Guardian(Part IV): Revelation

Chapter 19: Zephyr

As far as everyone was concerned, I was the only human on Arcadis, so I was the one going into Water Rock and asking the people about their missing neighbors. Most of them were willing to talk to me, seeing that I was wearing Guardian colors, but the others looked out their windows and didn't even talk to me. I wouldn't force them too. Most of the residents didn't have any useful information for me, other than two dark-scaled draconians that were oddly short for their kind. They were probably children, and they sounded like children, but they were at least a foot taller than me.

"Hello," one of them greeted.

"Hi, there," I greeted. "I'm Zephyr."

"Lamersath?" the other sibling asked, pointing to the Guardian sigil on my leather shoulder pad. There must not have been a Draconic word for "Guardian", because what he just called me translated to "Bright Blade".

"Yes," I answered, and they both rushed out of their doorway.

"Our mother's missing!" one of them cried.

"Alright, alright," I said. "When did you last see her? What was she doing?" 

"Before she put us to bed last night," one of the kids answered.

"Is there anyone she knows that would have wanted to take her?" I questioned.

"No," the other child answered.

"Where would she have gone to be by herself?" I wondered.

"Just her bedroom," the same boy informed.

"Was she maybe acting differently before she went missing?" I asked.

"No," the child answered. "Will you find her?"

"I'll do absolutely everything I can," I promised. That was wishful thinking as much as it was a promise. If she was Shtriga's next victim, then she may have already been dead. If she was only taken last night, though, then there may have been a chance to save her. The only problem would be finding her. I went back to Daisy to tell her that there was another missing person.

"My gods!" she gasped.

"We need to find that necromancer's den, now," I urged.

"I know," Daisy agreed, then she waved her wand out in front of her and whispered, "Oura-maia."

"What's that?" I wondered.

"A dark magic detection spell," Daisy enlightened. "Follow me."

As Daisy led me outside of Water Rock and to the coast to its west, I wondered why she didn't cast this spell before, but there was probably a long and arduous ritual to attune her wand to what was hanging over Arcadis. I didn't question it. Eventually, I began to sense an aura of darkness, and it became stronger as we approached an arch that had stone gates under it in the side of the cliff.

"What's this?" I wondered.

"I'm not sure," said Daisy. "It's ancient, that's for sure. Draconian? Epsilon? No, their structures are made from mithril."

"Duaren?" I suggested.

"No, they also have their own metal," Daisy corrected. "Maybe it's just human."

"Maybe," I agreed. "Come on."

I formed my aura blade and pushed the door open, allowing both of us inside. We couldn't see a thing in front of us. It was pitch black.

"Fo-fierno," said Daisy. A bright flame ignited from the top of her wand, then it split in half before both halves went above our heads, hovering just over our hair. Now, we could clearly see that we were in what must have been an excavation site. The walls were made from ancient stone bricks, which also made up the path below our feet, but the wooden planks supporting the tunnel were put here just recently. I wondered whether it was the necromancers led by Shtriga or some of the people on this island that began this excavation in the first place, but I couldn't think about it right now. We had to find the draconian mother.