Aveyond: Rhen's Quest

Chapter 24: Invasion

Meanwhile, under Elini's guidance, Rhen and Dameon were exploring in a cavern. They stopped in front of a pond. The water gleamed brightly like thousands of crystals were underneath the pond as the sun ray shone from above and beside the pond stood a dragon drinking the pond water. It turned its head towards them when it sensed their presence.

Without hesitation, Dameon stood in front of Rhen in a defensive stance, "Stay back, Rhen! That dragon looks dangerous!"

The dragon regarded Dameon as a clown and carried on with its drink. Rhen, ignored his frivolous action, said: "What type of dragon do you suppose it is? I've never seen anything like it before!"

"This is a Tehyor dragon," answered Elini. "Dragon riders use them to travel across great oceans and mountains."

"Wow! I don't know such creatures existed!" Dameon was amazed. "How do we capture it?"

"Ha! You're funny, northerner! You would need a dragon briddle to capture the creature," she chuckled. "But even if you were to catch the beast, you couldn't ride it. Only a trained dragon rider could control the creature."

"A well-trained dragon rider huh..." Rhen mused.

~~~

Lars' eyes flickered, and then opened. He sat up and looked around. He sighed in relief when he knew he was back to the arcane shop in a whole. The alchemist entered the room and placed a tray of food beside the bed.

"Ah, just in time. Best to eat them all while it's hot," Lars was too hungry to ask, so he nodded and took the food from the tray.

"Well, done. You passed the test with ace, and I must impressed," the alchemist grinned. "It's been a while since someone can beat the morphling. It seems that I've underestimated you after all.

"Here's your new cloak and here..." he placed a book onto Lars' hands, "It's your spell book. Flip through it whenever you're free. You might learn some skills to strengthen your current skills to a whole new level. I hope you find it useful."

Lars flipped some pages and stopped at the "Wind" section. I can combine my Wind Whip Spell and my Tornado Spell to conjure Cyclone, nice, thought Lars. "Now this is interesting..."

The alchemist would love to see him perform some tricks when he realized something, "Well, I'm sorry to interrupt your reading pleasure but, don't you have work to do? I have customers to serve and I'm sure you can find your way out. Now if you excuse me..." he left the room and walked back to the counter.

~~~

Back to Lithir's residence...

"Where were you all day long?!" Rhen put her hands onto her hips. "Elini had us a quick tour around the town, and yet you're nowhere to be seen."

"Oh... Err, well. Here's what happened..." Lars showed them his cloak, his new-retrieved spell book and fed him with the journey that he had so far.

"Congratulation, sorcerer," praised Elini. "Or I should call you Elite Mage by now."

They called for a day and had dinner - Rhen did even complimented the guys for the delicious food - and spent a night in Elini's house. On the day tomorrow, they agreed to have a look on Stronghold Temple.

The condition in Stronghold was no better than the one in Moon Temple. Sign of fierce battle could be seen. While snooping the scene, they heard footsteps coming outside the temple. They turned around and looked at the familiar people standing at the entrance.

"How did you guys reached here?" asked Rhen in shock. She couldn't imagine how they managed to cross the great oceans.

"Oh, you wouldn't want to know that, pumpkin," said Te'ijal. "A strong demonic scent led me here and I do not expect seeing you guys wandering here."