Purple Dragon (Yona of the Dawn)

End of the Line

Alya's P.O.V

How long have we been down here? I mean who knows how many days we've been doing this. Without any view outside, we can't tell how many days have gone by and anything could be happening. I kept my hand on my sword, anything could happen at this point and I wanted to be ready for anything. Sin-ha was leading the group this time, we weren't taking any chances in being surprised. 

The problem is we've been walking forever and nothing is happening. I hate this, I feel like I'm going to explode from anticipation. It didn't help that the others anticipation was so intense I couldn't stop it from leaking into my head. So not only did I have to deal with my own high strung emotions right now but four others whose feelings were as intense as my own. I have to handle the stress of five people!

BANG! I jumped almost drawing my sword when we all seemed to realize... Gija fell. HE FELL! I took a few deep breaths hating how on edge I was. Gija's clumsiness was setting me off.

"I think we all need to take a minute to calm down, the tension is so thick we could cut it with a blunt sword," Yona spoke up and she was right. We weren't going to be able to act effectively if we kept this up. We decided to break for food and I started a fire before sitting against a wall and taking some deep breaths. I decided to take this chance to gauge the others feelings and work on calming them so when we keep going we all keep a level head. 

Once we'd all eaten we started walking again, everyone had calmed enough that we were able to handle the pressure. Something was coming and we could handle whatever it was. We walked for another... hour I would guess when it finally happened. Soft thuds like something heavy walking towards us.

"It is very large," Sin-ha said. I moved up closer to him and held up a hand with fire to cast light farther down the corridor when we saw it. It filled the cavern, its skin blending in with the stone. A rough face carved into the head.

"What is that?" Jeno asked. I shook my head.

"I have no idea," I said.

"I do, it's called a golem. Stories said they were mounds of rocks enchanted to move and obey only the one who enchanted it." Hak said drawing his weapon. The rest of us followed his lead though I'm not sure how effective our weapons will be against the stone. It lifted one of its arms a heavy club raised above us and it swung down. I grabbed Yun as Gija grabbed Yona and we all got out of the way. It smashed into the ground sending stone shrapnel shooting everywhere.

"Thanks, Alya," Yun said and I nodded.

"Stay far back," I said before slowly approaching the golem. I leveled with the others, this time Hak was with us ready to fight.

"Hak, in those stories is there any indication on how to beat the golem?" I asked.

"Usually you have to beat whoever created it, but sometimes they would have a weak spot based on what element they were created from." He told us.

"Defeating its master isn't exactly an option, what would its weakness be?" Jae-ha asked. While we tried to figure that out we worked on getting it to turn around so it wouldn't be facing Yun and Yona. Jae-ha was kicking it while Gija slashed at it and Hak was trying to cut it but they weren't making much progress. While they were distracting it I was observing the way it moved.

"Sin-ha!" I shouted and he jumped off the golem's shoulder and landed next to me.

"Look at its joints, tell me what you see," I said. He turned staring intently at where the elbows and knees would be.

"Nothing is keeping them together." He said.

"Exactly," I said and moved as close to the golem as I could.

"GUYS! ATTACK THE JOINTS! ELBOWS AND KNEES!" I shouted. Nobody paused or questioned what I said. In seconds Jae-ha was slamming his foot into the knee joint. It went right through and the second it was severed the rest of the leg crumbled into slag. The golem tipped over, the weight of one side too great for it to stand on one leg. They quickly severed the rest of the joints and all that was left was a pile of rubble.

"That went well, nobody got injured," Yun said happily climbing over the rocks to join us. Hak helped Yona over and we took a few minutes to recover from the battle. Yun checked my head and told me it had finished healing over. Gija's wounds were a lot bigger and still closing but he was doing really well. After a few minutes, we started walking again. With my theory of that being the final challenge we were a bit more relaxed but still on guard, it was a theory we didn't know for sure.

The walls seemed to get smaller as we walked, the tunnel closing in little by little as we walked and I was starting to feel claustrophobic. I think it was just me because while my breathing was getting harsher as we walked the others seemed perfectly fine and that bugged me. I hated being the only one affected by something, it made me feel weak despite the fact I'm very aware of my own strength. The longer we walked the smaller the tunnel got until we had to walk in a single file line to move through, Hak, Gija, Sin-ha, and Jae-ha had to bend over to move. Without warning, we all stopped and I bumped into Sin-ha.

"There's a door!" Hak called.

"Can you open it?" I called back.

"There isn't a handle or anything, it's bright red with a dragon carved into it." He said.

"Then let Yona try," Zeno shouted from the back of the line. Luckily Yona was right behind Hak, she had to squirm under his legs to get to the door but she got there. I watched over Sin-ha and Gija's shoulders as Yona pressed her hand against the door and suddenly the cavern was filled with an intense red light. I had to cover my eyes it was so bright. When it faded the door was gone and we slowly made our way through. The sight waiting on the other side was indescribable, we finally made it to the home of the dragons.