Bomb: Ah man, Jerzyl… JERZYL!

Bomb screamed to try to get the dragon to come.

Bomb: (I should of told him to be here by sunrise or something.)

Karen caught up with Bomb outside the gate. The same mountain hung up in the air surrounded by forests.

Karen: Jerzyl!

Bomb: No good…

Karen: No, there he is!

From around the mountain side came the dragon, flapping its gargantuan wings up and down. It became bigger and bigger and soon descened onto land. Bomb squinted his eyes as dirt rushed up in the wind of the wings.

Bomb: How do you do that?

Bomb climbed onto the dragon.

Karen: I don’t know.

Karen climbed up its legs and onto its back getting a seat right behind Bomb.

Bomb: Guess it’s just you and me now.. Let’s go Jerzyl..

Jerzyl: Hmmft…

The bright orange and crimson dragon lifted off the ground into the air.

Bomb: We will drop me off first, do you have any idea where Balback is?

Karen: Um, no…

Bomb: Ok, well Jerzyl, head to Luminy Castle!

Jerzyl, having lifted way up off the ground, began soaring away from the town. Still, no townspeople looked, except for a few guards. One near the statue waved at them.

Bomb: … Anyways, when we get to Luminy it’s straight South from there, I can point to where to go, it’s not insanely far.

Karen: Ok, well, what should I tell the people when I get there?

Bomb: I think they are very friendly, just waltz into the library. Find all you can, take notes, even, if you have to.

Karen: Ok, just promise me you will be safe in the Luminy Castle. Last time we didn’t have a lot of fun there..

Bomb: Ok, I have a lot I got to check it, I’ll be able to test out my new wings. I almost forgot about them!

Karen: How can you, I mean they are two different colors, it looks ridiculous!

Bomb: Yeah, yeah… Better than just one wing..

By now they were far over the water.

Bomb: It seems like Jerzyl is getting stronger, we should be there in no time!

**************************************************************************************

Lukis crawled out of the nearby brush, just near where Karen and Bomb had dispersed from the city.

Lukis: Freedom! I feel so alive being safe and sound!

Lukis jumped around in the air childishly.

Lukis: Woohoo! Now what to do…. Ah, the news! I should check up on my old town! God I miss that place.

Lukis left the gate and headed into the city. Just as before he saw all sad faces.

Lukis: Ah cmon people, cheer up! It’s a beautiful day!

Some looked at him, but most just walked around with their heads held low.

Lukis: (Looks like a bunch of zombies…)

Lukis walked past the statue altar and up to the general store.

Lukis: Good old dependable general store!

Lukis opened the door swiftly and trudged inside. He closed the door behind him and walked up to the counter.

Lukis: Hey-

Clerk: Hello…

Lukis: I need news, but since you don’t have a newspaper, have you heard anything about Saltis or Delban?

Clerk: Well, let’s see here. I heard they’ve closed off their entrances and won’t allow anyone in. Supposedly they are going to war soon. I wouldn’t want to be living there right now!

Lukis: Oh man, why did I wait?! Anything else you got?

Clerk: Nope, just some stuff about Luminy Castle being broken into last night and a bunch of bandit raids in Seascapes.

Lukis: Bandit raids? Ah, well thanks anyways. Bye.

Clerk: Sure you don’t want to buy anything?

Lukis: No money on me.

Clerk: Oh, bye then.

Lukis walked out the door back into the zombie filled Lawren.

Lukis: Man, I have to get home!

Lukis began jogging, all the way to the building near the exit. He took a deep breath and jogged in to see the same guy at the desk.

It was the same room, just one guy at a desk overseeing all passerbys. he had a sword, probably just incase there was any trouble. Guy: Hey, where you going? Saltis is closed off you know.

Lukis: I know, just going into the, uh, forest.

Guy: Middlegrove? Well Ok, you may pass.

Lukis walked out and back into the lush forest. It was brighter this time and all the greenery shone out. Trees opon trees with brushes inbetween and branches sticking out everywhere. The ground was still moist from the rainfall.

Lukis: Ah, I remember this place…

???: Psst, buddy, heard you wanted to get into Saltis…

Lukis: Huh, who is that?!

Lukis spuin around as a familiar blue monkey jumped off the top of the building, and glided down landing in the dirt infront of Lukis.

**************************************************************************************

Bomb saw Karen and Jerzyl disappear straight into the horizon, and he looked down into the castle. He had been dropped right by the shredded wing again. This is the first time Bomb saw the castle in the bright light, and it still looked as dim and dark as before.

Bomb: (Ok, how are we gonna do this… First off, I should check in with King Blister..

Bomb walked over to the same skylight they had fallen through the day before. Troops were watching Bomb from above, they had been working on the skylight while Bomb landed on the massive dragon. None were on top of the skylight though, they looked as if they were preparing to fix it but hadn't started. Bomb peered over the dge into ths castle throne room.

Dragon Knight: Hey you! Get in here!

Bomb: I’m here on business!

Dragon Knight: Come down here or we will come up there and get you!

Bomb: You sure you want to talk like that to a guy that just crashed your place yesterday and just rode in again on a massive dragon?

Dragon Knight: Uhm, orders King?

Bomb walked across the edge of the skylight and saw the same King on his throne, except this time he was visible in the light. Bomb shuddered at his grotesque look. He was a small dragon, half dragon, half human. He carried a spear in his right hand and was covered with scars and bumps. Saliva ran down his lips and his long red tongue, which hung out around his mouth. He had red eyes, that almost even scared Bomb. But Bomb recovered himself quickly.

Bomb: (He is only a man of evil looks, not evil power. For I remember yesterday him, sitting behind his throne cowering. A sensitive heart incased in an evil casing, am I wrong?)

The King looked around and finally spook. His voice was raspy and low, yet booming over any sound in the room.

King Blister: Come down, into my.. chamber..

Lots of his words were blurped out of his mouth and slurred together, and he spoke very slowly. Bomb decided he was not a threat, nor his troops, so he leaped down from the still broken skylight into the room. He hit the ground with a boom and looked around as he got himself together. The room did not look as melancholy as it did last night, even though the dark violet carpeting gave the room a dark glow and the two torches by the door gave off a dim shine, the light spewing out of the skylight gave it a more homely look.

Bomb: Hello King Blister, when did we last see eachother? Ah yes, you were cowering behind your throne.

King Blister: Silence! Why do you come back to my treacherous.. castle?

Bomb: A few days ago, around 4 or 5, 4 Winged Lyrians, such as myself, broke into your castle.

King Blister: Why?! That was.. you! You.. were one!

Bomb: Yes, bu-

King Blister: Guards!

Bomb: Wait up! I want to know what you did with them!

King Blister: You will find... out s-

Bomb: Hey, drop this trying to scare me crap! What the hell did you do with them!

Bomb walked up to King Blister.

King Blister: They are.. dead, you fool, what do you think I... did? Gave them some sort of royal... feast for their brave efforts?

Bomb: You bastard!

Bomb ran up to the King but was tripped by a nearby guard.

King Blister: Sieze... him, take him to the dungeon!

Bomb: Blister!

King Blister: Guards!!

The other guards ran up quickly, around 6 of them, and they all grabbed Bomb. They pulled him out of the room kicking and screaming.

King Blister: Phew…. That was a.. close one..

**************************************************************************************

Karen: I sure hope we are going in the right direction…

Karen: (Over the mountains… Then over a forest…)

Karen looked down over the edge of Jerzyl. Just as there had been for the past few minutes all that lay there were trees. Trees, trees, and even more trees.

Karen: I’m getting sick of all these trees.

Karen looked around, bored.

Karen: I wish Lukis didn’t have to leave, don’t you Jerzyl? I mean, cmon. He wasn’t that bad. Sometimes he was kinda fun, even though sometimes he was kinda sour. Hey, hey!

Karen, looking to her right, saw a very small town. She could barely see any houses but a large windmill loomed up at the edge. A huge lake sat at the brim of the town, which expanded all the way into the horizon.

Karen: Turn left, into the town over there!

The dragon turned its entire body left and began flapping slowly towards the town. As it got bigger Karen could notice that there was only a few houses.

Karen: (All I see is a windmill, a few residences, and a library… Small town… Oh, there’s an Inn.. But that’s it!)

The dragon began to lower and soon they were hovering close above the town. None of the townspeople looked at her, nor the dragon.

Karen: Geez, has everyone seen one of these now? Land on the side of the town, by the lake!

The dragon did as she said, and flew over the Inn and right behind it, next to the lake. Just as it had landed itself on the ground it began lapping up water out of the lake vigourously. Karen: Wow, I guess you would be thirsty, I wonder what you eat!

Jerzyl: …….

Karen climbed down Jerzyl and walked away slowly, afraid of what that answer might be. Karen: (I feel so bad to just walk in though…. Oh well)

Karen passed the side of the Inn into the town. The roads were cobbled with stones, and the town circularly constructed with nothing in the middle. It seemed like an almost perfect circle. An Inn and a Library opposite of eachother, with 3 house inbetween. A windmill lay behind the Library, just a few feet behind it. The townsfolk seemed a bit weird too. They walked around not even acknowledging Karen’s arrival, and walked at the same pace. They all wore the same clothing, a long purple robe over their entire body, with black pants down to their black shoes. Their face was hidden under a large crown-steepled hat on their head. Their heads were always down so Karen could not see their faces under their pointy hats.

Karen: (Whoah, weird, it’s like a town of golems or zombies or something… Maybe I’ll just go to the library and get this over with. These guys seem scary…)

Karen walked across the middle and no heads turned, she walked straight up to the Library. It had LIBRARY above its door in dull black blocky letters.

Karen: This town is pretty dull…

She opened the door and walked in. Her eyes bugged out as she saw what was inside.

Karen: Whoah…. That’s a lot of books….

Lines after lines of shelves of books lined the gray walls. One single brown circular table laid in the middle, surrounded by chairs. There had to of been over 500 books in this library.

Karen: Oh no, this is going to take forever!

Karen: (Well, if I find one good history book I should be ok… All the books in here have the truth in them.)

Karen strided over to the first column of books and began scanning the titles.

Karen: (Art of Karate, Art of Spells, Art of-)

(3 hours later)

Karen sat at the circular table, surrounded by a couple of the townsfolk. They scanned their books vigorously and kept doing this and going to get another in a quick repeated fashion.

Karen: (What are these guys, robots?) Karen: Ugh… Let’s see what we have in here…

Karen flipped the page of the book entitled “Ancient Terms Encyclopedia”.

Karen: Here we are.. Lyrian..

“Lyrian-

Karen: Hmph, a lot of this book seems to be ripped out…. Let’s see…

Karen flipped quickly forwards a couple of pages.

“White-

Karen: Hmm… That was a little more interesting… Oh yeah.

Karen flipped back to just a little before where she had just read Lyrians column.

Karen: Wow, this book has a lot of people in it! It even has Kyros! That’s actually really odd…. This must be a pretty recent Encyclopedia.

“Kyros-

Karen: Gladia?

Karen again flipped through the book.

“Gladia-

Karen: I wonder why they hate him? I’d probably know if it hadn’t been torn out of this damn book!

Karen, shocked, looked around. Even with the outburst all the townsfolk were reading at the same constant pace, not a head moved.

Karen: Well anyways… I only have one more thing I want to know.

“Gate-

Karen look at the tattoo on her leg, a blue sepher. But she shook her head.

Karen: Can’t be true, even this book says it’s probably not! And I barely learned anything from this damn library! How the hell was this supposed to help me! I’m not some damn gate!

Karen slammed her book closed.

Karen: I hate this town too!

Tears rolled down her face onto the table. Tears of frustration.

Karen: (I didn't find enough...)

Karen: The definitions weren’t even totally there anyways, half of them had been ripped out.. I thought I came here to actually learn something important… I hate having to do this by myself, how much longer is this gonna take Bomb? I might as well head over there and just wait…

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