Chapter 8: Amber Glow

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Ow. Ow. Am I dead?

You idiot, ShineSwift. If you're dead, you wouldn't be thinking totally inappropriate stuff.

ShineSwift groaned and tried to get up, just to find that his claws didn't seem to work properly. She could hear Lunar meowing so loud that it probably would have been heard thousands of miles around.

What good is it laying on the ground? ShineSwift scolded herself. Better to figure out where you are rather than acting like a dead bird.

ShineSwift tried valiantly to stand, and finally, after what seemed to be a millennia of failure, she finally stood up. Lunar immediately brushed her front legs and purred so loud that it seemed to rumble the cave. Then ShineSwift started staring at the environment that they were in.

The surroundings that ShineSwift took in swept her breath away in a long, beautiful moment.

Rubies and amber decorated the glass clear walls. Patterns and spirals and entire stories were told with the flashing red and orange glass. Stalagmites and stalactites (Can't get them straight after what the heck of time, ShineSwift thought grumply) with glowing lava were scattered among the new, surprisingly large cavern. Serpent sculptures glittered with a million carnelian gems, each carefully carved for a triangle, with a thousand beautiful fractures.

Lunar flicked its tail happily at ShineSwift. "What?" She turned to stare at the tiny black and white Clawth. "You want me to. . . follow you?" Lunar happily mewed, and even the fiercest of dragons can't help but fall for the cute little cat. "Fine, just slow down!" ShineSwift can't help but feel like the cat is up to something . . . can't grasp it. Not a second too early, the tiny Clawth shot out and into the maze of glittering lava stones.

ShineSwift sighed and padded after Lunar. Not that she was reluctant, of course. It was just. . . weird. First off an ocean that was basically lava. Second off a cat that somehow understood and knew what she was talking about. Third off. . . what exactly?

Stop standing there and thinking stupid stuff. Lunar obviously knew where she was mewling about.

ShineSwift let out her breath and walked toward the wall under which Lunar was standing. The area beside the Clawth seemed normal. . .

But the wall itself. . . was a cloud in a clear blue sky.

The red, orange, and yellow jewels weren't gone. It was the fact that shades of blue, cyan, and green were mixed into it. Outlines of dragons clashed with the fury of the fire.

Fire dragons, in fact.

The war between fire and water. I didn't know. . .

When ShineSwift took a closer look at the depicted scene, she saw something that she could not imagine. There was an ocean, with fiery claws reaching out from the deep midnight depths.

That. . . was from my dream.

ShineSwift glanced down at Lunar. It was still dancing and prancing around her claws, the sharp blue eyes searching for something in the picture. Lunar's sight was peculiarly central to the burning ocean's claws, as if there's another secret button. Or . . .

ShineSwift caught sight of a strange little symbol. It was made of tiny gems. It barely was the same level with the rest of the gems, just a dab lower than the rest of the gems. Now that she noticed, ShineSwift found that there are similar jewels scattered in the fiery ocean. They seemed to be showing a hidden message, secretly and carefully hidden for sure, ShineSwift noted.

That's what Lunar was looking for. But, do they really have a meaning? Or is it just for decoration?

Lunar was definitely lifted, now. She scrabbled endlessly at the wall, trying to reach the center of the ocean, which was the most concentrated part of the entire jewel collage, with all colors, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet, were thrown carelessly against each other, like a hurricane of rainbows and moonlight. A whirlwind of colors. A. . . burning dragon. . . right in the middle.

ShineSwift brushed her claw across the little figure. It was blue, with hints of fire and water reigning through. The claws were midnight blue, with hot pink swirls loosely wrapping around him.

Why is this so familiar? ShineSwift thought angrily. She could feel the answer on the very tip of her tongue, but no way to get it off. Something about the painting made ShineSwift rethink what the world is and will be. Is it the burning ocean? No, not really. Is it the fighting dragons? Maybe not. Is it the little dragon carving? . . . maybe?

Something's wrong. . . and it seems to have something to do with the voice that ranges, from the deepest oceans, from the fiercest fires.

And I'm going to have to meet it head on.

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