Dawn at the Wild Rift (Book IV)

Chapter 14

"Is it okay to enter the Great Dragon's temple? Won't we get roasted if we enter?" Lylia asks as they walk up the long stairs.

The Great Dragon's temple is located at the mountain top just near Magical City. As it is considered sacred, no ordinary person is allowed to enter unless permitted by the Great Dragon himself.

"Zilong had informed the Great Dragon of our visit," Harley replies. Now that they are already midway before reaching the temple, he finally asks, "By the way, what is that bag you've brought? Give it to me, I'll hold it."

Lylia looks away and tries to hide the bag behind her. Stuttering, she replies, "N-No, it's fine. We should get going. We're almost there."

Since she rejected his offer, Harley simply shrugs his shoulders and goes on ahead. He is actually relieved to have her help in this situation but he kinds of feels sorry for her. He knows of her feelings towards him but he doesn't feel the same way. He couldn't reciprocate her feelings so he is a bit hesitant. He might give off the wrong impression and Lylia might think that he's leading her. Wouldn't it be better to clear things up before it gets out of control?

"But bringing that topic out of nowhere would make things awkward. It might ruin today's mission," Harley thinks. Thus, he decides to discuss that matter later when things are a bit better than before.

Reaching the top of the mountain while catching their breaths, Harley and Lylia are greeted with a huge wooden door carved with the image of the Great Dragon. They are about to knock but the doors creak open on their own as if it is some kind of a horror movie. However, Zilong comes up and leads them down to the archive room filled with scrolls from each side of the walls, even from bottom to top.

Strangely, there is even a hexagonal small pool of water right in the middle. And on the ceiling is a statue of two dragons made of jade, roaring at each other. Harley thinks that the two depict the Great Dragon and the Black Dragon that are, up until now, enemies.

"I'll be leaving the two of you here. If you need anything else, simply come upstairs," Zilong states before taking his leave.

Harley is about to run after him and ask about the scrolls they are to study but he and Lylia flinch when a hoarse voice echoes inside the room. They couldn't pinpoint where it is coming from since it sounds like it is all over the place.

"Here are the scrolls you needed," the voice states and as it speaks, a scroll emerges from the small pool, and the other two come from the dragons just above them. They float down until Harley could take ahold of them. "Gifted mages are truly praiseworthy. However, those who hold true will and wisdom also hold heavy sacrifices."

As the voice fades out, Harley couldn't get what the last statement actually meant. However, he simply buries it at the back of his mind since his top priority is to uncover the meaning of the texts. He also brings out the ancient books he brought from his household's library that might be of help in decoding the texts.

"Before we open the scrolls," Lylia suddenly states. She clasps her hands together and adds, "I apologize in advance if I won't be of any help."

Harley nods and replies, "Well, I am not that confident on this one so no need to apologize."

Back at Runeterra...

"What is this place?" Hanabi asks. They both manage to leave the tunnels and walk for hours. And this time, instead of a dense forest, what lies in front of them is a vast land of ruins.

"Beauty, I present ya the Wild Drift!" Jinx replies with her arms spread out. "It is supposed to be a week of travel to come here from Noxus but because of some distortion in space, we got to arrive earlier."