Lunar

Chapter 6

"Ugh, now where's Shenlong?!" Haru paced the Grand Throne Hall, sending small particles of dust flying. He was triggered. First, he had to hunt down and kill all of the Lunar Dragons. Second, he had to kill Ryoto and his army. Third, he had to find Shenlong and Shenron. Shenlong should've come back by now... Unless Ryoto killed him. He must've!

Kaito sighed, rubbing his one eye. "I'll get that black dragon. He took away my eye, I'll take away his soul." He slouched down on the great throne that used to be Lord Falkor's.

"We will, old friend," Haru agreed. He was bloodthirsty, but his body wasn't strong enough. "But I'm tired. My body isn't strong enough."

Kaito looked at Haru. "There's a tree, leaves growing in spirals. That is the Tree of Life. Eat one leaf, you'll feel refreshed again. But eating too much means you could drink your own soul right out of your body."

"Ah. Where is this so-called Tree of Life?" Haru asked. "Is it somewhere? Have you visited it?"

"Yes. But it is in the Clawar Dimension," Kaito murmured. "The Clawar Dimension is a completely different dimension from our dimension, the Ecilar Dimension. You have to go through a portal to get to it."

"If I could bring the tree here, we'd have enough energy for everyone to fight. We could bring down Ryoto to his knees!"

"Mmm. Good idea," Kaito exclaimed.

"Where do you get this portal?"

"Using a dragon's blood, an amulet of life, a bracelet of death, a dragon's breath, and aqua. Aqua is water, but not water. Aqua is the water in our bodies."

"Right. Who do we sacrifice, then?"

"Hmm. I was thinking about Brantley. Brantley— that little dragon with only one desperate little dragonet. He never cleans the rooms properly."

"Brantley it is."

"We also need the two accessories. We need to get the amulet from the grave of Saint Herensuge, and the bracelet from the jaws of Saint Jormungand's skeleton."

"And the aqua?" Haru was busily jotting down notes. Dragon blood — Brantley. Amulet of Life — Grave of Saint Herensuge. Bracelet of Death — jaws of Saint Jormungand's skeleton. Aqua — ???.

"We'll need a powerful sorcerer. Luckily, I have a dragon who is a sorcerer, and who helped me get to the Tree of Life. Brenton."

"Brenton? That dragon? I never knew he was a sorcerer," Haru wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Well, well. That's a new fact."

Kaito nodded. "He is. Shall we get started? If we get the tree, then we'll be one step in front of the Rebellion."

"Let's do it."

Ryoto had heard everything. He had sent Kato to eavesdrop on the two cruel dragons. They wanted the Tree of Life, which was in a different dimension, and to summon the portal they needed to collect two objects from two dragons' graves and somehow find a sorcerer. But Leviathan was a sorcerer! He was a sorcerer of water.

But who was Saint Herensuge and Saint Jormungand? Were they powerful, hungry dragons who lived before he were born? He knew where to find the graves—The Dragon Head Cemetery. And Kato knew where the cemetery was. But the bad thing was that it was around one million wingbeats away.

"Ryoto!" Leviathan appeared in a whoosh of water. He looked down on Ryoto and said gruffly, "we have to leave right at dawn, otherwise Haru and Kaito will get there first."

Ryoto nodded solemnly. "I understand. We have to start packing right away." He turned around, facing the tall dragon.

The sun was shining through the square rice paper plastered on the glass doors, beaming through the gaps between each sheet of paper. He was nestling in the round cushion in the center of the room, his friends surrounding him. Shenlong was standing close to Coatl. Shenlong, Ryoto noticed, was now Coatl's best friend. Coatl still talked to Ryoto and the others, but however, he mostly talked to Shenlong.

And they both had a burning rage to rip Kaito and Haru's necks off.

Ryoto kneeled down and knelt down to the bamboo bag that Firnen had given them. "What do we need?" He wondered. "We need food for sure."

Firnen walked up and said, "Ryoto. I have plenty of berries and fish, but I guess we could just hunt along the way, right? But just in case, here's some berries." He handed Ryoto a section of a thick bamboo stick, the bottom sealed tightly by a piece of thick and tough bamboo, the top covered by a flap made of bamboo. He opened the top and inside, there was a variety of berries, jumbled up and mixed up inside the bamboo, filled up to the top.

Then Firnen left, and came back with more bamboo canisters. "These are more berries I collected, and the rest are juice that I made so we don't get thirsty."

Ryoto thanked Firnen and put them carefully in the bag. "Oh! I need a diary," Ryoto gasped, remembering his love for writing. "I can't live without writing."

Drago walked up, his orange scales flashing in the sunlight. "I have a notebook that I haven't written on yet," he said, holding up a plain cardboard notebook. "I have a pencil too."

Ryoto wrinkled his nose. "I prefer a pen, but a pencil will do," he said as he stood up to receive the notebook. "Before we start the journey, I'm going to go to my house to retrieve my bag."

Kato flew over, holding a pickaxe. He sang a song, and the song created an image in his mind. "Oh! We might need to mine some resources so we can forge armor for ourselves in case we have to fight."

"Good idea!" Drakon exclaimed. "My strategy on getting to the land of the Tree of Life is crossing over Eartria, over into Iciler. The two countries can provide us with food and shelter before we fly over the Sea and into the land of the Tree of Life."

Ryoto nodded. "Do Drago and Uruloki agree with your plans?"

"Yes, Ryoto."

"Very well. We'll fly over Eartria and Iciler, then we'll fly over the Sea," Ryoto explained. Eartria was a land full of forest and water, while Iciler was an icy land with no warmth. The Sea was the land that separated the great continent of the Dragon Lands from Life Island. No dragon has even tried to go to Life Island—there have been tales of dragons who have died or disappeared secretly while flying above the Sea. One of them, Ryoto's father had told small Ryoto, was his great-great-grandfather, Ryujin. He was a proud golden dragon, afraid of nothing. But he disappeared and he never came back to Ecilar...

"What if you get tired, Ryoto? You're just a dragonet... We can fly longer than you," Thorn said, concern etched on his face.

"Umm..." Ryoto clearly didn't think about that.

"I'll carry you," Leviathan murmured. He was the biggest and the most sturdy of them all, of course Leviathan would carry Ryoto. Leviathan was also the Deputy of the Rebellion, and it was his job to take care of the jobs that Ryoto had to do but hasn't done yet.

Uruloki suddenly piped up: "Ryoto! Quickly, send Kato to eavesdrop on Haru and Kaito. We need to know when they will travel. Kato can also find out who the sorcerer on Haru's side is."

Ryoto nodded. "Kato, go; go eavesdrop on Haru and Kaito again, and tell us what they plan to do."

With a cry, Kato leaped off his shoulder and launched into flight, twirling through the ceiling with his invisibility and pass-through abilities.

"Tomorrow is the big day. My friends, please rest. We'll travel at dawn, when the sun has just peeked through the mountains." Ryoto looked over at his Rebellion.

What would tomorrow bring? And what would Haru and Kaito do?