Wings of the Crystal : The Lost City

:: Chapter 25 ::

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     Once Cactus healed her wing, they were again, off in the air for the Lost City. They hoped they could just get there now. They stopped at a random box in the middle of their journey, and found some useful accessories. Solar found a blue belt to put around his neck, and Rain found a blue flower crown. Flying again, after ten minutes, they reached the cliff they were looking for. Finally.
They landed softly, Their wings closing as they all peered over the edge. The sounds of gushing water overlapped a soft, male humming sound from down the mud cliff. They were curious but also confused.
Cactus, Stargazer, Rain,Akira, and solar decided that only Cactus should go in. So with her goodbyes and saying she will come back, she glided off the cliff into the dirty, soft mud. Getting all over her claws, she walked down the mud path nexed to the Nanen Ocean, crashing with loud waves and vexatious seagulls.
The soft humming was louder as she continued to walk. The wet mud came up to her knees, the mud on her claws already starting to dry into flakes around her scales. As the humming sounded as it was coming from her own mouth, she glimpsed around the corner and saw a tall, orange and black scales MudWing sitting against the cliff wall. Titling her head, Cactus slowly stepped forward, the mud below her still squishing with loud sounds.
The MudWing's humming cut off quickly, making him open his eyes and peer around at his surroundings. He didn't notice her yet. "Who's there? And did you like my humming? Great, right? I knew you would." He lifted his claw and messed with his talons.
"I guess I did," Cactus walked up, her tail lashing against the ground with the mud. The MudWing turned to her with a grin. "Ha, I knew no one would deny it!" He leaned back against it, still messing with his talon.
"Who are you?" Said Cactus, getting close enough to stop. She didn't want to burn another dragon unless she had to. He moved his head up to look at her with a bigger smirk.
"The names Oakland, but please, call me Oak. And as everyone says, and I'm not trying to be a cliche, Who are you?"
"Cactus, I'm Cactus. The crystal Dragonet. AAA! Such a big deal! I'm so famous, though I've done nothing to help anyone! But turns out I'm just a gigantic pushover who wants to kill everyone since I have firescales! How fun!" Cactus jumped around sarcastically, acting as if she was someone else.
Oakland just laughed, with a sigh on the end. "Oh, don't worry dear! I'm not one of those dragons. I'm sure you're a great dragon from what I know about you now. What, you're 4 years, which means you're twelve if you times it by 3 which is our real ages, you have a sister and two parents which are in the army, you are having a tough time with the NightWings, and you're in a casual crisis where you think no one loves you and hates you but everyone really does. That's about it, right? And those earrings were from your sister for a gift. "
Aghast, Cactus widened her eyes and nodded. "What. . ? How did you. . .?-" "Oh, just scrolls. And it's a gift, my mother says. She says once I hear someone's name I whole bunch of information just pops in my head. I don't know." He shrugged but continued with his personality.
"What ya doing here anyways? It's not often people come here because they usually drown or get eaten by sharks. I guess those sharks over there don't wanna eat ya." His head tilted forward towards the ocean.
Cactus turned her head to the ocean and saw a row of medium sharks staring at her with sad eyes, but also growling sharp teeth. They quickly swam back under.
Snorting, Cactus turned around back to him. "I'm here to see the SkullWings. For my prophecy, you know? If you know everything about me, you should know why."
Oakland chuckled with a rough stare. "Like every person I met, there's only one way they can get in. Riddles, you know them?"
Cactus nods, her legs shaking a bit as she looked down to the mud cracking on her scales, drying up to her shoulders.
"Well I have one for you. You have one guess. Okay, here it is;

Green but not a lizard, white without being snow, and bearded without being a man.

What is it?"

Cactus laughed, leaping into he air but back down. "HAH! That's easy, a leek!"
Surprised, Oakland chuckled, sitting up and moving over to the other side of the cliff wall. "Well, well, well, this dragon knows her riddles! Lucky you!"
Cactus giggled, watching closely. He then put his claws deeply into the side of the cliff, then rolling them to the right and pulling back a circle like wall, revealing a brightened cave with glowing blue crystals.
Amazed, Cactus stepped forward. Oakland watched her with amusement. "Just follow the path, and once you see the pond, go up the steps to the right, and you'll be in the hatchery room. Just continue forward! Good luck, you'll need it! Find one with a very cracked skull named grim, and you'll do fine!"
His voice faded as Cactus continued to walk. She was mesmerized by all the glowing blue flowers on the dark walls. She reached a room that grew with trees and more of the blue glowing flowers. There were small lanterns hanging from the ceiling of the cave that seemed to be made by Younger Dragonets.
She then reached the pond, twirled with bright colors of dark and light blue. She threw in a rock and watched it spin across the water. She smiled, continuing to skip forward.
She climbed up the stairs, slipping on the adobe clay with her scraping mud up to her shoulders. She wondered when it would come off.
She reached into the fresh smelling hatchery room which was extremely quiet. No one was in it from Cactus's view, so she sprinted across the underground field. The hatcheries were in the shapes of temples and were pretty big for being underground. When she walked up the stone steps at the end, she reached the blue sky with the Adobe town, which was rather quieter than the other kingdoms she's been to. The buildings were tall enough to look like a city, though some were small little huts and peaceful homes for villages. The ground was a hard, sandstone feeling. There was patches of dirt for growing plants.
Though it was a bit quiet, there was many, many SkullWings. They were either at shops, in houses, or talking to one another around the village/city.
She walked in slowly, someone walking up to her with angry eyes. "What are you doing here? Did that smoke-breather out there let you in, or were you just that 'smart' to solve the stupid riddle?"
Offended, Cactus snorted, but calmly spoke. "Yes, that dragon out there let me in because I DID solve the riddle. By the way, have you seen Grim around? "
"Nah, but id wanna visit the healing pond. That mud doesn't come off unless you wash it with our water. Have fun." The SkullWing scoffed and turned around.

Hopefully all SkullWings aren't like that-

wait, IT WONT COME OFF?