The two were mouths open to such immensity and beauty. That site was the kings’ tombs since the earliest king of the Sky mountains; we are talking about millennia of history. During those thousands of years, the royal family has given to many the honor of being buried in their chambers. An intricate system of tunnels in the ceiling allowed the light of the sun and moon to illuminate the entire cave, thanks to cleverly positioned moonstone walls.

  Mausoleum-like tombs were clustered together, divided into sections across all of the immense marble cavern. Each mausoleum had the altars of the tombs of their respective family members, some with only inscriptions, some others with honorary statues. Other tombs were in the middle between a group of tombs and another, and they were basically people from the same family tracing the big family tree. If you could see the whole cavern flying from its top, you could see all the tombs shaped like leaves of a big tree. Some tombs were made of white marble, others of white and black marble, and a few of black marble. The pavement was made of marble, also, with the three colors blending into one single marble-like shape.

  You could clearly see the change of fashion from one mausoleum to another; it was like a free history museum, and honestly, it was the best history museum you could see in the whole of the Sky Mountains. Some kings made tombs for their gardener, some others for their dog or cats, you could see so many different people in there, like:

  “Bartender Lus Neimak, best friend of King Ludamar the Great” read Agatha.

  “Marianne Levisum, singing teacher of the Queen Resistal” read Roud.

  “Look, Roud, look at this! Bredas Novixius, inventor of the thundering purple silk” said Agatha, “For Lord Kloud, look! Look! There is a tablet down here with the recipe! I have never ever known of such a silk!” said Agatha very excited

  “Well, since I still do not remember this place at all, I guess this place must be the best treasure of knowledge of our Kingdo...ehm, republic..kingdom..whatever..” said Roud a bit annoyed

  “Oh Kloud! Kloud! Look! ..mix some Bethanias Leatan with Gryphon egg, cook it in a pan with Tim herbs, add some pear grappa from Duerth Merkat city, cook for about 10 minutes. Wait till it's cold, feed your Brenath! Lightening purple Silk, power: teleport to short distances.” read Agatha

  her mouth open, her eyes even more..

  “Wha..whaa..what did I just read?” asked Agatha.

  “Well, I guess you just found the recipe for one of those lost ancient legendary powers for ships! Ahahah” smiled Roud.

  “What on sky is the pear grappa? And which city is Duerth Merkat? Ruod?” asked Agatha.

  “Mmmh, honestly, listening to this name it kind of makes me remember something, but at the end..nothing at all..ahah, sorry! You know, maybe it is one of the Sky Mountains' cities and changed its name, or maybe it was destroyed in some kind of war.” replied Roud.

  “So you are basically telling me, this recipe is forever lost..” said Agatha, feeling sad.

  “Not at all, you still can search in the king's library if you want once we are done here..” replied Roud.

  “I guess it's not a victory, but at least it's at some point a bit of a comfort..but let me write it down on my notebook in any case” said Agatha.

  She took a small notebook and a pencil from her pocket and wrote down the recipe.

  “Ok, let’s move on..one thing I know, we need to search for one particular lineage the King has spoken to me about, the lineage of the Key Holders. The line has been broken in the past, but they are the ones holding the keys we need.”

  “Ok, but can I also look at all the others I get interested in? This Tomb is a treasure, Roud!” asked Agatha.

  “Do what you wish, Agatha, but let’s just keep more attention on the Key Holder lineage; their symbol should be a key with wings, apparently, or a key resting on a cloud, I still do not know exactly, even the king himself is not very sure wherever the symbol has changed during the centuries till their broken line or not.”

  The two continued searching tomb to tomb; meanwhile, Bracchius began sleeping on a tomb, paying no attention to anything else.

  “Lautris of Vandebeth, commander of the Golden Sun” whispered Agatha..

  “Frenau Levencrat, comedian”

  “Lavenur Restis, royal palace pastry chef”, Agatha opened her eyes..”The Motanbrou recipe: separate four eggs from their yolk and white, whisk them separately with sugar..”

  “Agatha? I promise you we will get back here after our work. Have fun reading, but do not lose too much time every time you find a recipe of any kind, ok?” said Roud while looking at the tombs.

  “Ok ok, do not worry, we will find these Keeeey Holders, do not make me nervous also, ok?” replied Agatha with the smile of one who knows they are losing time.

  When Agatha turned her head towards Roud..she saw something. She could not believe it. How did you not notice such a thing? Right on the left side of the pastry chef, a quite huge statue. Agatha looked up to it, she could not believe it..it was not possible!

  “Rooud...Roud!”

  “What Agatha? Did you find the Key Holders?” asked Roud.

  “No..look! What on sky is this?” asked Agatha, pointing at the statue.

  In front of them, a knight in full armor without a helmet, with a fancy moustache and beard. A great smile and a huge lance in the air, sitting on a huge Gryphon. Roud got closer to Agatha and read:

  “Manfris de Rundeber, gryphon master”, Roud made a strange face trying to remember.

  “What? Gryphon master? Ho..how? Gryphons are dangerous and untamable creatures. How is it possible he is a what? A Gryphon Master?” asked Agatha.

  “Mmmmh..well, you just got me too, Agatha. I am quite astonished, as are you. What if he killed a gryphon and maybe..the artist behind the sculpture made him on the gryphon as a celebration?” asked Roud.

  “Master Roud, gryphon master..not killer or champion or else, master!” replied Agatha, full of energy inside her.

  “You know, maybe it was just a title from that king, from which era is this from, actually?” asked Roud, a bit nervous, looking at the inscriptions.

  “Ah, well, this is from more than a thousand years ago..eheh.” laughed Roud.

  Agatha moved forward behind the statue..she froze.

  “Ro..R..Rooud..” a whisper from her broken voice “cooome...here..”

  “Do not worry, there are no phantoms till I do not use the light..anything you have seen is not a phantom, I assure you, ahah”, laughed Roud while getting closer to Agatha.

  From that moment on, the statues were different; they had not seen anything like that before. Each mausoleum had knights..but not just knights..

  “Radem Turiudis, Pegasus Master”

  “Flerinda Nemis, Gryphon trainer”

  “Geritus Feimbra, Sky Phoenix breeder”

  “Romius Decembra, thunderbird lancer”

  “Rusilda Erald, hyppogriff enchanter”

  The two were almost in shock. The creatures of the Sky Mountains are not tameable. How was it possible that they were in the past?

  “What is happening here, Roud? Why am I seeing all of this? Why are the creatures getting along so well with us? Look! Look at this Pegasus, he is smiling at this girl while she is caressing him, why? It is almost like they stopped from that column of the cave until us! When did this happen?” asked Agatha.

  “A thousand years ago..” replied Roud.

  “What?” asked Agatha.

  “If you look, it is like you said, from that column, it is like they stopped staying with us, if you come here to look at the year. It's kind of like a thousand years ago”, said Roud.

  “Why? Why? I always loved all these creatures, and I always had to be very aware of them around because they are aggressive with all of us, even the Pegasus; they never let us touch them at all!” replied Agatha in shock.

  “I do not know Agatha, I..I will try to know why..” said Roud, feeling useless.

  “Then do something, Roud! How do we help you remember faster?! This is important!” said Agatha, almost crying. She sat down on the ground in sadness.

  Roud looked at her. Bracchius, meanwhile, woke up and flew towards them. He put his head on Agatha’s knees and asked to be petted.

  “Well, you see Agatha? Not all creatures refuse to be petted by you. I know Bracchius is not a huge gryphon or a thunderbird, but at least all small creatures can still bond with you, and I assure you that this little broken thing, as you call it, is the most precious thing you could have ever asked for and his love to you”, said Roud while caressing Agatha on her head.

  Agatha turned her head up, smiled at Bracchius, and stood up again.

  “You are right, Roud! Let’s go and find this lineage of Key Holders!”

  The three continued searching for this noble lineage in the huge cave. They passed through quite a lot of mausoleums, still all with knights and their creatures as well. At some point, they finally noticed the first mausoleum of that lineage. The symbol was crushed on the ground, but you could clearly see a key cut in half by the crush on a cloud. The air seemed worse, like it was thin and cold. In front of them, the tombs and statues of the last lineage of the Key Holders:

  “Teresa KeyCloud, Marchioness of Valbem”

  “Friedrich KeyCloud, husband of Teresa”

  “Georn van Holneu, Giant Owl lancer”

  “Redigat Strolneus, alchemist”

  On the two opposite sides of the mausoleum, two tombs, one so white it did not even seem marble, one so black that it seemed ashes.

  On them:

  “Federica KeyCloud, princess of Valbem, protector of innocents”

  on the other,

  “Redim KeyCloud, prince of Valbem, assassin of the protector of innocents”