//------------------------------// // Mistakes part 1 (14) // Story: Embrace the Darkness, Carpe Noctem // by musicman722 //------------------------------// “So what are we looking for?” Jun asked as he swiped a branch out of his face. The jungle of this island was really hot and humid, though I suspected most of the heat came from the nearby volcano. “We’re looking for the dragon’s den.” I said. I had turned back to my Base form to conserve energy and because the jungle provided excellent shade. “What! Why would we do that?” Camouflage said worriedly. I gave him a flat look, “Because dragon dens usually have some really good loot and if we’re lucky, we can find something to repair the ship with.” “How do you know we won’t run into another dragon?” “I doubt it. This island looks resourceful enough for two dragons to live here in comfort and the two we met were mates.” “Your point?” “If you and your wife had a peaceful and beautiful island to yourselves, would you share with anyone else?” Camouflage opened his mouth to respond but all that came out was, “Oh.” “Besides, if there were more dragons, wouldn’t they have joined the first two?” I finished. I swiped my claws at a clump of vines in front of me, neatly slicing them down. “But why are we searching the jungle? Dragons don’t live in the jungle.” Jun asked. “What do you mean?” I asked as I cut down some more vines. “Dragons usually take up their dens in the caves of mountains. Preferably somewhere with heat nearby.” I stopped and gave them a flat look. “You couldn’t have told me this earlier?” “You never asked.” Jun said. I winced as I realized my own mistake. “Dammit,” I muttered, “Camo, go up and search for the nearest mountain.” Camouflage nodded and shot up through the canopy. A few seconds later he came back down. “Nearest mountain is about a mile and a half that way.” He pointed the direction. “Let’s go then.” I set a brisk pace that the others easily kept up with. Soon enough, the trees cleared to show a massive mountain. Its sides seemed slick with almost no handholds to grab onto. Next to it was the smoking volcano and another peaceful mountain. “Camo and Jun, you two search this mountain and the other one over there. Search for any caves and report back as soon as you find one. Meta and I will take a look around the volcano for any clues. If you find anything, contact me with the communicator I gave you. We'll meet up at the volcano base. Also, keep your eyes open. Now that the Dragons are gone, some other predators might start popping up.” Camouflage and Jun took off towards their task. I turned to my Dog form and Meta and I made for the volcano ahead. It was a silent run, but it didn’t matter much. We stopped at the base of the burning mountain. From what I knew from my Earth science classes, this seemed to be an active, Cinder cone. Smoke and ash billowed out from the top like a smokestack. There seemed to be a few veins of lava trickling down the side of the slope. I quickly put some Latin words together, “Occulus Therma.” My vision turned into a thermal imaging. I could see the heat around me. I could see the pillar of heat located in the center of the volcano. Lava veins, above and below ground, appeared to me, even ones that were cool enough to seem like stone. “Okay, so we have an active volcano spewing lava. Chances are the ground’s probably unstable so we’ll need to be extra careful.” I noticed one vein in particular that was a little too close for comfort. “Whoa! Do not want!” I quickly pulled Meta and myself a safe distance away. When we were away, he growled, “What did you see?” “Lava run. It was a few meters away from us.” I picked up a rock and chucked it at the cooled lava and watched as the rock sunk into the hot sludge. “It was too cool for either of us to feel it.” Meta just stared at me as if I grew two heads. “How could you tell it was there?” “Magic.” I quipped. At that statement, a thought struck me. I turned to Meta, “Hey, Meta. Can Diamond Dogs do magic? Meta raised an eyebrow and growled, “Magic? I have not heard of a Dog using magic. Why?” “Well unicorns can do magic but that’s a given since they have horns. I can do magic but I haven’t met another Night Shade so I don’t have anything to compare myself to. But when I was with the zebras, they could do magic and they don’t have horns. So I assumed that every species could perform magic.” I explained, “But during the dragon attack, Jun told me that he couldn’t do magic, so I’m wondering what species can or can’t do magic.” “I don’t know what to tell you.” I glanced at Meta. Gears began to turn in my mind as ideas were being formed. I picked up a rock from the ground and tossed it to Meta, who caught it and glanced questioningly at it. “How would you like to be the first to learn magic? As an experiment of course” I said. Meta stared at me and then shrugged, “Sure, why not?” “Good, now I want you to hold the rock up in your hand and say ‘Depulso’.” “Depulso” The rock didn’t budge an inch. “Hmm,” I said, scratching my chin as I thought, “Try focusing all your attention on the stone. Drown out all outside distractions. There is only you and the stone. When ready, speak the word.” It sounded cliché but it was the only thing I could think of at the moment. If this didn’t work, I don’t know what will. Meta practically glared at the rock, as if he could make it explode on sight. After a minute, he growled and the stone jumped in his hand. It was only a few inches, but it was enough. “Yes!” I cheered as I fist pumped in the air, “It worked! Take that, Universe!” I continued jumping up and down in excitement while Meta just stared at his paw as if it turned to gold. “...How?” was all that came from him. I just shrugged. “Not a clue. The only explanation is 'Fucking magic'.” I giggled, “Fucking magic, meet fucking science.” I was so high off of ideas right now, that I could be considered under the influence. I barely noticed Meta slowly back away from me. I don't know how long it took to calm myself down but when I did, I saw Meta was a lot farther away from me. I glanced at the ground around him. “Uh, Meta? Unless you want to be a hot dog, I suggest you not go that way.” Meta stopped and looked back behind him to see the stream of cool lava trailing along like a snail. He quickly cam back closer but still kept his distance from me. “Now that that's done, remind me to teach the others magic when we get back on the ship.” I rubbed my hands together in anticipation. Oh, the experiments to perform! The tests to do! We kept walking around the base of the volcano, skirting any lava runs and jumping the ones we couldn't avoid. We didn't find much of anything, though I did pick up some nice obsidian shards laying around. After an hour, my gem communicator crackled to life. “Hey, Gun.” It was Jun. “We finished the first mountain. Not a single cave in sight. Plenty of claw marks though.” I tapped my gem. “Good, start on the next one. Meta and I haven't found anything yet either.” I frowned, “Well, that's not entirely true. I found out that Diamond Dogs can do magic. Ergo, you can probably do magic.” There was silence from the gem for a moment until Jun replied, “What?” “I said that I just found out that unicorns aren't the only ones who can do magic. I'll explain later. Now get back to searching.” “Uh...sure thing.” he said. The connection was cut and Meta and I continued our search. After almost another hour of finding nothing and picking up more rocks, we nearly completed a circuit around the volcano. I growled in frustration, “Dammit, I guess finding a den was too much to hope for.” I pressed the gem-com, “Jun have you found anything either?” “No. Just more pockmarks in the mountain side. Almost thought we found a cave once though.” I spun about and began pacing. It helped me think sometimes. “Where the hell is this den? You said they'd be near mountains, yet we didn't find them. We already searched the volca-” I paused as I saw a strange feature in the rocks Meta and I passed. It was a large cluster of boulders and crags when we went by, but behind it was a large crevice dug underneath the stone. The boulders hung over the entrance, providing excellent cover from above and two sides. I jogged up to it and peered inside. It extended inwards for a ways before making a sharp turn towards the volcano. I facepalmed. “It's always behind the corner.” I muttered to myself. “Um..what?” “We found the cave. Meet us by the volcano. It's a cluster of rocks sticking out of the ground if you need a reference.” “A cluster of rocks...yes that really narrows it down.” I could almost taste the sarcasm in his voice. “Just get over here.” I grunted. I cut the connection and turned into my harpy form. I turned back to Meta, “Hey, cave's here. I'm going to take a quick look. Flag the others down when they arrive.” He nodded and I glided down to the cave floor. Well, tried to. I got down a few meters before a thermal vent forced me to crash into the overhang above me. I tried to pry myself loose but I was stuck. “You whore!” I yelled at the cave. I kept trying to get my arms free. I needed that out first. I squirmed and wriggled around for a bit until I was able to pop my right arm loose. “Ha, I win!” “Having trouble there?” I turned to see the others staring at me. Jun and Camouflage were trying to hide their laughter. I scowled at them. “Go fuck yourselves.” I slammed my arm into the rock near my back. “Depluso.” The rock exploded and I fell down to the floor. I tried to spread my wings to catch some air to land safely, but I hit the ground too fast to do anything. I pushed myself out of the rubble. “It's going to be one of those days, won't it?” I asked no one in particular. “You guys can come down now. The dirt tastes fine.” I yelled back up to the others. Jun and Camouflage dive bombed in with more grace than I had. Meta scaled his way down, jumping from rock to rock sometimes. I stood up and brushed myself off. “If anyone asks, I glided down with the grace of a bird.” “A dodo bird.” Camouflage snickered. I bit my tongue to hold back a retort. “Why couldn't you turn back to your original form? You could've gotten out faster.” Jun said. “...Shuddup.” I said and strode down deeper into the cave as I changed myself back into Base form. The others followed, Camouflage still laughing. It wasn't long until I had to throw up a ball of light to show us the way, and several more along the tunnel ahead and behind us. Even if the world was based off a kids show, I wasn't going to take a chance that creepers existed. “So what was that you said about unicorns and magic?” Jun asked. I grinned, “Ah, yes. Meta care to show them?” The others looked at Meta who pulled out the rock from before and held it in his palm. He waited about a minute before growling. The rock jumped about the same height but Jun and Camo's jaws dropped farther. “H-how?” Camouflage stuttered out. I explained my theory to him and he got a curious look in his eyes. “So what kind of magic is this? Since it's obviously not unicorn and I doubt it's zebra.” “Energy focused and directed by Latin vocals. Same magic I use.” Their eyes widened a bit at the last part. “What? It's not like it requires your soul or anything. Jeez.” I rolled my eyes and kept moving down the tunnel. We turned the corner and the cavern opened up into a massive room. I didn't need my light because the room was lit by the glow of the lava pool in the back with a steady stream flowing into it. That was what produced all the heat in the room. The cavern floor was quite spacious and stalagmites were well dispersed amongst it. My eyes were instantly dragged to the massive pile of glittering gold and gems in the center. “Jackpot.” The four of us scattered around the room. I went straight for the main nest. If dragons were anything like the myths, they usually kept the good stuff next to them for safekeeping. I almost didn't recognize the nest because it was a large indent in the gold pile. I climbed up and slid inside, scanning the area for anything worthwhile. I saw gold, diamonds, sapphires, rubies, emeralds, topazes, quartz, and even gems I didn't recognize. My fingers twitched in anticipation to gather it all, but I reminded myself to get the goods stuff now and come back for more later. I jumped onto the first pile of gems I could find. Several minutes later, all I had found was some high quality gems. I glanced over to the others to see how they were doing. Meta was reclining and chewing on some gems, Camouflage was literally swimming in gold and Jun was picking out gems and chunks of gold. Seeing Meta, I became curious. “Trans form Diamond Dog.” I turned into my furry form and picked up a small gem. I popped it in my mouth and tried to chew. It broke apart under my teeth but I couldn’t taste anything. I spat the pieces out, “How do they like this?” I started to go through a pile of what seemed to be ores when I noticed something sticking out of the gold. I went over and pulled it out. “Holy shit.” It was a red dragon scale about the size of my head. I tapped it a few times and found out with a bruised finger that Dragon scale was extremely hard. “I'm so using this.” I said to myself. My inner mad scientist squeed with delight when I saw more scales laying around. I picked them all up, scrutinizing each one carefully for any cracks or defects. This went on until I had about thirty something scales. I picked up another and was about to scan it when I noticed something dreadfully wrong with it. It was pink. The dragons I fought were red.