Scales & Tales - The Tales of Mystic High - Book 1

Chapter 50

The three were teleported from the Portal Rooms back at Mystic High to the ones in the Dragon Village. Atlantic quickly took notice that the walls seemed to be made out of stone or magma, much unlike the malachite walls that littered most buildings back in Sharkdom.

"Well, welcome to our home," Drake said, gesturing towards the window. Atlantic glanced out there, seeing a cloudy sky, the ground orange and cracked. It looked like a post-apocalyptic situation, but Atlantic felt that it only made this Fall Break all the more thrilling.

"Woah..." Atlantic gasped. 'This place is great! And you guys live here!?"

"Yep," Blackout nodded his head. "Are you ready to see the rest of it? I'm sure Dad wouldn't mind if we took a little detour."

"Of course!" Atlantic nodded his head rapidly, excited to explore this new habitat that he's seemingly discovered.

Blackout smiled lightly, and took Atlantic's hand in his, dragging him through the place that seemed like a maze. Blackout must've noticed Atlantic's slight disorientation, as he glanced back at Atlantic. "This place is bigger than Sharkdom, is it?"

"Yeah... a lot bigger..." Atlantic muttered. "It's... kind of overwhelming..."

"Are you doing okay here?' Blackout asked, growing a bit worried at Atlantic's choice of words. "Do we need to stop for a second? I know this place can take a lot to get used to..."

"N-no, I'm fine," Atlantic shook his head, showing Blackout that he was fine. "Just... don't leave me alone here for a while, alright? I'd probably end up getting very lost..."

"Yeah, I know," Drake chuckled lightly, a memory springing to mind. "Hey, Blackout, do you remember when we were little and Firnen had brought us down here because he had a band competition..?"

Blackout nodded hesitantly. "Y-yeah.. What about it..?"

"Remember that when we said goodbye to him... I think in that room," Drake pointed towards the left as they made their ways down the halls. "Me and you somehow got split, and you almost ended up in outer space?"

Blackout's shoulders hiked up in embarrassment as the story was brought up. "I was like seven years old! Who can blame me?"

Drake let out a meek laugh. "Sorry, it's just a fun memory I like to think of... especially when I'm remembering Firnen..."

Blackout's expression softened as Drake explained his thought process. "... oh..."

Atlantic could feel the bittersweet moment blossoming, and didn't dare utter a word in hopes of not interrupting anything important moment the two brothers seemed to be having. Unfortunately, the three entered a rough silence, both Blackout and Drake seeming to remember their fond memories of Firnen before his unfortunate passing.

Eventually, they reached the entrance, and a dragon that had yellow hair muttered out a lazy and sarcastic, "welcome to the Dragon Village..."

"Thank you," Drake nodded towards the dragon, and he led the other two freshmen out into the open air. "Well, Atlantic, here it is! Dragon Village!"

Atlantic looked around in astonishment. The place seemed much more hardcore than when he was inside. There was fire dancing on the trees, and lava seemed to spew out of the cracks on the ground every now and then. The ground was covered in an orange dusty haze, and Atlantic let out a weak cough as he breathed in the fiery air.

"Are you okay? 'Blackout asked, as he could feel Atlantic shaking slightly as he coughed.

"Yeah... it's just going to take me a moment to get used to this air..." Atlantic nodded lightly, pulling his sleeve over his mouth and nose.

"Really?" Blackout took a deep breath, surprised that Atlantic would have to get used to the air in the Dragon Village. "I don't feel anything in my lungs?"

"That's because your insides are practically magma. This is normal for you," Drake said. 'Don't worry, Atlantic. I have to take a day or two to get used to the air whenever I come back for a break... it's not just you."

Atlantic hummed, "I guess it's a good thing that it's not just me..."

"Well, I guess we better give you a quick tour of the place! This is only one of the dragon places, as I'm sure you know. So not every dragon attraction you've heard of will be here."

"Can't we go over to them?" Atlantic questioned, raising an eyebrow. "I saw on a map somewhere that all the dragon places were practically right next to each other..."

"Yes, well," Drake said, informing the young shark, "the dragon borders are heavily against each other, it's like a rivalry... which one will rain supreme? Garbage like that. Once they saw us trying to cross the border they'd lock us up and keep us as prisoners."

"Oh..." Atlantic muttered, now understanding the situation. "I didn't know that..."

"It's fine," Drake shrugged. "Not many people besides us dragons know, honestly. So it's totally acceptable."

Atlantic hummed, and the two native Dragon Villagers led Atlantic through the town, pointing out various things and elaborating on them. Atlantic was in awe, as he'd never seen any of these things before and found it wonderful to see them for the first time.

Eventually, Atlantic found them headed onto a big manor that was made out of peridot. The bright green was being reflected by the sun, and Atlantic held up the back of his hand to block himself from the light. "What is this place?"

"This is our home," Drake said, putting his hands in his pockets.

Atlantic's mouth went agape as he stared up at the house. "But... this place is like a mansion! I didn't know you guys were rich!"

"Well, remember how Aquamarine doubted I was a Fire Tail?" Drake mentioned. "Yeah... what about it?"

"Dragon breeds are like society pillars in the Dragon Villages. Since Fire Tails are the

strongest dragon breeds, we get treated practically like royalty," Drake explained.

"Woah..." Atlantic muttered in awe. "That's so cool! No wonder why Aquamarine seemed

so upset... that's because you're so strong!" a rumble made its way into Atlantic's ears, as the ground began to shake. Atlantic stared at the floor in curiosity. "Wait, what the-!?"

The two brothers looked up at a volcano that was quite close to the manor. It was bubbling, but quickly sizzled down.

Atlantic hesitated, before slowly looking where the other two were looking. "Was that an earthquake..?"

"Yeah," Blackout nodded. "That volcano's weird. It's only erupted once. All the other times it just vibrates and makes a noise, then cools back down."

"You should know what's going on with the volcano better than anybody," Drake said teasingly, elbowing Blackout in the side.

"What does he mean by that..?" Atlantic questioned.

Blackout rolled his eyes, and said, "remember when I said that I was born from a volcanic eruption?"

"Yeah,what about-?" Atlantic suddenly understood, and he stared up at the volcano. "Is that the one you were born from?"

"Yep," Blackout confirmed. "The only eruption it ever had was the one I was born in." "And then you hit me in the head," Drake chuckled at the memory.

"Wait, what!?" Atlantic's eyes widened. "Would you mind elaborating?"

Drake let out a laugh, and responded with, "yeah... Blackout kind of just shot out of the volcano . I was just playing outside, and he ended up hitting me on the head. When I woke up and I found out the thing that had hit me was a freaking baby. My dad was being kind, and even let me name Blackout for some reason... I only said Blackout because, well, I was like three or so and somebody had just said, 'but he just blacked out!'."

"So that's how you got the name!" Atlantic said, turning to the volcanic spirit.

"What do you mean by that?" Blackout asked, looking at Atlantic with a raised eyebrow. 'Are you saying that my name is weird?"

"Er, not that," Atlantic quickly cleared his throat. "I mean, it's just... your name is very... unique! Yeah, that. I've never heard it before..."