Dracopical Isles: Rise of the Underground

Chapter 9

The darkness of his new room keeps Slim's eyes closed, even through the morning. Whether it be light out or not, he can barely tell, if not at all. His only means of identifying the time is through the crack beneath the door - but even that isn't 100% accurate. As far as Slim knows, Emeraldus could've just lit the main room outside. 
Slim is finally awoken by the creaking of door hinges as Emeraldus tosses in his breakfast - a pair of wild ducks with ruffled, singed feathers land in front of the wounded Alchemy in a puff of dust and down. Without a word, Emeraldus closes the door again to let Slim eat in peace. 
Sniffing his way over to one of the water foul, Slim grabs one by the wing to bring it back over to his bed. Plucking out feathers to expose the pale, prickly skin beneath, he feels his stomach churn - eager to delight in some fresh bird meat. The flesh is still warm and rich in flavor upon the first couple of bites - it easily satisfies Slim's appetite. 
With a full belly, Slim now busies himself with chewing on some of the cleaned duck skeletons. He is fairly content with one of the wing bones, eventually cracking it open to expose some nutritious marrow.

Now Emeraldus, on the other hand, has his pre-planned visit scheduled for the ruined remains of the former bar and grill.
The streets around the site are rather vacant upon arrival as nearly every valuable trinket and scrap left behind at the ruined site has already been claimed. There is no more urgent reason for the humans to come back. Although the occasional pedestrian walks on by, it isn't too hard for Emeraldus to avoid being noticed. As soon as the coast is clear, the big male dragon prowls into the site, his intentions set firmly on finding that cellar door from before. He acts quickly, ears on high alert for any sounds of more humans coming this way. Emeraldus' memory doesn't fail and he manages to find the door in just the matter of a minute. Digging through the mud and ash, he tries to uncover it and find the handle to open it. He just manages to find the shimmering sparkle of metal buried beneath the debris when he hears the clopping of hoofbeats. Lifting his head, a horse-drawn carriage casually strolls closer from the street ahead. In a heartbeat, Emeraldus abandons the door to hide behind another nearby building.
Just as casual as it had come, the carriage continues down the street and out of sight without noticing a thing. Quickly, Emeraldus goes right back to his work on the cellar door afterwards. A couple more minutes following, and finally he can open it on squeaky hinges. Sprinkles of dirt and debris fall onto the descending stairway below as the cellar entrance is exposed to sunlight. Peeking his head in, Emeraldus can only fit in up to his wings - the threshold is just too small to fit his entire width through. The stairs creak beneath his weight as he sets his forelegs inside to try to get a good look at what could be set within this cellar. He cranes his neck as far as it can stretch while his eyes adjust to the darkness. The air is cool and somewhat dusty. Tiny beams of light bleed through the fragil board layers above dotting the floor with speckles of white. 
With his dragon eyes, Emeraldus' sight adjusts quickly and he is able to see with what little light is available.
The room is rather spacy and lined with shelves. Books and human tools are set neatly within the shelves, as well as the occasional animal skull and jar to decorate. Stools and tables, a few tilted over from the urgency of the attack, are set within corners and segments of space. Jars and pottery lie cracked open in several pieces on the floor amongst many. 
A cauldron for making brews and potions rests in its own corner with the surrounding shelves stocked with ingredients and viles. What catches Emeraldus' interests, however, is a desk set just on the other side of the room ahead from the stairway. It is not that different from the one Emeraldus has at home, and it is such details that grab his attention - it is a wizard's desk. They are used by many who practice the art of magic for their surface space and several drawers for holding important papers and tools. Not only that, but they often offer a shelf or two for storing spell books of interest, and it is these books that Emeraldus wants. There are only two leaning against the sides of the shelf, but that doesn't mean they can't have information Emeraldus might need. Unfortunately for him, however, he is too big to fit down there and trying to break the floor above might destroy too much of the room, as well as make too much noise. No, he must think of a way to get them without leaving much behind for the humans to be suspicious of. 
As much as Emeraldus hates to accept it, there isn't anything he can do right now. He will just have to come back later.
Closing the cellar door and reburying it in the ash and mud to hide any hints of him being there, Emeraldus then realizes one thing he probably can do. 
Midna's cold and decaying body still remains in what used to be the back alley storage. The humans probably thought that the supplies were too burnt and ruined to be used so they just left everything there to rot away along with the remaining scraps of the building. Or they left them to be disposed of later when the construction crew decides to clean up the site for some other building or two. Either way, Midna's body is still available for the taking. Emeraldus will need her body if he plans to resurrect her soul. Her scaly flesh is beginning to wither away, revealing the indents of bones. The smell of decay is strong now and her body is as stiff as a board from being dried out of moisture. She isn't much to carry back to the tower, and her weight (taken off from rot) doesn't slow Emeraldus down by much at all. 

As soon as her carcass is dragged back into the tower, Emeraldus mixes up a quick spell to try to preserve his former mate. Icy magic envelopes the dead frame and freezes all process of decay for the time being, as well as stopping the smell from filling the room. Emeraldus carefully sets her body in a safe corner and covers it with a rug. 
Afterwards, he immediately delves into thought on how to get those books from the cellar. Scanning each of his own spell books, he busies himself with potential ideas. Two that offer a possibility are a telekinesis spell and a shrinking potion. He would have three if he hadn't thrown that one book into the fireplace. A spell for teleportation had been written in that one.
Now the only thing left is to check and make sure he has all the ingredients necessary to do at least one of them. 
Scouting the shelves, he finds himself to be just one bottle short of creating the telekinesis spell. As a result, the shrinking potion will have to do. 
Collecting the ingredients into his cloth bundle, Emeraldus is just taking the last bottle of substance he needs when the sudden knock on a door startles him. The bottle slips free from his grasp and falls to the floor, breaking into a million glass shards and splattering pink goop at his feet. Cursing under his breath, he turns a growl over his shoulder. 
"Hey Boss..?" Slim's voice calls out from the small room, followed by a few more knocks. "Could'ya maybe uh.. open the door a sec..?"
Heaving a frustrated sigh, Emeraldus complies. Opening the door, he finds Slim standing there just on the other side in all of his bandaging. 
"What is it?" Emeraldus grumbles.
Slim looks down, shuffling his forelegs. "I uh, do not mean to interrupt but um.. I kinda have to go out.." Looking at his body language, accompanied by a wide, forced grin, it is apparent that Slim is kinda embarrassed to have to ask this. 
After another sigh, Emeraldus lets Slim out of his room to escort him outside. 
"Alright, be quick." Emeraldus says watching the Alchemy limp away into the woods.
Sitting down to wait, Emeraldus growls again at the thought of that bottle breaking. Looks like he can't do either of those tricks now, and will have to spend more time trying to collect more ingredients. At the very least, he has Midna's body safe and preserved. 
Luckily Slim doesn't take too long and returns just a few minutes later to be brought back inside. 
"Oh and Boss..?" Slim adds just before settling back down onto his bedding. "I'm done with these." Nudges the duck bones from his meal earlier towards Emeraldus.
Emeraldus says nothing, but cleans up the scraps as well. 
Now with the Alchemy taken care of, the green Sorcerant returns to his shelves, hoping to have kept a few spare ingredients somewhere. He finds none, much to his dismay. Cursing again out of sheer disappointment, Emeraldus makes himself a quick list of what to gather next time he goes out. With any luck, hopefully the humans leave the former bar and grill alone for just a bit longer. Given how much time has been added to his wait before he can go back to retrieve the books, it comes as a concern to Emeraldus. Though with his eyes set firmly on a new goal, Emeraldus now has something to keep himself busy. 
"Soon Midna," He says to himself. "Soon Midna, I will bring you back."