Wings of Fire: Cave of The Lost

Chapter 10

The palace was underwater. He stared at the queen as she spoke, hating that word much more when she told him where the palace was. He made a small noise, almost like he was being choked by a strong dragon. This gave him a few looks of confusion by the queen, Wave, and other villagers nearby.

"Hey Slick, you okay?" The grey dragon by the name of Wave asked with slight concern. His response seemed stuck in his throat, letting out the strangled noise again.

Oh, three moons, why am I such an idiot? He thought to himself as he made the weird noise, blushing a bit in embarrassment. Finally, he got the words to come to him to speak.

"Uh... How exactly am I supposed to get there if I can't breathe underwater...?" He asked the queen with a slight tilt of his red head. The queen grinned, pulling out a necklace with a shell. The shell was a whitish pink color, almost impossibly smooth. She held it out to Slick, the red dragon grabbed the shell necklace hesitantly when it was offered to him.

"This necklace will help you breathe and swim underwater like a fish." Queen Seagull explained to him. Slick looked at the shell, confused on how that worked or was even possible. A thought flickered into his head as he realized something.

"Was this made by an animus...?" He asked, looking at the queen curiously but a bit scared. He's heard the stories of animus dragons loosing their souls and going crazy. Maybe while he was here, he could stop the animus dragons here from enchanting things. He received a questioning look from the queen an a few others.

"An animus...? Three moons, what's that?" The queen asked, Slick wondering if she was joking. But he then realized that she was being serious.

"Well, they are dragons with this power to enchant anything to their will and the more they use that power, the more their soul goes away.." He explained, slipping the necklace over his head and horns, letting it fall down his long neck. The queen stood there for a few minutes and then suddenly spoke, startling Slick.

"OH, I know what you're talking about now. Yeah, we don't call them Animi here! Let's see... What do we call them again..?" The Queen went back into thought, Wave then leaning over to Slick to whisper into his ear.

"They're called Spellbinders here. Well, sometimes. Not as common anymore." Wave muttered a response while the Queen rambled to herself on what the dragons were called. Eventually the Queen drew a blank, shrugging and turning towards the sea.

"Eh, I can't remember right now. Someone's bound to tell you if you just ask." The queen responded, walking towards the splashing waters with her guards following.

Slick followed the queen, Wave following the party like a stray duckling. Slick looked over his shoulder at Wave, a bit nervous to go underwater. A thousand thoughts spun around his mind, making his stomach feel like it was twisting up.

What if the enchantment doesn't work? What if I drown and nobody can save me in time? What if a sea creature tries to eat me? He thought frantically, almost about to call off going to the palace when he realize he was already underwater.

He wasn't drowning yet. That was good. So the enchantment was working after all. He realized that he was dawdling behind the queen and his acquaintance, which was Wave. To catch up, he used his big wings that were made for flying fast to stop him from dawdling behind.

After quite a few minutes or so, his muscles became tired, finding it harder to swim with his party. Wave happened to notice that Slick was slowing down, assuming he was getting tired. Wave motioned for Slick to grab her tail so she could pull him and give him a break on his muscles.

Slick obediently grabbed on her tail, relieved that she was helping him. Soon, a palace carved within an underwater cliff came into view. There were dragons swimming in and out of the palace, going to different rooms. The queen led them to the gates, the two big doors slowly opening to reveal a room with another set of doors. This confused Slick. Why would there be a room with anther set of doors?

As he swam into the room, which wasn't that big. It could hold several dragons, though. The front doors closed behind them, as soon as they closed, the water in the room started to drain out. Slick was so confused yet surprised. He hadn't expected that to happen. It was probably made by one of their Spellbinders they mentioned. It had to be.

When the water was completely drained, the doors in front of them opened, revealing a busy foyer without water. He looked around the foyer with awe, there being decorations and tapestries donned like prizes. As he gaped over the palace, he followed the queen to the library that she had mentioned. It wasn't very long until they stopped at a door, the queen pushing it open to reveal a room filled with scrolls piled into shelves.

"Here we are. The royal library. Read what you need." The queen turned to look at Slick with a small smile before frowning a bit when a servant came up to her with news.

"Ah, please excuse me. I have some duties to attend to. When you're done with the research, meet me in the throne room. Wave or one of the servants can led you there." The queen then walked away, following the servant that had spoken to her.

Slick stepped into the library, his eyes wandering around the impressive collection of scrolls. Well, now that he was here, where would he start?

• • •

Hello everyone, Lost here. Thanks for being patient. I've been busy with life to get this chapter out. I'll try my best to get some out sooner! I'm here to ask for a request. I would really appreciate it if you guys could stop commenting with "update!" or things like that. I know you guys are looking forwards to a new chapter, but it doesn't help when everyone is commenting the same thing over and over again. It's basically spam. Another request is that I would like for you guys to ask before you make a dragon from my fan tribes. I want to keep track of them. I'm hoping to get some offical lineart of them so you guys can make refs and can see what they look like! Alright, that's all I have to say! Thanks again for being patient with me!