Wild Kratts: Here Be Dragons (Wild Kratts X Monster Hunter)

Chapter 25: Schrade's Ruins

"Are you truly sure of your wish to come to Schrade?" asked Fatalis.

"Yes, we're sure," Martin replied. They'd been asking Fatalis about Schrade and the Great Dragon War ever since they'd heard of it. The old dragon had gladly indulged them, answering every single one. Asking to show them the ruins, however, gave him pause.

Fatalis sighed. "Very well then."

Martin and the rest of the gang climbed onto his head, holding on tightly to one of his horns.

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"Is that Schrade?" Martin pointed to a ruin in the distance. It was little more than a speck, but hanging above it were clouds colored blue and black.

"Yes," said the dragon.

"Then why are the clouds like that?" asked Jimmy, his voice shaking.

Fatalis sighed. "I'll explain when we get there."

He landed within the walls of the once great city. They dismounted and turned on their flashlights. The clouds were so dark that even though it was midday, it felt like midnight.

They explored the ruin of the city, Fatalis explaining the city's history. Its first king, Safavi, was a close friend of Cyrus and they helped to establish each other's kingdoms. Despite the history of the Ancient Civilization stretching over 90,000 years, there were only about 100 kings. Martin did the math in his head and estimated that each king reigned for around 900 years, give or take a up to a century. According to Fatalis, they lived for so long due to a combination of a healthy lifestyle, medical technology, and the fact that people during that time naturally lived longer. An average person could live to be 200 to 300 years old. Most nobles lived anywhere from 400 to 600 years. The oldest king was Methuselah, who lived to be 969 years old.

"The last king was Usostuko," said Fatalis. "He had a bit of a rivalry with me, and he was a Rider."

"A Rider?" Aviva was furiously writing down everything the dragon said.

"A Rider is a person with a very special bond to a monster. A Rider and their partner are closer than friends, closer than lovers, some say. They are bound by their very souls, and their bond is officially recognized when the Rider receives a Kinship Stone. The Kinship Stone cements the link between monster and Rider. He ordered the Kinship ores to be relocated, under the guise of trying to protect them, then destroyed them, to ensure no new Riders could rise to challenge him. Now, Usostuko's partner was an elder dragon, a steel dragon, like Kushala Daora. He is infamous for unlawfully killing monsters with no consequences. The laws that protected monsters are well-known for being rarely enforced in the later years of the empire. I suspect that he may have been responsible for the demise of both the last king and his heir, as he was the nephew of Safavi VI and would not get the throne. He is a cunning individual."

"So he started kidnapping monsters, made a flesh-golem-dragon-thing, all that jazz, right?" Martin looked towards a tall building in the center of Schrade that looked like a fortress.

Fatalis nodded. "He also turned his own dragon, whom he already treated like something he scraped off the bottom of his shoe, into a half-mechanical abomination."

"So what happened after you destroyed the city? And how did it get like this?" Chris looked around suddenly noticing that, apart from themselves and Fatalis, there was no life here. He couldn't even see moss on the rocks.

Fatalis looked up to the sky and stared into the dark eye that was the eclipse. "I afflicted this place with the curse of death and decay. I cursed it so that no living thing will ever live within its boundaries, not even the tiny creatures that live within moss and algae, too small to be seen even by a dragon."

"Except you."

"Yes, except myself. I dwell with the Silver Palace," he pointed a claw at the large fortress in the middle of Schrade, "so that I may not forget what I have done. This is my punishment for killing so many innocents on that day. This is my lot."