Dragon Seekers

Chapter 19

Jamie glanced around worryingly as the lift continued to descend. The deeper it went, the more alone he ever felt before. This lift felt like he was being sealed away from the world. It felt like it was going to trap him forever if it kept descending like this. It felt cold, even with the jacket that Jamie still wore. All his hair stood up on end as his heart could be heard pounding loudly over the clanging of the lift. His legs were shaking so much that it was a wonder as to how he was still standing. The only thing that seemed to keep him mostly calm was holding onto the Soul Statue like a lifeline. It was like an old friend comforting him. It felt nice.

Jamie didn't know how long he was trapped in the lift for, or how far down he had travelled, but the vessel finally jolted to a halt. It almost caused him to fall off his feet. Jamie gave himself a second to breathe, clutching the Soul Statue tighter to himself. He recollected himself as he peered through the door of the lift. There were lights. Many different coloured lights. All of them were coming from numerous crystals that were on cave walls, the ceiling and even the floor. The door finally opened up, allowing Jamie to take in his surroundings better. His breath had been stolen from him once again. His eyes were met with eggs, thousands of them, if not millions. All of them were in many different shapes, sizes and colours. They all even had patterns on them. They were all separated into many different clutches, each part of the cave tailoring to the environments that the eggs originated from. The crystals that were near the eggs generated heat, frost, water, plants and even air that Jamie could feel from the lift. There were so many here in this one cave that seemed to go on forever.

How was Jamie meant to find one egg that was supposed meant to be his?

As Jamie scanned each egg to try to make out his, there was a vibration in his hand. He looked down and opened it up. The Soul Statue seemed to move a little. Before Jamie knew it, it was also starting to crack. It was like it was an egg itself. Not knowing what to do, Jamie watched it intently. It only took seconds for the Soul Statue to be destroyed. Not just destroyed. Disintegrated, crumbling into fine dust, cascading to the floor from Jamie's hand. Jamie had no time to mourn over his treasure. A light radiated from the remains of the statue. It was dim compared to the crystals. It was a faint silver colour that pulsated like a heartbeat. Something that Jamie thought that he could hear.

The light seemed to look back at him for a minute, before it suddenly darted towards the eggs. Taking it as a sign, Jamie dashed after it, being careful not to lose his footing on the uneven stairs that led to the lift. The light seemed to pay no mind to him as if journeyed further into the cave. It ignored all of the eggs, determined to stay on its course. It pulsated even more, reminding Jamie that it's alive. It seemed to pick up speed as Jamie tripped and stumbled to keep up with it. The jacket he wore flew behind him as he did a determined sprint to move faster. Again, the light didn't seem to care. It just kept on going, faintly reflecting the lights from the crystals. Jamie ignored his surroundings as he felt hot or cold depending on which crystal he went past. He thought that he would feel dread or the feeling of being claustrophobic from being so far underground, but he didn't. He only kept focused on the light. It seemed that all of his fears were gone. He couldn't focus on any of it at all. All of his attention was only on the light.

The light kept on going deeper and deeper into the cave. It didn't seem to slow down. The amount of eggs seem to be less and less, as did the crystals. The cave felt lie, it was getting darker. Jamie stopped for a second as he felt something foreboding around him. He looked around, seeing eggs, but something was wrong. Instead of being an intense red or vibrant turquoise or deep blue, they were black. Blacker than black if that were possible. The crystals around the eggs were also black. Jamie felt a chill run right through him. It felt like all the warmth in the world was suddenly extinct. Could something like that even exist?

Suddenly, as if saving him from an awful fate, the light came back to Jamie. It made itself the only thing in his line of sight. It wouldn't let him focus on anything else, not even the foreboding eggs. Jamie became transfixed on it. Once it knew that, the light started to guide him away from the darkness of the cave. It seemed to slow down this time, allowing Jamie to have a better time following it. They kept going deeper still into the cave. The feeling on loneliness made itself known again. There wasn't that many nests now. In fact, the light was guiding Jamie near to the back of the cave at this point. There was barely anything back there. Just empty, abandoned nests and incredibly few crystals. Jamie looked back at where they came from. The still open lift was nothing more than a black rectangle in the cave wall, and the crystals and eggs were nothing more than a blur of colours. He didn't realise how far in the cave they truly were until now. He must have been running for miles.

The light again distracted Jamie from his thought, making him concentrate on it. Enchanted by it again, Jamie finally followed it for a few more ft. He wondered how much longer he had to keep going for, when finally he was approaching a nest. This one was different from all of the others. The crystals surrounding it were not like the ones that he had see. They were not like the dark ones either. They were a dull silver colour. They looked like hey shined brightly once, but now they barely had any light in them at all. It was like they were once alive and are now dying. It was also the nest that caught Jamie's attention. All the eggs came in clutches. There was only one egg.just one lonely egg. It was pure white with shining silver patterns that seemed to reflect the light. It looked very beautiful.

Jamie looked at the egg as he wondered if it was meant to be his. The light guiding him answered his question for him. It glided over to the egg. It went closer and closer until it suddenly went inside it. Jamie continued to observe as the egg glowed and pulsated a little. As it lit up, a shape from inside it was silhouetted. It was curled up, but Jamie was sure that it was a dragon he was looking at. He inched closer to the nest and with shaking hands, he gently picked it up.

There was a bright light suddenly coming from the egg. Jamie turned his head away to prevent himself from being blinded. He felt like the egg had warmed up in his hands as a gust of wind blew harshly around him. The ground shook a little, making him feel a little nauseous.

Whatever happened, it ended as quickly as it came. It became still and silent. Jamie didn't open his eyes for what felt like forever. When he did, the egg had stopped glowing and remained warm in his hands. However the cave ad changed around him. All the crystals surrounding the nest were bright and radiant. It wasn't just those crystals. All of them, including the blackened ones, were glowing a bright silver. Jamie hugged the egg close to him, being careful to not hold it too tight. After a minute, some of the silver crystals reverted back to their original colours. The only ones that were left, were the ones around the nest and the odd ones that were in between the others. Only the blackened ones didn't have any silver crystals between them, not even a tiny one.

What just happened?