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Chapter 696 - Missing Pieces
🕑 Added 2023-07-19 13:00:10 +0000 UTCThe first step in figuring out what was going on with the fish was searching for the marine life in the room. According to Luna, they only moved closer to the surface a couple of times every day. When they were not close to ground level, they would go deeper inside the ocean, in areas where the sun didn't reach. Thankfully, Adriel had his drones or this powered-up version, and he could change the configuration so it would go underwater. But that also came with a few problems. Luna explained that the current became stronger the deeper they went, which would probably mean that the ocean would, eventually, get to the same point as the room itself. With massively strong whirlpools that swallowed everything and turned the underwater currents into something no one could survive.
'Empress, may I give an alternative?' Lurize asked.
'Sure, what's your idea?'
'Instead of going yourselves, Nimbus and I could go instead. If we get swept away by the current, we can try to see where it leads and then come back out. Unlike all of you, breathing is not something that hinders us. And in a worst-case scenario, you would be without us for a few days, but we would return,' the Royal Tutor suggested while inside the court.
'That… is a good idea if I'm being honest,' Hera turned to the group, "I can send Nimbus and Lurize out to the ocean, and we can take care of the outside. That way, we don't risk too much."
"Honestly. I like that," Adriel nodded, "Having the drones keeping us alive is sketchy at best."
"Who are they?" Luna tilted her head.
"Right, you never met them. Let's go to one of the pillars; Lurize can't fly," they all flew to one of the mountains, and the Empress called her entire court, giving a broad explanation about the skill without mentioning the part they were a legacy. Finally, she arrived at the zweihander and the bladed tonfas, "I think you two can introduce yourselves," she said with a smile, and the two weapons turned into mist before assuming their bipedal forms.
Nimbus, the griffon who walked on two legs, waved to Luna, "Hello. I am Nimbus, the Sentinel. I am part of that skill Hera mentioned."
Lurize took a bit longer to transform since his body was bigger, being essentially a suit of silver, brown, and orange armor with a Hercules beetle motif. But instead of a wave, he bowed to the Wyvern, "And I am Lurize. It is an honor to meet you. I am part of that ability too."
"Where were you keeping them?" Luna looked at Hera before turning back to the tilted blades, "They are great. And I'm sorry you can't fly Lurize. I wish I could help you with this, but I can't."
"Don't worry. I know why you can't do that. Either way, you have my appreciation for your care of Hera," Lurize smiled, which was odd. Since he didn't have any lips, or mouth for that matter when he tried to show his expressions, the metal on his helmet warped slightly.
"Right, so the plan is for them to be checking deep underwater while we try to find something on the outside," Hera explained before turning to the duo and putting her hand out for them to kiss, "I just have to do one thing for them to be able to move far away from me."
Nimbus and Lurize did the 'ritual' for the Royal Quest, and both of them received over a million and a half points of mana each. Their mission was very simple, finding out anything about what happened with the fish. Still, they didn't dove into the ocean right away. First, everyone followed Luna to a location where the fish would first appear, and they were already trying to find something that could explain the absence of seafood.
Doing that was very hard because the marine life had seemingly vanished without a trace. They couldn't see any movement, any scales, or signs of a fight. It was as if the fish had never existed in the room in the first place. Another thing Hera realized was that the orange mineral she found outside was nowhere to be seen, and in hindsight, she couldn't see it ever since they arrived. Meaning that, maybe, that material could have some relation with the missing fish, or another result of what made them vanish. Unfortunately, that was just a theory and one that didn't help at all right now. How would a ferrofluid mineral indicate how the seafood vanished from the ocean?
After arriving at the place where the fish would first come out, Luna pointed to the location of a couple of whirlpools that existed deep underwater. Locations that everyone noticed as being the same spots as where the ones outside the dungeon were supposedly located. Everyone understood what this meant, and if they didn't have Nimbus and Lurize, they wouldn't even attempt to go down there.
"Be safe, guys. Even if you don't need to breathe, if you feel like you can't fight against the current, you must come back, deal?" Hera turned to her titled blades.
"Deal," both replied and hugged the Empress before diving into the water.
"You know, it's great that someone like you is the one who has that legacy," Adriel smiled at Hera.
"Why?"
"Not everyone would treat their court like that. I know for a fact that a third of people would use the fact they can't die as some sort of exploit. Sending them to danger just to see if they could find something interesting. While you look like you are sending your sons to war."
"I don't know if that is the right comparison. I don't want them to get hurt for no reason, but at the same time, if it was between them getting hurt and me dying, I would take the first option. Not just as my choice, but as theirs too," Hera explained as they followed Luna to a few places she thought could have some fish. Apparently, there were a few low caves where fish would jump in and get stuck, and maybe those places could become food sources for the dragons or give some indication of what happened.
When they found the first, they saw a few schools of fish inside an underground lake. But the problem was that the larger dragons wouldn't be able to come here. In fact, only the smaller ones had any chance of reaching the pool, and if someone tried to open up the palace, it would cause a cave-in, killing the last remaining food they had in the dungeon.
Luna took them to another one of the hidden lakes, and again, there were more fish there. All the ones who seemingly got stuck before. This place was smaller, and the fish didn't seem to be thriving like in the first one. The marine life here was scarce, and all the creatures seemed to be behaving in an 'every fish for himself' mentality. The main problem seemed to be the actual size of the lakes. Instead of one big one, they were several small ones that struggled to create any seaweed or plankton. The fishes inside would have their own 'territory' of sorts and attack anything that got close. Either way, this was more than enough for the smaller dragons in the room. Maybe it would be enough for a week or just a few days, but at least the younger ones would still be able to eat.
When they left that spot, going towards the third and last of the lower caves in the room, Hera felt such intense pain in her chest that she wasn't even able to fly and plummeted into the ocean. Thankfully, despite everything going on, the grown dragons were still looking out for the smaller ones. A yellow-scaled Dragon dove after the Empress and managed to catch her before she slammed against the water. She carried the human to the top of the closest pillar and dropped Hera off on solid ground.
"Hera!" Helena and Blue called at the same time.
"What's wrong?" Luna asked.
Hera felt tears forming in her eyes, not just out of pain but also sadness, a sadness she didn't know where it was coming from, "Something is wrong!"
"Mum! Focus, Breathe," Daskka appeared and floated in front of the Empress' face, "Listen to me. You are ok. Everything is ok."
"How is this ok?"
"Because it will stop. Nimbus and Lurize were destroyed. It will take them a week to get back, but that's it. They are just on a trip and will be here soon," Daskka spoke in the calmest voice she could muster.
"What do you mean it's ok?!" Hera yelled, "Nimbus and Lurize are gone!"
"Yes, but just like the other blades, they can come back."
"But… why am I so sad?" Hera felt the tears streaming across her face.
"Because when one of the titled blades is destroyed, you feel what they felt. Not just the pain but the emotions as well. They were sad because they failed you. And because they knew this would make you sad," Daskka used her tail to brush some of the tears away.
"And the pain?"
"That's what they felt when they died. I don't know what exactly happened, but they will be able to tell you. We'll have to wait for them to recover before knowing what happened," Daskka continued.
"Ok, ok," Hera nodded, trying to gather herself. After a few minutes, she was able to explain what happened, and the group decided to split off. Luna, Shane, Mylo, Adriel, and Alex went to the last cave while Hera and the rest stayed behind to rest.
Only then the Empress noticed how the yellow dragon that saved her had that pitch black scales in a few spots around her body. To make matters worse, everyone seemed to be affected by whatever was changing their colors. There was still no other effect, but none of Hera's group thought this was a good sign. Something was getting ready to happen, and they still had no clue what it would be, only that it was likely something that would wipe out all of the Dragons and Wyverns from the room.
As the night got closer, it seemed like Luna warned everyone about the caves. The smaller creatures of the dungeon flocked to those caves but didn't eat their fill, only getting enough fish to get by. Some even tried to offer their share to the older and bigger dragons, but they were all refused. Unlike the young ones, who still used most of their energy to mature their bodies, the elders could spend a few weeks fasting if needed without hindering their bodies. The only thing they would have to do was to be less active during the day.
Eventually, Hera and the others also got a few fish to eat, knowing that one way or another, their participation in that meal wouldn't change whatever happens in the dungeon. Be it because events were progressing following a set script or because four fish were far from being something that would save or doom the dragons in the dungeon. After that, they headed back to Luna's cave to wait for her and the others. Hera didn't like that idea. When one of her court members was broken, she would always feel sad and feel some of the pain they felt, but losing a title blade was much, much worse. Not only were those feelings much stronger but they were also stuck. As if she was broken. As if a part of her own being was missing. This wasn't something she would ever want to feel again, not just for herself, but for her entire court too. However, she couldn't do anything about that right now. To make matters worse, not doing anything would make her focus even more on that feeling, but she had no other options.
Trying to offset that, Hera was outside of the cave using a couple of hand axes from her [Venomous Arsenal], sparring with the rest of her court. This would be a way to, at least, distract her. Helena and Blue offered to join, but it quickly became clear that the Empress wasn't pulling her punches which could be risky if they were using dangerous weapons. On the other hand, her court was physically unable to harm her, and she could tell when she was being too rough. After a few hours, Luna and the others finally arrived. The last of the cave was on the other edge of the room, and there was a hidden tunnel behind a rock leading to an even larger pool of seawater, but that one was completely empty of any marine life.
As Luna was getting closer, Hera noticed the moonlight hitting her scales, giving the Wyvern the look of an ethereal being. That's when something clicked in her mind, "Hey, Luna. How many moons do we have here?"
"What?" Luna got so distracted by the question that she almost head-butted the pillar before stopping her flight, "How many? Is there more than one?"
"Yeah, you are right," Hera nodded, remembering how Tailou mentioned that the room had two moons. She thought this might be something related to the dungeon, but it might be better to wait until the morning since Luna should vanish when they woke up. And now that this was over, Hera just wanted to sleep. She even asked Bonnie to cast a sleep spell on her to help out, and just like that, the third day of this dungeon was over.
Comments
Kensyi
Uhh (exasperation), I hate dungeons that make me sad, which is most of them. I love your story and characters I just wish I didn't get so invested.
