We stood at the base of Mount Vesuvius. The mountainous volcano yawned before us, I scratched the back of my head nervously.
"Something tells me this is going to be a lot harder then we thought it would be." I muttered scratching the back of my head.
"Where do we even start?" Theo muttered, only half to himself. I glanced at him and shrugged before glancing at Dylas questioningly.
"We could always hike up the side I guess?" It was more of a question then a statement. I shrugged again, it was worth a try.
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About ten minutes later we were climbing the narrow trail that led the way up the steep summit. The thin volcanic sand crunched loudly beneath my feet with each step. I paused to look out at the view. It was breathtakingly beautiful.
"Wow." Breathed in awe as I gazed down the steeply slooping hill.
"Amazing isn't it?" Dylas asked, sneaking up behind me and wrapping his arms around me. I leaned into his arms and gazed up at him smiling softly.
"It's beautiful."
"Yes you are." Dylas murmured gazing down at me with an idiotic grin. I slapped him lightly on the arm and wiggled out of his grip, giving him a look. "What? You are." He grinned wider staring at me eyes gleaming.
"Ew straight people." Cameron scoffed from where the rest of our group had stopped a few feet up the trail.
"Really though." Dan nodded in agreement, mischief dancing in his eyes. I rolled my eyes but laughed anyway. "I'd tell you you're swinging for the wrong team Iris but alas, men." Dan shrugged and turned away. "What can i say, I love them." He threw over his shoulder as he started back up the trail.
"Do you really think the phoenix's will be here." Sasha muttered from behind me. "I mean think about it. We are treking up the side of a volcano that's covered in tourists in broad daylight. Not to mention Vesuvius hasn't erupted since 1944. That old woman's friend probably saw the phoenix sometime around then, what if they only come out around eruption time and spend any other times hibernating in the volcano or something." I glanced at her and thought for a moment. She had a point, I mean we weren't all that knowledgeable on phoenix's. They were rare, so rare that we didn't even know fact from fiction. I was about to reply when a loud voice shouted from behind us.
"HEEEEY!!" I turned around to see who was calling out and my mouth nearly hit the floor from shock. It was those conspiracy theorists we'd met a couple of days ago. How in the name of god did they manage to end up in Naples too?
"Remember us?" The man said catching up to us. "It's us Brian and Charlotte. We spoke to you a few days ago about werewolves, you guys were doing a school project on phoenix's and asked us if we knew anything remember?"
"Yes of course, how odd that we'd meet again here of all places." I flased a grin. Trying to hide my nervousness. They could cause a problem if they were here for the same reasons as us.
"So what brings you to Naples?" Theo asked casually.
"Well," Charlotte began. "Basically, you guys inspired us to do some research into phoenix's in Italy as well and it led us here to Vesuvius. We found out there have been quite a few sightings of giant birds that burn like the sun here over the years and we figured it was worth a shot. Is that why you guys are here?"
"Yes." I nodded slightly, trying to be friendly and give nothing away at the same time. Brain and Charlotte exchanged a glance and then looked back at us. It was more then enough to make my skin crawl in nervousness.
"You don't have to lie to us." Brian folded his arms and stared at us with a hard look on his face. I hesitated but before I could say anything Brian spoke up again. "We can tell you guys are like us. You know all these supernatural creatures are real don't you? You don't have to hide with us don't worry, we understand feeling the need to hide it because people call us crazy but we know you aren't." Brian smiled widely at us. I exchanged a glance with Dylas, he raised his eyebrows at me and gave the slightest nod.
"You're totally right, we are like you guys. " I smiled at Brian and Charlotte and they grinned back.
"This is awesome!" Charlotte exclaimed excitedly. "seeing young people like you guys taking an interest in the real truths of our world. What brought you guys into the light anyway?"
"Well you see, my father always believed in the supernatural and he used to tell us all stories about them and his encounters. He spent his whole life trying to prove their existence and we wanted to carry on his legacy." Theo piped up. Brian and Charlotte nodded in agreement. Clearly taking the half-assed story as the truth.
"Well then let's work together on this, we can hike the rest of the way together, if there are more of us it'll be easier to cover ground." Brian suggested. Dylas glanced at me then nodded at them in agreement. We'd have to play along if we were going to keep this façade up.
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We reached the summit about 20 minutes later. I stood on the edge of the volcanos mouth and stared into it. The cliff dropped a few metres to and then tapered off into volcanic sand that covered the entire inside of the volcano that sloped into the middle.
"There's no lava." Cam muttered dejectedly as he came up beside me.
"It's an explosive volcano, the pressure inside it builds up until if blows, it doesn't have flowing lava you can just see by looking into it." I explained. Cameron snorted and stomped off muttering.
"Like hell we are going to find anything up here. Sasha was right it's broad daylight and this is nothing but a sandy pit. This is a waste of our time which I remind you we don't have a lot of." Cameron spat. Kicking the volcanic rocks underneath his feet as he walked away. Dan shook his head and went after him. Dylas sighed and shook his head, glancing quickly over towards Theo and Amber who were keeping Brian and Charlotte occupied. Theo glanced over towards us and I knew he'd heard Cameron but it didn't look like Brian and Charlotte had heard.
"He's right." I said looking at Dylas. "This is a waste of time. We won't find them here and if we do it won't be right now."
"I know." Dylas sighed running his hands through his hair. "My dad called me earlier. Scarlet has the wyverns on her side. And there's been rumours that she's attempting to convert the roc too." I swallowed hard. Wyverns, cousins of the dragons but with two legs instead of four. Smaller in size but powerful none the less. A strong ally. Even if we got the dragons on our side they couldn't shape shift to their true form unless it was an eclipse. Wyverns didn't have that problem. The roc were an entirely different story. Giant birds of prey from arabian legend whose size rivaled the thunderbird. I hadn't even known they were real, in mythology it was usually only one who had appeared anyway and now Dylas was telling me there were more?
"I didn't realize the roc even existed, and there's more then one?" I asked quietly. Dylas nodded grimly.
"We need the phoenix's on our side. If Scarlet gets the roc along with the wyverns..." he trailed off. I knew what he was thinking though. We didn't stand a chance. The thunderbirds were powerful but few. They could take on the wyverns but not both. At least not on their own.
"Have you told the others?" I asked calmly. Dylas shook his head.
"No. Only you, always you first." Dylas whispered. I sighed heavily and rubbed my hand down my face. Dylas took a step forward and opened his mouth as if he was going to say something else but closed it again.
"What's our next move?" I asked. He blinked as if clearing some fog from his head.
"I vote we climb back down the mountain and hide out for the rest of time day. Maybe in the woods around Vesuvius. Get some rest and sneak back up here after dark." Dylas suggested. I nodded in agreement. It seemed like our best course of action.
"I'll go tell the others, we'll fill in Theo and Amber after they leave." I gestured towards Charlotte and Brian, and then headed off to find the others.
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Dylas POV:
I stated silently at the massive white head that lay on the ground next to me. We'd all shifted inorder to take a nap and be more comfortable. Amber and Theo were curled up together a few feet away, Dan had stretched out against a tree and Cam had decided to curl up in his mane. Sasha and Nate slept in the shade of a rock, Sasha resting her head on Nates back. Me and Iris had curled up together too but I couldn't sleep. I watched Iris sleeping beside me, her quiet growls and twitching ears gave away the nightmares she was having. I rested my head on my paws and snorted softly.
I'd seen the way she'd reacted to my news. My gut had twisted at the sight. The way her expression had shifted ever so slightly, the stress and worry barely visible. Except to me. I could see it from a mile and my heart ached to find some way to give her the comfort she needed. It hurt worse to know I couldn't give it to her. I sighed and sat up. Quietly not to wake her. I glanced up at the sky. It was dark we needed to get going soon.
Suddenly something black flashed across the sky, blocking out the stars. I squinted and barked in warning as I saw the shape swoop closet and closer. I barked again causing everyone to jump to their paws. The black shaped swooped closer and closer. A bright orange light flashed across my vision blinding me for a second. When I opened my eyes again I nearly fell over in shock as I took in the giant flaming bird that stood before us.
~~~~~~~~
So um... it's been like months I realize and I truly am sorry but the writers block and dealing with uni has just been way to much I haven't been able to write lately. So yeah here you go.
- Polar