The Elemental Chain Saga: Dragon Flame

Chapter Eight: Elemental Stances

The next morning, Max got up early with anticipation of what was in store today. He rushed to pull on his clothes, yanking the cotton shirt over his head before slipping into his pants, tripping as he did so he was in such a joyous frenzy of motion.

He left his room in a hurry and quickly fed Bagel before pulling on his cloak and exiting his house.

Outside, the sun shone, gleaming over the already crowded streets. Max grinned widely as he traversed the busy streets and made his way to the park. In the morning light, the park seemed cheery and pleasant. The sun filtered through the trees and birds dappled their many high branches, gracing the city with their gracious presence. Max sat down on the same bench he had last night and waited for Greg's arrival, his hands tapping on his knees in wait.

Almost as soon as he sat, he heard a dull thud behind him and turned to see Greg's lanky figure standing behind him.

"What took you so long?" Greg asked with a cheeky smile, eyes twinkling with delight.

Max grinned back "I left as soon as I could."

Greg stretched and beckoned Max to stand "Well, lets get going"

With that said, Max and Greg set out. The journey took over an hour, Max almost running to keep up with Greg's long strides. Max really hated not being tall; he tended to avoid calling himself outright short. The boys talked about the Andanobii and Greg explained their first rise to power.

"They started off small, as all organizations do. They then gained power by enlisting help from foreigners looking to conquer kingdoms. They started by attacking small kingdoms and sharing the land with them. Eventually, the Andanobians attacked bigger kingdoms with the forces they now had from conquering. With this force, they went and took over the land of their mercenary allies. Even though they had a much smaller force, their magical powers allowed them to succeed in trouncing over them. With this now huge country, Andanobia, they began their biggest war siege. They went after Alerdreamia. After a war spanning two years, we prevailed. The country Andanobia had used up a large amount of their resources so Alerdreamia was able to take a large portion of their land for their own, lining our war coffers as they went. Andanobia is now about a third of the size it was before the war with Alerdreamia. That is their story," Greg finished.

"So they even turned on their allies, wow," Max said in awe. It seemed that the Andanobians didn't even care for those on their side. The sadistic brutes, Max steamed.

"Yeah, they had no regard for anything but power. That's why they must be stopped. Their not simply a country going to war, their murdering scoundrels cut of the worst cloth" Greg talked with disgust evident in his voice. Max found himself also hating the Andanobii; they had personally sent water skeletons after him, for what, he had no clue.

The duo walked on in silence for a few more minutes before reaching a sheer wall of stone in a woods. The gnarled wood of the trees was an eerie sight. Max was used to the slim trees that the fringe of the woods offered, not these weird ones that dwelled far in the center of this ancient hollow.

"Why did we stop?" Max asked, giving Greg a questioning look.

"This is the place."

"A wall of stone in the middle of Lilac woods?"

Greg nodded as he traced his hand over the smooth gray stone, letting his hand slide down the surface. He stopped as his hand brushed a curious symbol on the cliffside, circling the indentation with his finger. It was a greek delta symbol with intricate runes inside of it.

Greg turned to face Max as he removed his hand from its surface "All you have to do is touch it and say 'Aperi'. Go ahead and try. Your aura will do most of the work with this."