The Dragon Masks

Chapter 3-- Portal of the Minstrels

It was chaos. The suburbs of the city were in ruin. Houses destroyed and many injured in the fight with the Dragon Cult. The Wizard and Ingra were still at large. Blair and his allies had continued the chase to the Minstrel Fortress, while observing the damage done to the area. The Wizard had accidentally left a trail of ash on the ground. Blair was following the breadcrumbs as if he was a mouse. That's when he would find the Lion. Meanwhile, the Wizard and Ingra had arrived at the entrance of the Minstrel's Fortress. The gate to the Fortress and blocked anyone from entering, but for wizards, that was no problem. The gate was blasted by the Wizard, as he and Ingra walked towards the main buildings of the Fortress as the first wall fell. Fighters with swords were right there to greet them, led by a man who seemed to be their leader. "You are not a member of the Minstrels. We will defend our base with honor and dignity. And those in our way shall be vanquished!" the Leader announced. The men followed, and came to attack Ingra and the Wizard. The Wizard spoke, "Ingra, I'll fight them, get to the archive vault, and find the mask".

From behind, the group of Sluhan Archers had arrived, led by Larka. Opik and Blair cornered into the Wizard. The Wizard had created a fire barrier in the front, which would burn all of the Minstrels' weapons. Opik sent a jab flying into the Wizard's face knocking him down and his staff out of his hand. Opik grabbed the staff and broke it into pieces, rendering his spells useless. The Barrier slowly disappeared and charged ready to kill the Wizard. The Wizard was unconscious. Blair urgently inquired, "Where is the other man?". The Leader of the Minstrels had a response, "To the vaulted archive. We are after the wizard as he is the one who caused the most destruction, Lord Blair". "Farril, we must go after Ingra, the other man, it is of the utmost importance. Follow me." Blair said, as he started off running in the direction of the Vault Building. He had the archers send rope arrows that allowed the archers to ascend up into a window. The Minstrel Warriors surrounded the tower. Blair, Opik and the archers entered the vault. Ingra was right there, about to open a lock which contained a mysterious item in a caged metal box. Blair assumed it was the Cobalt Dragon Mask. Larka pushed Ingra back, but Ingra in return stabbed a knife into his arm. Larka pulled the knife out of his flesh and sent in flying at Ingra's throat. Just then, from the sky, the roof of the vault was blasted, as Appius and her followers descended. One of the Fire Wizards caught the knife in mid air and sent it at the caged box. Ingra bowed to Appius, before leading the charge against Blair. He was outnumbered. Blair desperately reached to the box with an uppercut and broke the box open, revealing a mirror. Farril and the Minstrels had arrived from the entrance and had surrounded the Dragon Cult. Even if one move was made, one muscle was moved, there would be bloodshed. Blair knew it. Appius knew it. And so did Farril. Farril angrily spoke, "We want our building restored, you can take the mask". Appius hoarsely said, "I don't need your mercy...". Blair had not gotten the mask he thought it was. This wasn't the cobalt mask. Suddenly a blue twirl began to appear on the mirror. It rose up creating a circular portal. Blair tried to hold on to the walls. But he was sent flying into the portal. Even walls began to collapse inwards and all of the matter was sent inside. The entire remains of what the building was had been gone. There was nothing left. The people of Brightzone stood in awe, at the event that had occurred. The mirror then close its portal and shattered into pieces. Within an hour or two, members of the Superior Union were discussing what had happened. And who would be Blair's successor.