Her Second Chance✔ (Published)

21

Andre

Magic saturated the tunnels, the kind that fought against anyone who didn't belong. It fought to steal the air from their lungs, to make the ground they stepped on rebel against them as if it were an animal and they were ticks upon it. Even the walls seemed to close in on them as the air became almost solid around them.

Andre though was powerful enough to keep the protective magic at bay. He knew the dragon royalty would feel his presence because of it and could only wonder why the secret passage hadn't had the same measures. Had he been alone he would've drawn his power around him and become null to the magic. As it was he couldn't trust that he could hold the cover over so many people.

They walked on in silence, senses alert to any ambush they might counter. The sense of his mate was like a beacon that drew him on. Like the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. It was almost like she was in the tunnels though she was moving away from him.

It didn't help that the tunnels took turns and branched off every so often and they had to stop and figure out where to go. If their race didn't have a connection to the elements they might have floundered even more. Still, the magic in the place fought them so that they could only sense a short distance of the way.

Making their slow way up, it felt like time became a monotonous thing and all there was was walking. Every now and then a camera or two broke the endless cycle of tunnels but otherwise everything was still. Even their footsteps gave way to their stealthy nature.

When they came to the part of the tunnels that seemed smoother with use Andre sensed the relief in each of his companions. This part was well lit with more of those magical torches and he could hear the whine as if of a generator and the thunk thunk of some kind of fan.

With his ears cocked out he followed that sound through further hallways until they stood in front of an industrial door. It was locked with a keypad the only way in. "Can you get us in?" He asked of the reaper whose name he still had to know. The reaper gave him a querying look before nodding. "Please."

With a shrug the reaper took his smoke form and slid under the door. In no time the door swung open. Andre took note to have some of their door warded against the reapers. If this prince managed to free his people then they'd need to guard against them.

"Thank you." Andre said to the prince.

"Why are we here?" His cousin Gabe asked.

Andre looked at the room as he entered. It was what he'd expected in a way. A small pool of lava sat in the middle of the room. Where humans would need water so as to harness the thermal energy, the dragons used magic.

Visible streams of it drew heat from the lava pool. They appeared like strands of colour planted onto it, feeding from the lava. They then banded together into a thick rope that then fed into a conductor. That power was then fed into a bank of accumulators then a regulation grid that had wires going up to the city above.

What Andre was looking for though was the air conditioning system. The dragons with their magic had put a clear dome over the lava pool so it wouldn't heat the room since it needed to be cooler for the machinery. On top of which their air system had the dual work of cooling the room and providing air to the city.

High up in the city oxygen would be thinner so the dragons had needed to have it brought up from down below. Andre walked to the air transference part and took in how it worked. A large vacuum pipe feeding into the ground seemed to be bringing up air which was fed into a filtration system before being pumped up.