. Lava poured from the wound onto the ground, and Zaurus quickly backed away to avoid getting caught in the molten blood. He turned around, and two more flaming cobras burned before him. One lunged with jaws opened wide, but Zaurus flipped backwards, and the cobra ended up getting a mouthful of dirt and rocks. Zaurus then pierced his claws into its skull, and shredded the flesh off its forehead. Lava sprayed everywhere, but Zaurus managed to avoid contact with it. The last cobra slithered in and tried to catch Zaurus in a burning constriction, but Zaurus jumped up and grabbed it by the jaws. The cobra flailed and shook its head to get him off, but Zaurus dug his claws in and ignored the burning pain. The cobra then stuck out its fangs. Zaurus gave it a swift kick to the lower jaw, which broke the fangs out of its mouth. Zaurus grabbed them both, and jabbed them in its eyes. The cobra hissed and nearly screeched in agony before going limp. Zaurus released his grip on the fangs and examined his talons. They were burnt, but not severely. He picked his torch back up and continued to search through the forsaken caves. "What were those monsters doing here?" Zaurus thought. "They should only be found near volcanoes or places of extreme heat." As he continued to search through the labyrinth, he eventually found what appeared to be a triangular dais encrypted with an ancient language long lost to time itself. Zaurus examined the dais closer, and placed a talon upon the words, which started to glow brightly, and morph into the very language of the Dragons' tongue. "Yr un a helpodd gyntaf greu'r byd, yn ceisio ffrwydro dinistr ar yr holl bethau gwahanol. Maent yn syrthio o'r blaen, ond bydd yn codi eto." was written upon the dais. "The one who first helped create the world, sought to erupt destruction upon all things different. They fell before, but will rise again." Zaurus translated. "So one of the Dragon Gods succumbed to corruption, and wished to bring war amongst all living things. But which one?" The scripture died out, and the dais sunk into the ground beneath. A portion of rocks that formed the wall also sunk into the ground, revealing a new pathway deeper into the cave. Zaurus went through, and found himself standing on a path that practically floated over a dark abyss. One slip, and he would fall into oblivion to his death. He swiftly crawled along the path, careful not to move too fast, while holding his torch in his prehensile tail. A slobbery screech pierced his ears. He looked over the edge to see large cave spiders crawling up to him. He peeked his gaze underneath the path and discovered it smothered with webbing. They felt prey moving above, and are coming up to feast. A spider came up from the left, but Zaurus blasted it off the side and into the darkness below. He kept moving, staying in one spot for too long was dangerous. Another spider came up on the right and screeched, but Zaurus punched it off the edge. He moved with all the swiftness he could muster, taking extreme caution of the edges. He could see the other end of the path, and a really big spider blocked the way. The spider spotted Zaurus, and lunged at him. Zaurus dug his front claws into the rock, flipped his tail over his body, and jabbed the end of the torch into its head. The spider screeched and flailed its legs crazily, unable to get free from the stick that pinned it to the ground. It soon ceased its flailing, and grew limp. Zaurus pushed it off the edge and quickly headed for the exit. When he went through, a large rock erected from the ground and sealed the way off. Zaurus gave it a brief look before returning his attentions to the front. He was now in a different part of the cavern, but the ceiling was glowing almost as bright as his torch. He then realized that the ceiling was covered in glowworms, firefly larvae. He continued the search for answers of what happened all those years ago. "I must be extremely more cautious than before." He said to himself. "If there are more voracious beasts residing in this cave, they will not hesitate to try and prey on me." Zaurus walked stealthily through the broad passageway of the new cave, shining his torch in every direction in hopes of catching a glimpse of something that could give him hints or clues about the past. Zaurus then took a step that nearly caused him to fall through a hole in the ground. He quickly pulled himself out of the hole and looked in to see something coming to the surface. Zaurus jumped back before a big serpentine creature popped out an shrieked. Zaurus quickly fled from the large beast. "I seemed to have accidentally stumbled upon an infant Gaian Wyrm's home." said Zaurus. "These are deadly Earth Dragons that can burrow through ground and appear anywhere, barely without warning. If a whole colony has made their homes in these caverns, I could be in deep trouble. I must move silently and swift." Zaurus placed his torch in his tail's grip, got down on all fours, and quickly crawled with lightened weight. If he were to make another loud noise, more Wyrms would certainly appear and hinder his progress. The bigger problem was figuring out whether or not he would be out of the frying pan and into the water. Fortunately, Zaurus could sense their draconic presence and how strong the feeling was when he traveled through. He kept moving forward, careful not to make any disturbances that would rile up the Wyrms beneath the rocks. When he felt their presence grow weaker and weaker, and eventually feel nothing, he knew he was in the clear. He moved on, and found another dais with the ancient language encrypted upon it. Zaurus touched the stone, and the language morphed into a more legible form of writing. "Mae yna un a fydd yn dysgu ffyrdd yr wyth elfen o natur dim ond un ymhlith y byw y gellir atal y datguddiad I ddod." it read. "There is only one among the living who can stop the coming apocalypse. One who will learn the ways of the eight elements of nature." Zaurus translated. "So one out of the many beings upon the Earth will learn the mystic powers of the Dragon Gods against this fallen god. But who? And again I ask, who is this fallen god?" The glowing scriptures dimmed out, and the dais sunk into the ground. Dust and pebbles fell from above. Zaurus looked up and shined his torch to see a hole had opened in the ceiling. He placed his torch in his tail's grip again, and with one decent jump, he grabbed the inner rim of the hole and pulled himself upwards. He brought the light in and could see how long and high the hole went. It was a fair distance up, but he started climbing nonetheless. After a minute of climbing, Zaurus finally reached the top. He peek out the hole and found a humongous underground pocket. Rays of sunlight shined through holes hundreds of feet high. There were stray patches of low growing grass, but a lot more rocky terrain comprised the ground. Zaurus pulled himself out of the hole and onto solid ground. "The last prophetic dais must be somewhere in this desolate underground valley." He said. Zaurus started looking solemnly in every direction. "The powerful draconic presence I sensed when I first entered is more potent in these parts. Whosever aura I'm sensing must be very close." Zaurus placed his torch in his talon and continued his search, though his source of light is technically unneeded now. Stalagmites littered the area, and the occasional sound of crumbling rocks would catch Zaurus' attention, but he kept his mental focus upon finding the last part of the prophesy. Bats started squeaking high above as they fluttered in the partial darkness, and even the drip-dropping sounds of water echoed in the atmosphere all around. Zaurus began to sniff the stale air, in hopes of picking up a strange scent of some sort. The previous dais' did smell like discarded teeth from a herbivorous animal. Zaurus' nostrils eventually did catch a scent, but it did not smell like plant-eating teeth. It smelled more like rotting flesh. Zaurus then felt an unwelcoming chill on his back. He turned around, and was nearly blasted in the face by a revolting ball of some sort of plasma. Standing before his eyes were the skeletons of Unicorns dressed in frayed black robes. Their eye sockets had a small red glow, and their horns glowed green as they conjured more orbs of plasma to hurl. Zaurus acted quickly, and blasted one undead Unicorn with his venom, though it did no effect as the dead pony virtually got back up without moving a bone. Zaurus decided to break them the old fashioned way, and flexed his talons. He lunged and swiped one undead, shattering its ribcage with one strong hit. He then grabbed the other dead pony, and slammed its skull on the ground and crushed it to shards. The living dead were dead once more, but who knows how many more might be lurking in this cave. Zaurus continued to sniff about the pathway, until his blunt nose finally caught the scent of discarded teeth. He ran towards the direction it was coming from, zig-zagging through the plethora of stalagmite, and eventually found the final dais. The inscriptions were still in the old language, but Zaurus laid a claw on it, and it changed into legible words for him to read. It read: "Pan fydd y Wyvern a'r cludwyr Harmonig uno a chael y pwerau y Duwiau eu hunain, dim ond wedyn byddant yn gallu atal y ddydd y farn I ddod." "When the Wyvern and the Harmonic Bearers unite and gain the powers of the Gods themselves, only then shall they be able to stop the coming Armageddon." Zaurus translated. "So it is a Dragon who will stop this fallen god, a Wyvern, along with these so-called 'Harmonic Bearers'." He scratched his chin as he pondered. "Could the prophesy be referring to Hammerheart? No, it couldn't possibly be him. But who are these 'Harmonic Bearers'? Most of all, who is this fallen god? That is the only question that remains unanswered." More sounds of grinding pebbles caught Zaurus' attention, and he turned around before the dais sunk into the ground. If those skeletons were coming back again, he would be ready for them. He sneaked around the tall stalagmites, searching for the enemy before they found him. He heard the sound of crackling bones coming from behind him, and he swiftly spun around and delivered a powerful punch to the skeleton's face, shattering its skull. Zaurus examined the corpse, and noticed it was wearing a deep red robe. He looked up and spotted more red robed Unicorn skeletons approach him. Their horns glowed bright red, and they blew fire out their mouths. Zaurus ducked and avoided the flames. He then scurried up to the nearest fire eating skeleton and upper slashed its ribs to pieces, then slammed its skull into the ground. Another dead pyromancer conjured fire bolts out of thin air and flung them at Zaurus. Zaurus was able to dodge them all relatively well, thanks to his serpentine body. He then got on his arms, flipped himself over and forward, and slammed his tail onto the skeleton, smashing it to shards. Zaurus stood back up, and panted from the fight. Though it was sort of brief, he was getting too old for combat like this, but he still had it in him. The ground started to shake. Zaurus looked towards the center of the cavern and spotted a spiral pillar rise up to the top. It must be his exit. He scurried godspeed to the pillar, and made it to the base. But before he could make another move, a dark and sinister chuckle echoed all around him. Zaurus looked in every direction to find the voice's owner. "What brings you to these forsaken caves, my child?" It said with an impossibly deep masculine voice. Zaurus turned to see shadows forming into something much bigger. They took on the shape of a full grown Dragon, with glowing purple eyes that stared into his soul. "Don't you know it is unwise to wander into places like these by yourself?" Zaurus stared back with anger, yet felt a subtle fear in his heart. "Who or what in the name of the Duwiau Ddraig are you?!" Zaurus nearly shouted. The specter chuckled. "I am everything you see before you." He said. "The land you walk on, the air you breathe, the water you drink, and the life you live." Zaurus leered and gritted his teeth under his lips. "You are the fallen god, are you not?" The specter silently laughed. "Did I not just say I am everything you see before you?" He started to dissipate, but still kept in one piece. He flowed past and through Zaurus, making him stiff with an ungodly chill that surpassed sub-zero. The specter reform behind him and placed his dark talons on his shoulders, making Zaurus almost petrify from the stiffening cold touch. "You must come to me, my child, and join my cause in creating a new world from the ashes of the abominable ones that plague our home." Zaurus broke away and turned to face the dark one. "The only abominable one I see is the revoltingly dark monster before my eyes!" The specter sighed. "Pitiful. No matter. Even if one does not come to my side, many others have seen the path to ruin should this world remain. If you wish to tread that path, so be it, but I am afraid you will perish along with the accursed defilers." He flexed his dark talons. "In fact, I think I will show you mercy, and relieve you of the upcoming torment, through DEATH." The Specter swung its large claws at Zaurus, but missed when Zaurus back rolled. Zaurus then threw his torch at the shadow Dragon. It shattered on impact, and the fireflies fluttered about and away, but the dark figure just laughed at the pitiful excuse for a strike. "You would dare try to graze a God, such as myself, with something as frail as a stick? Indeed, you are blind to the truth of the matter." Zaurus did not want to spend the rest of his life fighting the dark apparition of a Dragon God, so he began to grunt and snort. A lump formed in his stomach. He then heaved the lump up his throat, and spat out the corrosive bile onto the ground, which created a smoke screen upon impact. The dark figure swiped his claws through the smoke, but struck nothing but rocks. Zaurus was quick enough to flee to the spiraling pillar without being spotted by the fallen god, who chuckled to himself, which rose to a hearty laugh. "Know this, my child. There is nowhere you can run or hide. My omnipotent powers will conquer any and all who stand against me. Nothing will stop me, and my army of oblivion." Zaurus shook his head and began to climb as quickly as he could. He just met the fallen god, but their identity remains anonymous. "Now that I know what will happen, and who the savior is, I must now search the secret, olden Temple of Drakon Selac." Zaurus thought as he neared the top of the pillar. "Answers referring to the 'Harmonic Bearers' and the fallen god's identification should be present there." He sighed. "If not, I fear this entire world will burn." Zaurus exited the caves and was now upon the very top of the mountains. Finding the temple could take years to accomplish, but it was a desperate search that had to be done.