J?kob entered a long tunnel surrounded by nothingness. He couldn’t see nor hear anything around him. His head was spinning and the voices of his loved ones began to echo in his head. Scenes from his past began to culminate in his thoughts. At first, all of his happiest memories raced through his mind.

  He thought of his mother and father who he didn't get to know well before they were taken from him. He thought of his brother and sister, his friends and neighbors, and he thought about everyone he has ever known and loved. He remembered the good times that he had had. He smiled because the thoughts in his head made him happy.

  Then his thoughts changed to darkness as he began to remember the sadness that he had endured. His sadness changed into anger when he began to remember the worst of his memories. He tried to push the angry feelings away, and focus on the good; but they remained. He wanted to return to those memories that made him feel warm and happy, but all of his unhappiness welled up and flowed through his mind.

  The happy voices of his mother and father changed to the voices of the children of his village that teased him for being small and weak. They changed to the voices of the men that he had heard while they were hiding from Claremont and his men, before they met Wilhelm and they feared for their lives.

  The voice in his head changed to his own voice as he ridiculed himself for not being better than he was and being too weak to accomplish anything useful. He became angry with himself as his voice berated him over and over. "Why couldn't you …, why didn't you …, and why wouldn't you …?" " YOU ARE WEAK!" The voice yelled at him. It made him feel worse about himself and he became so angry with himself that he cried.

  The torrent of voices stopped suddenly as he began to hear a familiar voice speaking softly to him. It was a voice that he hadn't heard in a long time. It was his mother. The mother that he had known. He started to remember one of his earliest memories from when he was very young. He had wanted to surprise his mother by cutting some wood for her and bringing it in the house. He tried as hard as he could, but he couldn't pull the ax that had been stuck into a piece of wood.

  He had been crying because he was too small to lift the ax. She wrapped him in her arms to comfort him and said to him, "No need to fret, little one. You will be big and strong before you know it." She rubbed his back as she kissed the top of his head and held him close. "Your size is not a sign of weakness, but merely a reminder that you still need to grow. One day, I believe, you will become the strongest of us all," she told him. Everything went dark again.

  He heard another voice. It was a voice that he had never heard before. A light appeared in the darkness around him and shown on a woman that he had never met before. "She was right, my dear J?kob," said the woman. She smiled at him with a warm and loving smile. She reminded him of Chloé. The same eyes, the same smile, and if not for a few gray ones, the same hair.

  Something inside him told him that she was the woman that had given birth to him, Elaina. He tried to run to her and wrap his arms around her. It was something that he had wanted to do since he had learned the truth of where he came from, but he was unable to move any closer to her. A force like nothing he had ever felt before kept him from getting to her. He pushed against the force as tears welled in his eyes as he tried to get to her.

  She looked at him and said to him, "My dearest, your time is not finished. You still have a lot of growing up to do, but I have faith that one day you will be strong enough to move mountains." She blew him a kiss and smiled at him again. The light around her began to fade away and then she was gone. He was alone with his thoughts again.

  “Wait!’ he shouted into the darkness. “Come back,” he said, as he fell to his knees. His mind went dark and the nothingness that surrounded him begin pushing on him from every direction. He tried to fight it off as it squeezed him tighter. He began to hear other voices. The voices of his sisters. Chloé and Nìa were calling out his name. He opened his eyes and they were kneeling over him. When they saw his eyes open, they began to hug him and Nìa said, "He's come back to us!" and she began kissing his head as a mother would.

  He became confused seeing the worry on their faces. He reached out for Wi?dwyr? with his mind because he couldn't see around him. "You're awake," said the dragon, excitedly. "What happened to you?" he asked. "I'm not sure." replied J?kob. "For seven days, I have not been able to sense your presence," Wi?dwyr? told him, "and I have missed you." "What happened?" he asked his sisters. The last thing he remembered before he had fallen was that they were celebrating a victory. His memories were clouded, but he did remember that much.

  "Are you alright, J?kob?" asked Chloé. "I think I met our mother," replied J?kob. He was weak, and hungry. He tried to get up, but he became dizzy and his arms failed him. He collapsed back to the ground. "You mustn't try and get up," said Nìa, "you've been sleeping for seven days." His heart sank. He started to remember that they had been preparing to go to the capital city to assist with the impending battle that was to take place on the solstice.

  The day he collapsed they had nine days before the solstice and he knew that it would take them half that time to arrive. He had gone past his limits with magic and slept for six days. For a brief and fleeting moment, he thought himself lucky to still be alive after going that far beyond his limits, but he now realized that they only had two days left. They were running out of time.

  Nìa brought him some food that she had made. He ate it quickly. Soon after, he began feeling strong enough to try and stand. His sisters helped him to his feet which made him feel better that he wasn’t still lying in the cave. He walked slowly out of the cave and around the camp to stretch his legs and then he went to where his dragon had laid down to rest after returning from a hunt. He wrapped his arms around Wi?dwyr?'s neck and said, " I've missed you. I couldn't sense you either." He left his dragon and went back to the others.

  J?kob returned to the cave and decided to tell all of them about the dream that he had had while he was unconscious. He ended his story with an apology. "I'm sorry, everyone," he began. "It's my fault that we won't be able to help everyone to defend the palace. I knew that I had reached my limits, but I didn't care, there was something more important to do. I had to save them." "Don't blame yourself, J?kob," said Ryan, “we don’t blame you.”

  The others, too, relayed their feeling about it and then Ryan said, "Our destiny may not be to help with the battle. Our destiny will be fulfilled when the Creator is ready to show us. We do not know what lies in front of us. We only know what we have seen, and heard, and learned from. Besides, we can still make it if we hurry."

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  "It will take five or six days to fly there," said J?kob. "True," said Ryan, "but it only takes a little over a day to fly to the Sanctum." "And we can go to the palace from there!" said J?kob, feeling more optimistic than before. He was still feeling weak, so he got some of his potion from his pack and drank some. The others had already begun packing everything away and soon they took to the skies, en route to the Sanctum.

  Nìa didn't want to leave J?kob, so she had climbed on the back of Wi?dwyr? to ride with him, leaving Ryan to ride with Chloé on Nagendra. It was past mid-day when they left the lakeside cave. They flew into the night, stopping only to relieve themselves. With any luck, they should arrive at the Sanctum before nightfall of the falling day when the new moon rises.

  Near midday, of the following day, Chloé and Ryan began to fall behind. She and her dragon began to circle back the way they had come. J?kob then saw Nagendra start to dive down into a clearing with a large boulder at its center. They landed next to the large boulder and began waving for J?kob to follow.

  Wi?dwyr? began to turn wide and then started his dive. He landed next to Nagendra. "What's wrong?" asked J?kob. "Chloé had a vision about this stone and she wanted to check it out," said Ryan. Chloé stepped in front of the stone and stared at the inscription on it. She brushed her hand across the writing and felt a tingling in her hand that seemed to travel through her.

  "This stone had been enchanted," said Chloé, nervously. "By whom?" asked Ryan. Chloé then began to tell them of the vision that she had seen when she and J?kob had passed by it before, and then she apologized for not telling them sooner. She then told them of her new vision that occurred moments before they landed.

  In this vision she had seen more of what had transpired. She could hear some of the words that had been spoken by Jemot's misty form and she could read some of what had been written. After the flash of light, she saw Claremont laying on the ground in front of the stone before being carried away by the shadowy Luna Stala.

  Then she saw herself standing in front of the stone as if she were reading the inscription. Then she saw J?kob raise his staff and begin chanting. She still couldn't hear what he was saying, but the stone began to shake rapidly, and then mist began to approach the stone, and Jemot's misty form took shape between them and the stone.

  She told them how J?kob continued to chant while Jemot spoke to them. The skies became dark and lightning flashed around them. Just as J?kob finished his chant, Ryan slashed at the hand print on the stone with his sword and the stone shattered into dust. Jemot roared with outrage and a bolt of lightning struck the ground by Ryan's feet. Then the skies cleared and the mist faded away.

  Chloé and the others had learned that not everything in her visions came to pass, but they knew, from what Wilhelm had told them, that what she saw in her visions is one of many possibilities. They knew it was up to them to destroy the stone, but none of them knew how to do it. Ryan stepped in front of the stone and drew his sword.

  He slashed at it with all he had. The sword bounced off the surface as sparks flickered and fell away. He swung at the stone many times with no effects. He backed away and saw that the sword hadn't even scratched the stone. "You said that J?kob was chanting something?" asked Ryan. "Yes, but I don't know what he was saying," replied Chloé.

  Chloé walked to where the inscription was and began running her fingers across the carved writing. She was hoping to get another vision from touching it. Nothing happened. She stared at the writing, trying to discern anything that she could from it. Ryan stood next to her.

  He could read and speak every language in Tenroha with ease, but he didn't know this language. "I have seen markings like this before," he said. "Where," asked Chloé. "Where you died," he said, softly so J?kob wouldn't hear. "Markings much like these were written on the stone gates in the cavern and along the walls," he said, answering her question.

  "I too, have seen markings such as these," said Nagendra. "Are you able to read what it says?" asked Ryan. "Not entirely," said Nagendra." She touched the markings with her claw and said, "This symbol can mean danger, but it could also mean sealed within. The rest of the markings are not as familiar to me," she said, with some sorrow.

  "I thought that a dragon's memory was infinite," said J?kob, curiously. "It is," stated Nagendra, "but we can only remember what we have learned. The people that my kin guarded had died away many, many years ago. The language on their walls died with them. The dragons there had no use for writing or reading, and they didn't pass the knowledge along to the next generations. I only know a few of the marks that have been passed down."

  "Elsie," said Chloé, aloud. "Who's Elsie?" asked J?kob. She turned to Ryan and said, "Land-v?ttr. The Guardian Spirit of the Mountains." Ever since Elsie had removed the dam that had been blocking her connection to her well of magic, her presence in Chloé's thoughts had become minimal and Chloé's connection to the spirit's memories had become weak. Chloé had only sensed her presence a few times since that day.

  "What guardian spirit?" asked J?kob. Chloé had forgotten that she hadn't told him everything that had happened while they were under the mountains. "I will tell you later," said Chloé. She reached inside herself to find Elsie. Elsie's presence was weak, but Chloé could feel her there. "Elsie, do you know what the writing says?"

  "I was there when the people of the mountains first arrived. I helped them to build their city. I lived with them for hundreds of years. I know these words and all of the words that were spoken by them," replied Elsie. Chloé collapsed to the ground as if she were having another vision. The others rushed towards her as she slipped into a trance.

  Chloé stood in her subconscious and saw the figure of another woman standing near her. "I am Land-v?ttr, the one you call Elsie. My time is short and I can no longer remain here," said the woman. "Where will you go?" asked Chloé. "I do not know, child, but my spirit is fading and I am certain that I am leaving you forever," said Elsie.

  Chloé began to cry and she embarrassed the spirit, saying, "I will miss you. It has been a comfort to me knowing that you were here giving me advice." "Can you tell me what the writing says before you leave?" she asked. "I can do more than that, young one. I will give you my knowledge before I go and leave you with everything that you will need," said Elsie.

  Elsie began to glow as bright as the sun inside Chloé's mind. The light merged with Chloé's consciousness and then disappeared. Chloé was left alone in her mind. She tried to find Elsie, but she wasn't there. She opened her eyes and was back with her friends. A tear ran from her eye as she mourned the loss of the being that had given herself to spare Chloé's life.

  "Are you alright, Chloé," asked Nìa. "I will be fine, but Elsie is gone forever." "You've been in a trance for hours," said J?kob, worried, before asking, "Who is Elsie, and where did she go?" Chloé was shocked by this news. Her visions always only lasted a few moments. She had her friends help her to her feet.

  "Was she able to help us before she left?" asked Ryan. "Maybe," said Chloé. She stood in front of the stone again and stared up at the writing, but this time she understood what it said. She began reading it to herself before telling the others what it said. The sun was nearing the tops of the trees and she knew that they were running out of time. The new moon will rise with the setting sun, and they will be too late to help anyone.