Princess Of The Flame |Dota: Dragons Blood|

Part 11.

|Kaden|

I had finally arrived at the dormant volcanic lands. Of course she would have come here. She's he's still too naive to understand how dangerous these monsters truly are. Specifically this species in particular, the thought of its Eldwurm brought back horrific memories.

Just then I heard the sound of galloping. Turning my head, I saw a familiar horse approaching. By the Gods, that's her beloved Ava. But if she is here, where is her rider? The horse was acting anxious and facing the dormant volcano.

No, she wouldn't have. That is where the Father of Fire resides. She couldn't have gone there, but then again...

"Shit..."

I whip my horse's reigns and we sped off toward the mountain, Ava following close behind.

~

We would make to the base of said mountain in no time at all. A narrow path lead upward towards the entrance to Slyraks lair, but there were no signs of fresh human tracks. That's what worried me. I dismounted from my steed and began to make my way up the path. My sword was at the ready if any fire wurmlings dared to ambush me.

Fortunately none were seen as I reached the entrance. No signs of blood, but there were signs of fresh dragon tracks.

"Skylana, I better not find your corpse at the hands of Slyrak..."

I readied my sword and entered the cave. The temperature rose higher and higher the further in. The entrance to Slyraks lair was just ahead, I could hear the sounds of molten lava flowing. But it was awfully quiet otherwise. No rumbling of a sleeping Eldwurm, nor wurmlings fighting one another. That was odd.

Entering the lair, I was shocked to see that the bastard himself wasn't here. Instead all I saw was the body of another Eldwurm and more blood than I have ever seen. The corpse of the Earth Eldwurm was covered in large gashes and bite marks. It had been in a serious fight that cost its life.

What the fuck happened here? The more I looked around, my eyes landed on something I was hoping I wouldn't find.

It was Skylanas journal laying next to a small puddle of blood beside a massive blood pool. The blood was certainly human, the color was the right shade of red.

I would pick up her journal and open it, finding several drawings of different dragons and her entries. I focused more upon her drawings than entries. She had certainly improved with her artistic gift, the attention to detail was certainly impressive. But that brought up the question of how close she had to get to see these details.

But when I flipped onto another page, a drawing of the Earth Eldwurm  with writing on the page beside it caught my attention. It was a list of names along with a short entry.

'Uldorak, Father of Earth. Lirrak, Mother of Oceans. Aetherak, Father of the Air. Slyrak, Father of Fire. Aurrak, Mother of the Light. Vahdrak, Father of Chaos. Indrak, Father of Ionics. Byssrak, Father of the Void.'

By the Gods, these were the names of the Eldwurms. I continued reading.

'I do regret disobeying Davion and entering the Earth Eldwurms lair. But in doing so, I have gained a friend in the Dragon kingdom. He calls himself Uldorak, Father of the Earth. Uldorak was quite defensive at first until I explained my reasoning, then he calmed himself and we conversed-'

I sighed and closed the journal without finishing it. Looking down at the ground, I could faintly see bloody bootprints leading out of the lair. Those are certainly hers. It brought me relief to know that she's still alive, otherwise that would bring her father much heartache.