//------------------------------//
// A Fiery Throne 
// Story: Monster Hunter World: Monsters and Magic 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

Upon returning to the airship, after their discussion with Cindy about the purpose of the Elder Crossing, Grogar informed Hiroko of what happened to Scarlet, as they had finally discovered a clue as to what had happened to her after the Legiana downed her ship twenty years ago.

"Interesting. Scarlet's been alive this whole time, and yet we're only now finding out... and you say that she's turning into an Odogaron, while having one as a mate?" Hiroko inquired, as that was a tale she wasn't expecting to hear, though it certainly explained why they were unable to find her for so long, due to the fact that Cindy had been the only one qualified to explore outside the airship and it had taken some time for them to get down to the Rotten Vale, "Fascinating. It's a shame she ran off after you healed her headache, as it would have been interesting to lay eyes on her altered form... not to mention the fact that it takes a small number of miracles for such a thing to happen in the first place."

Grogar nodded as he agreed with her statement, as Scarlet was lucky to have those miracles happen when they did, even if she had been unlucky to fall off the airship, and it gave them new insight into the wonders of this world, despite the fact that repeating those very miracles would be next to impossible. He found that they were flying back to Astera without delay, so it gave him a chance to tell Hiroko about their discovery, something Cindy joined them for since she had pieced most of it together by herself, though she was still stunned that he did the same thing in a few hours. Together they prepared a report on the two regions that were beyond the Great Ravine, that way Shepard, the Researchers, and the Scholars would be able to learn more about both the Coral Highlands and the Rotten Vale, because now that the barrier between regions had been broken there was no reason for them to without this information. He still felt a little annoyed by the fact that Alexia had decided to keep the information about these regions to herself, and not share with Astera so they could be prepared for whatever the future held, but there was no reason for him to worry about that, given that the current problem was still going on.

As he thought about that, however, he glanced over at Sherry and found that she was thinking about something else, to which Grogar determined that she must be considering the truth they discovered down in the Rotten Vale, that the Elder Dragons weren't as immortal was one assumed and that each of them could die. Truth be told he was surprised by that as well, especially after witnessing Zorah Magdaros' power and nearly being killed by Nergigante, but it seemed to hit her far harder than anyone else that was aboard the airship. In that moment he recalled what he had seen back on the ship, in the days following his arrival in this world, where he saw Sherry's secret, the one she couldn't share with anyone else for some reason, which originally made him wonder if she was a Wyverian like Alexia, only more in control of her condition, for the most part anyway. That had been his thought on the matter, that she had forced herself to learn how to force all of her other parts to hide so she could pass as a human, but now he wasn't so sure, as Sherry seemed disturbed by the new information they had learned, that Elder Dragons could die and their bioenergy fueled the New World, which made him wonder something for a few moments, before returning to his work.

When they got close to Astera Hiroko had them lower the airship enough so they could walk out and not impact anything, allowing Grogar's group and herself to enter the Tradeyard before the flying ship took to the skies once more, though as soon as that was done they walked over to Shepard's table and gave him the news. Shepard and the others were taken aback by this information, not to mention Grogar's report on what happened in the Rotten Vale, confirming Scarlet's fate at long last, but the truth of the Elder Crossing was the heart of their meeting with those who lead Astera. Learning that the New World had been made due to an ancient Elder's death, and release of their bioenergy, was a surprise none of the Fleet Masters or the heads of Astera had been expecting, which only made some of them wonder who was the first, which monster had set in motion the events that started the creation of this continent. Grogar agreed with that thought, despite the fact that they had no way of knowing thanks to how many corpses were inside the Rotten Vale, to the point where he was sure that the bodies of monsters from thirty to forty years ago were already gone, turned to dust, before he moved onto the last piece of information he had to share with them.

That was the fact that, to learn more about what was going on with Zorah Magdaros, they needed to track down one of the First Wyverians and convince them to share their knowledge with them, though finding one was likely going to be the hardest part, or at least he hoped it was.

"This... is a lot to take in." Shepard said, which everyone agreed with as he stared down at the reports Grogar had made on the two regions he, Sherry, and Patches had explored since they had been sent through the gap in the Great Ravine, as it was good information to have for the future, before he glanced at another report for a second, "Unfortunately, our most recent sighting of a First Wyverian was somewhere in the upper reaches of the Ancient Forest, so that's where you should start your search... after some rest, since you've been working with no real breaks."

Grogar wanted to say that he had already taken enough breaks, talking with Hiroko about things, but he knew that it was a bad idea to try and talk Shepard out of this, in fact he tried with the assault on Zorah Magdaros and failed to convince the man that it was a bad idea, so he took a break and relaxed a little. Of course he made sure to stop by the Researchers and share his information with them, about all the monsters he had discovered and the confirmation that a Kirin was calling the Coral Highlands home, despite the fact that it wasn't attacking any of the other monsters. Such a thing made him a tad bit curious as to whether or not it might be on the verge of dying as well, that it came to relax and rest before delving into the Rotten Vale, to find it's way to the heart of the valley of death. In addition to that he also informed them of Scarlet and her shifting condition, as they were curious as to how much of her humanity was left and how much longer she had until the monster side totally took over, and he answered the questions to the best of his ability, though he really had no way of knowing the truth and they had to accept that fact.

Once he was ready to go Grogar, Patches, and Sherry departed for the Ancient Forest once more, finding that the Barnos brought them to a higher camp than what they were used to, one that was built high in the branches and someone could fall a great distance before hitting the ground. After landing Grogar found that his partner wanted to help track down the First Wyverian, to which he made sure she stayed close as they started to explore the section of the region that they were currently in, even though they had to map out the new area for themselves. One thing they found was that a couple of the Bugtrappers, the Felynes that were running around this region, were exploring and even focused on the group for a time, to see what they were doing, but since they didn't want to talk Grogar focused on their mission. The monsters, however, were either inactive or they didn't want to bother them, as if they could smell the Rotten Vale on them and wanted nothing to do with them, though either way it gave Grogar a chance to study the area as he and Sherry looked for clues, since they had no idea where the First Wyverian might be.

After some time they found a path that lead to what appeared to be the highest point of the Ancient Forest, a next that was on the exterior of the great tree, and the tracks ended after a while, meaning they were on the right path and lost it in no time, but before he had a chance to process this information Grogar discovered a monster closing in on their location, one he didn't want to mess with right now, especially since they had to dodge it as it flew by.

"Oh no, not a Rathalos." Sherry said, as she knew that this was the last thing they needed right now, though as the three of them picked themselves up off the ground Grogar considered something, he and Patches weren't the Rathalos' target, in fact he went out of his way to avoid the pair, meaning his target had been Sherry, once more confirming that she was just a monster magnet, or something to that effect.

In that moment the Rathalos flew overhead and loosed several fireballs down on where they were standing, where Grogar cast shields to make sure none of them came into contact with him or his companions, before he spied an opening to his left and escaped through it with Sherry and Patches, even if they had to slide a little... and when they came to a stop they discovered someone in interesting robes and an odd hat staring down at them from a tree branch.

"Well, being attacked by a Rathalos ended up working to our benefit: there's our target." Sherry remarked, as this was a stroke of good luck on their part, because now that they found a First Wyverian they would be able to figure out what in the world was up with Zorah Magdaros, and if something needed to be done to stop him.

"...Yes?" the First Wyverian inquired, where it sounded like he was speaking in vibrations, instead of a language like all of the people that Grogar was used to talking with, or like the growls that the monsters used to communicate, though he did wait for them to stand up before speaking to them again, "You wish to know where you may find the dragon with a mountain of fire on its back?"

"Him, actually... but yes, we seek Zorah Magdaros." Grogar replied, though as he thought about what the figure had said, for all of a few seconds anyway, he discovered that the figure knew about their quest and had likely seen the beast when it landed, in fact he might have watched them try to capture the Elder Dragon.

"Hmm... strange, I have not seen one like you before... but yes, I possess that knowledge." the First Wyverian said, not that Grogar was surprised by the first part, as everyone in this world was surprised by his appearance and skills, including his magic for that matter, but as he said that Grogar had a feeling that there was a condition they would have to complete to learn where Zorah Magdaros was currently hiding, "However, while you are different, you are not worthy of being given this knowledge... only one who stands at the top of the food chain, who has defeated the fire wyvern and the horned wyvern, who have descended upon the forest and waste respectively, are worthy of this information."

"Which means hunting and beating that Rathalos," Sherry said, confirming what Grogar was thinking as he heard what the First Wyverian wanted of them, or him to be exact, before she considered the rest of the information and what they knew about the area in question, about the Wildspire Waste to be exact, "Grogar, while you do that I'll return to Astera and see if I can figure out what the horned wyvern might be, then once you're done we can track the other one down and see if you can't beat it as well."

Grogar nodded as Sherry departed for the camp, as it meant that he didn't have to worry about her being targeted by the Rathalos while he was tracking it, though once he was sure his partner was back at camp, which he could see from where they had ended up, he readied his defenses. Based on his knowledge of the elements he knew fire was out, given what he had just seen when their foe attacked them, and he still had no idea how to wield the dragon element, so that left water, thunder, and ice for him to pick from. He knew that out of those three that thunder was the best option right now, while he was sure ice was a close second in terms of effectiveness, to which he steeled himself before heading through the small opening that had brought them down to where the First Wyverian had been standing for some time. It took only a couple of moments to return to where they had seen, and had been attacked by, the Rathalos, where he discovered that the nest was rather empty and suspected that his target might be flying around once more, no doubt looking for him and Sherry, or at least that was what he'd do in the monster's position.

As he considered his next step, and how to draw the monster back to him, he spotted a shadow flying in the air and was able to identify the Rathalos with ease, his target was gunning for him and he was totally annoyed that someone was in his nest, which worked perfectly for Grogar. Sure enough the Rathalos loosed more fireballs down on where he was standing, where Grogar summoned his magical shields and made sure to block the incoming attacks with them, though as he did that he also gathered his power for a few moments. As the smoke cleared he loosed a bolt of lightning at his target, hitting the Rathalos square in the chest and caused his foe to stagger, but, as he expected, a single attack wasn't enough to make it go down and his foe was already righting himself so he could blast the area once more. The next Lightning Bolt he threw smashed into a fireball that happened to be coming his way, both attacks blowing up as soon as they came into contact with each other, though the smoke cover was all he needed right now as he took to the air, as while he was unable to lift both himself and those around him, like during their fall into the Rotten Vale, he could give himself flight for a time.

Such a thing surprised the Rathalos as he burst out of the smoke and lashed out with his blade, which dug into the side of his target's neck as he passed by, due to the monster moving a little to avoid it hitting the side of his face, which, in turn, caused Grogar to move as well, to avoid being hit by the poisonous tail his foe possessed. After that Grogar decided to just stay in the air, even if the spell did burn through his mana reserves a little, something he had to thank Nergigante for since her almost killing him boosted his power to a new level, where he and Rathalos exchanged blows with each other. All that meant was that he let his foe launch his fireballs at him and he, in turn, would throw Lightning Bolts at them, purposely making more smoke for him to use as cover, something that greatly annoyed the Rathalos since he couldn't see Grogar, if he slipped into the large clouds of smoke, especially since it let him do some decent damage to his target. Other than that all he had to do was avoid the end of his foe's poisonous tail and the battle seemed to be somewhat even, at least in terms of strength, but Grogar knew that his magical power gave him an edge over his enemies and it was time that he used it to ensure his survival in this world.

With that thought in mind he slipped into the area that was below the Rathalos and struck it with another Lightning Bolt, this time causing his target to fall out of the air with his back towards the ground, though given how fast it recovered from the first attack he had another at the ready. This one was a mass of lightning that was gathered around his blade, like the move he used back during their siege to try and capture Zorah Magdaros, and he slammed it right into the Rathalos' chest, shocking it as he pushed his foe down towards the lowest level of the Ancient Forest. He followed after his attack for a few seconds and made sure that the wyvern struck his target, hitting the ground with enough force to knock anything out, and as he landed on the monster's chest, however, he heard a growl and found an Anjanath standing nearby, causing him to frown as his aura flared. The bystander got the message with ease, as he had downed the apex monster of the forest and was threatening to attack it as well, and Grogar watched as it ran off without a fight, though to make things easier for him he used some magic to restrain the wings and tail of his foe, that way it couldn't fight him or attack him from behind.

His thoughts were proven true as the Rathalos regained consciousness and thrashed around for a moment, trying to get out of the hold he had trapped him in, before his opponent noticed that there was no way out of his and went still as he stared at Grogar, who had one simple question for him.

"Do you yield?" Grogar asked, because if the monster understood the situation he was in, and that he was beaten to some degree, he would say yes, which would lead him to releasing the wyvern before heading off to see if Sherry had found out what the other one he needed to fight was.

What happened next was that the Rathalos chuckled, or it sure sounded like it to Grogar, before declaring that he did, he was beaten and there was no other way to look at the scene they were in, to which he dispelled his magic and climbed off the beast, who glanced at him for a moment. Grogar was expecting an attack of some kind, as there was no telling if the monster meant what he said or not, but not a few moments later the Rathalos took to the air and left, causing him to sigh as he returned to the camp they had landed in earlier, since that was where Patches had likely ended up. With half of the quest completed he intended to return to Astera and see what sort of information Sherry, or the Researchers, had for him about the other monster, since it had to be one he hadn't encountered yet, or maybe it was the one that burst out of the ground and took down the Barroth. It was possible that it was the monster he had seen once more, as he didn't think there would be another monster in the Wildspire Waste, but he was going to have to wait to see what sort of information his partner had for him to go on.

Once he was back at the camp, and found Patches waiting for him, they headed back to Astera so they could see what sort of monster they were going to be hunting down next, all so he could figure out what in the world was happening with the massive missing Elder Dragon.