It was very dark out, the town was silhouetted in the moonlight and they could only make out few places.
Bomb: How can we get a search party this late?
Lukis: I don’t know, do you think anyone is awake in City Hall?
Bomb: I’m going back, I’m going back in, I don’t care about you bu-
Lukis: What was that?
Whift… Whift…. Whift…
They turned around to see Karen lying on the ground a few feet away.
Bomb: Karen!
Whift… Whift…
Lukis ran to Karen but turned his head up at the same time. He saw a dark shadow in the sky. It had wings but that is the only part Lukis could make out until it disappeared into the night sky.
Bomb: Karen! Where did you come from?
Lukis shook his head. It was just him getting excited and seeing things.
Karen: *Cough* Ohh….
Bomb: Karen? Where did you come from?
Karen: I was… *Cough* I don’t feel so good….
Bomb: Let’s get her a room, can you see an Inn?
Lukis: Yeah, right over there.
Lukis pointed to a big Inn over near the entrance they had just came in. It was hard to see but Bomb could make the letters out while squinting.
Bomb: Ok, help me drag her in…
Lukis grabbed her legs and Bomb got her shoulders. They pulled her up and slowly waddled to the Inn. They opened the door and Lukis walked in. Bomb looked out at the city and while looking quickly he saw an odd thing in the middle.
Bomb: Lance? Rick?
It looked like the shadow of a Winged Lyrian but it did not move.
Bomb: Kyle?!
Bomb: (No, Kyle is dead, accept it Bomb….)
Lukis: Bomb! Chill out, the Lawren Kingdom has a dragon statue over there, I saw it last time I came here. That was a long time ago…
The clerk saw them in the doorway and yelled to them.
Clerk: Hey, you three are here awfully late at night!
Bomb walked in holding Karen still and shut the door. The real creature was outside watching them enter the Inn atop of the building across.
Creature: Bomb…..?
Whift….Whift…. It flew off into the dark sky. Back in the Inn Bomb was trying to get a room.
Bomb: Yeah, can I have a room for three as fast as possible? My friend is sick.
Clerk: Oh, yes, here, just go in the one on the 2nd floor right there. Here are the keys.
The clerk tossed them the keys and Lukis caught them.
Clerk: This one is on me, you and your friend look like you need some serious rest.
Bomb: Thanks..
Bomb and Lukis walked to the stairs but the monkey on Lukis’s shoulders jumped off.
Jinz: Hey, I gotta split for a bit, ok? Just a little something I need to do around town, don’t worry.
Bomb: What is it?
Jinz: Well, just different things…
Lukis: Fine, just be back around here round morning.
Jinz: Yeah, yeah….
The monkey quickly swept out of the Inn into the night-filled streets. Bomb and Lukis continued to their room and when they got in they carefully laid Karen onto the bed and tucked her in.
Lukis: Ohh….
Lukis jumped onto the next bed and so did Bomb. They had a long day tomorrow again.
Bomb: Think Karen will be alright?
Lukis: Yeah, a night’s rest will heal her up Ok…
Bomb: ….
Lukis: We will go meet the King first thing tomorrow…
Bomb: Fine…..
The two quickly drifted onto sleep and had a good rest from the stressful day.
Bomb… Don’t forget the gift…. You will need it….
Bomb woke up to the morning light with the image of Lukis shaking him infront of him.
Lukis: We have to go see the King pretty quick man, wake up.
Bomb: Uhg… Is Karen? Karen?!
Lukis: She’s Ok man.
Bomb noticed Karen was over sitting on her bed.
Bomb: Ohh…. What happened last night?
Karen: I can't really remember much... I just remember falling into a.. swamp and then I fell over and something saved me, I think.
Bomb: Who? What?
Karen: I don't know...
Bomb: Oh..
Karen: So are we going to get going?
Bomb shook his head.
Bomb: (I thought she was dead last night when we couldn’t find her…)
Bomb: Yeah, sure.
Bomb got up and Lukis leapt to the door.
Lukis: Hey, where’s Jinz?!
Bomb: Uhh…
Lukis: Damn monkey, ah, I’ll find him later!
Lukis and Bomb walked out the door.
Bomb: Karen?
Karen: Oh sorry…
Karen followed after them.
Karen: (Agile.. I know I’ve seen him before….)
There were many long rows of soldiers. They were all dressed in green army clothing and were facing a large podium. Karen was in the large group, but was hidden into the mix of soldiers. A man stepped up to the podium.
Commander Nelson: Welcome all! Today is a very special day for all of us! General Ridge today had concocted yet another amazing invention and I will unveil the details of it today. It is called the ‘Crab’.
The Commander pushed a button and a large screen next to him flipped on and a picture of a large blueprint was shown on it.
Commander Nelson: This machine will be as tall as 2 buildings or so and will be able to crush towns in seconds! It is an amazing war item and General Ridge has offered ideas for constructing it so amazing it will be easily affordable!
Karen: What would we do with that?
Karen’s voice was not heard across any of the other chattering voices.
Commander Nelson: With this we would finally be able to crush small cities! We could take over Saltis in a second!
All the soldiers rooted for a second or so except for Karen.
Karen: What? Why would we?
Commander Nelson: Now me and General will still have to discuss specifics on this machine for a few weeks but in a month or two this machine should be built and usable! And now General Ridge will come up and say a few words.
The Commander went off to the side as General Ridge stepped up.
General Ridge: Thank you Commander….
It sounded and looked just like Agile with a few changes…. She still couldn’t see his face easily.
General Ridge: Let me discuss with you my invention……
Karen shook her head and her flashback came to a stop.
Karen: …?
They were out of the Inn and were on their way to the Lawren Castle. The town was full of buildings and people. Spread all over were trees and buildings and paved streets. You could see not to far away a high castle loomed and a mountain behind it.
Bomb: Do we have any time to look around the town?
Lukis: You crazy?! We don’t have time!
Karen: Hey, maybe we will find something that could help us.
Lukis: Like?
Karen: Maybe someone knows about Agile…. Or the Luminy Castle…
Lukis: ……
Karen: Will who made you leader anyways? I’m looking around the town.
Bomb: Hey, wait up!
Lukis: Guys! Ah, man….. Well…. Guess a little sightseeing couldn’t hurt, I haven’t been here in awhile….
Bomb and Karen went off together and Lukis trudged into the huge general store. Bomb and Karen walked around but Bomb stopped soon.
Bomb: That’s what I saw last night…..
It was a huge statue, it looked like a mix between a dragon and a human. It looked like a Winged Lyrian…..
Bomb: ……….
It was a black statue and the wingspan of the thing was twice the size of Bomb’s, or any normal Winged Lyrian. It looked like it was looking right at Bomb. It wore a robe and had long hair. It also had a book in its hand with no title or anything on it. It was just blank.
Karen: Hmm? Whoah, that guy looks like you!
Bomb: Sorta….
Bomb: (A statue of a Winged Lyrian?)
Karen: What’s this inscription say? ………
“Lyrian, the first Winged Lyrian. He was petrified by an unknown force presumably many years ago, long before the Kingdom of Lawren’s time. The only source of information that could be found on this creature is from old scribes from the old Kingdom’s Elders.”
Bomb: !
Karen: Wow, do you know him?
Bomb: No, I never knew anything about the first of my kind…….. I barely know anything about my race….
Karen: Whoah…
Bomb: (Lyrian? The first of my kind? He has some sort of book……..)
Karen: ……..
Bomb: Well, lets go explore some more….
Bomb: (Maybe somebody knows more about him….)
Karen: Well I’m going to go to the bar…
Bomb: I will go to the Library.
Karen: Ok, well I’ll see you later!
Bomb: Yeah….
Bomb headed towards the library.
Bomb: (I’m sure they have lots of books on him…..)
Meanwhile with Lukis, he was browsing the general store.
Lukis: Nothing… Nothing…. Hey, clerk guy, do you guys have any explosives?
Clerk: Huh? Explosives? Nah, we don’t sell those here. Kids would be blowing stuff up all over the place.
Lukis: Ouy…. No dynamite? Fireworks? Nothing?
Clerk: Nope, sorry..
Lukis: Oh yeah, have you heard anything about the war between Saltis and Delban?
Clerk: Those two guys are finally fighting? I wonder which will win…. Oh, right, no I haven’t heard anything. We don’t hear much here on what is going on with those two desert cities.
Lukis: Damn…. Well anyways, I need some sort of weapon if Agile is ever going to think of attacking me again……… Or Kyros…
Lukis: (Agile…. Kyros…. Why do I even care about them? They haven’t ever done anything to me….)
Lukis: Sometimes I wonder why I get myself into stuff like this…. *Sigh*
Lukis continues browsing through the weapons but finds nothings so he leaves. Meanwhile with Karen, she already had a seat at the bar but she wasn’t drinking anything.
Karen: (Agile…. General Ridge….. I wonder if either is his real name….. Why? This doesn’t make any sense…. I have to ask him when we get to that Luminy Castle…. He provided us with so much and then left… Electronics…. Machines….. So much…. And he left it all….)
Karen: Hmmm, hey.
Bartender: Would you like something?
Karen: No, but, have you heard anything from Delban?
Bartender: Delban? Is that the city by the desert?
Karen: Yeah…
Bartender: Nah, not really…
Karen: I wouldn’t think you guys would care about us anyways…
Bartender: ?
Karen: *Sigh* Well… I guess I better get going…. I need to see Agile….
Karen hopped out of her seat and walked out of the bar. In the library Bomb was huddled around a few books. There was dictionary and some genealogy books and some mythology books. There weren’t very many people there but there were several bookcases all over.
Bomb: These all say so many different things…. But….
“And so the White had finally chased Lyrian into a small area and froze him with the petrification spell he had acquired. Lyrian was cursed to remain petrified, there was no easy cure. The only way to cure this petrification is by a secret antidote rumored to be hidden in the middle of the largest mountain-“
Bomb: (This doesn’t make sense…. So the White put Lyrian under a stone spell that could only be broken by the cure only found in the middle of the largest mountain… This doesn’t make sense! Inside the mountain? And what’s the White? I don’t have much time…. This book doesn’t even talk about who the White is…. Just some sort of spirit… But… )
Bomb shut the book and opened up another book.
Bomb: (……… This says something totally different, all these books are nothing…. Mythology isn’t real anyways, I want to know what really happened….)
Karen: Bomb!
Bomb looked up to see Karen and Lukis at the door.
Bomb: (Damn… Well this isn’t helping anyways)
Bomb closed the book and ran over to them.
Bomb: Let’s get going, I don’t want to have to sleep in that Inn again.
Lukis: The castle is right up the end of the street. The guards should let us in because I used to know the King a long time ago.
Bomb: Ok, let’s just get this over with….
The gang trudged down the long streets until the found themselves at the base of a large castle. It stretched up much higher than the Inn or any other building and was black and gray all over. Few towers were all around and in the middle was one large wide tower.
Karen: Wow…. I’ve never really seen a castle….
Bomb: It’s big… Not as big as the Luminy Castle…
Lukis: Cmon, its quite some while until we get to the Throne Room.
Lukis walked up to the entrance and there was a man there.
Man: Excuse me sir! Do you have an appointment? There are no special events today.
Lukis: My name’s Lukis and I would like to see the King.
Man: Lukis? Oh, yes. The Saltis guy. Follow me and I will talk to the King.
The man led Lukis inside the castle and Bomb and Karen followed. The man was just a knight with light armor. Probably just works small jobs for the king, no combat stuff.
Karen: It’s big in here..
Bomb: Yeah…
There was a long red carpet that stretched forwards. Inside many guards and odd dressed men were hobbling around. There were large pillars and balconies and staircases all over. It would be hard to navigate through here, probably.
Lukis: This castle seems bigger than last time I came here.
After awhile of following the knight, the group reached a large door and he stopped them.
Knight: Just wait out here while I consult the King.
Lukis: Ok.
The Knight walked into the room and the door shut too fast for anyone to see anything inside.
Karen: It wasn’t too far to the King’s Throne Room.
Lukis: Yeah, this place looks big, but-
The door opened and the Knight signaled them to come in. They took a second to get themselves in order and then they stepped inside. It was a large room, about as large as the bars. You could see now where the red carpet lead to, the whole room was covered in a red rug. All over the walls were paintings and along the wall lay statues and other such things. In the middle there were two thrones. In one lay the King and in the other the Queen.
King Lawren: Lukis? Is that you?! Why, it’s been so long since you last came here, things have quite changed since then!
The King looked old but yet still big and built. He had a beard and a mustache that were grayed white, probably from over time. He wore small glasses and wore a red robe like any other King. The Queen just sat there and watched, not paying attention. She looked like an old strict woman, she had white hair and wrinkles.
Lukis: Yes, the castle even looks bigger now!
King Lawren: Yes, we have had some changes around here… So, what brings you to Lawren? It must have been some trouble to get here.
Lukis: Yes, we had to travel through Middle Grove forest but it wasn’t that bad.
Karen: …..
Lukis: Anyways, we came here because we are in need of something that can fly. We thought we could go to the top of the mountain and free the Wyvern. You know, the-
King Lawren: Ah! Jerzyl the Wyvern! Yes, I have had some people before ask to go up there but they either come back or don’t come back ever. Lukis, I don’t know if I want to send you off to a death like that. You’ve-
Lukis: King Lawren, don’t worry about us, I know we can do it.
King Lawren: Well…. I guess it’s fine. When you are ready you may enter the gate into the mountain right near my castle.
Lukis: Thank you!
King Lawren: And here, this is the special soft that will work with Jerzyl. Do you even know how to tame that thing?
The King tossed over a bag of some dust and Bomb caught it. He put it in his pockets.
Lukis: Well no, but don’t worry, we know what we are doing.
King Lawren: Well, now is that all you came here for?
Lukis: Well…. I want to know one thing… Did you ever have a knight under you named Jinz?
King Lawren: Jinz?! Yes, why?! Did you see that little monkey in the forest?!
Lukis: Yes, we ran across him once….
King Lawren: Heh, that monkey must know that area pretty good by now.
Lukis: But, why did you turn him into a monkey?
King Lawren: Ah, it’s a long story…. Well… He had some behavioral problems..
Lukis: Ummm…
King Lawren: He was causing us much trouble and we had to dispose of him. He would always cause problems and we always yelled at him and demoted him but he would never stop. Well, Chancellor Stanley suggested that we dispose of him but we both agreed on a good punishment would to be this.
Lukis: Chancellor Stanley?
King Lawren: Yes, he came around sometime after you left.
Lukis: Why didn’t you just let him go?
King Lawren: Ah, he was a sever troublemaker! Maybe I should have disposed of him for good, now that I think of it!
Lukis: ????
Lukis: (The King I used to know would never do a thing like that… He’s a kind-hearted man….?)
King Lawren: Anyways, I am out of time so unless any of you have anything else to say I must say goodbye.
Bomb: Uh, just one small thing…
Lukis and Karen looked at Bomb with a weird face.
King Lawren: Yes?
Bomb: Uh yeah, you know that statue you have? What is it?
King Lawren: Lyrian? Why, that is not a statue! That is Lyrian himself!
Bomb: How did it come to be there?
King Lawren: We do not really know, all we know is what elders from way back when have written or recorded down, but they all say different things. You should check the library!
Bomb: Well, thanks anyways…
Lukis: Well I guess we will be going now.
King Lawren: Good luck to you Lukis.
Lukis: Thank you.
The Knight led everyone to the exit and they all proceeded out. Soon everyone was back out at the entrance.
Lukis: Oh man, I hate having to be formal like that!
Karen: Cmon, it couldn’t have been that bad.
Lukis: You didn’t even say anything!
Bomb: Hey, cmon, we need to get going to that mountain!
Lukis: Man, we’d never make it by nightfall!
Bomb: Then we’ll sleep up there!
Lukis: That’s crazy!
Karen: You really want to see Agile, don’t you?
Bomb: I’m gonna take him down….
Lukis: Ah, don’t start that up.
Karen: Bomb, you can’t just challenge him like that yet! You know you would lose, you need to wait, you don’t even know who he is yet.
Bomb: ……….
Bomb: (I know I can beat him…. He would have beaten me before if he knew he could…)
Lukis: Well, who wants to go now?
Bomb: Me.
Karen: Me too.
Lukis: Man, what do you want with him? Ah, don’t answer that, let’s get going, I’m sick of standing. The entrance is over there. I sure hope you two are ready. Now where is Jinz?
Bomb: That monkey?
Lukis: Yeah… Man, he better not of escaped!
Bomb: Escaped?! Cmon, you guys were together for a few seconds, you let him free, just forget about him and let him roam wild.
Lukis: Yeah… Well, let’s get going.
They all nodded and started towards the entrance on the other side of the castle. But first they stopped to look up at the tall mountain. It ascended up high into the foggy clouds above.
Karen: (It’s gonna be a long way up)
But Bomb wasn’t looking at the mountain. He was looking at the statue and shaking his head.
Bomb: (He looks familiar… Do I remember him from somewhere?)