United Dragons

by Calista Lambrechts

  As I was satisfied, I stepped back.

  I frowned, almost disappointed, as my eyes swept over the lighthouse. There was no use trying to get in. The door was boarded up firmly.

  Large boulders that had once collapsed long ago now piled up in a mound and blocked the doorway. I was no psychic, but I knew I had a pretty good idea how heavy they would be once I did try, much too heavy for me to lift alone.

  I thought about how easy it would’ve been if I could use my elemental magic, but I remembered the tablet strictly speaking of no enchanted help. Meaning that if I were to use my magic, I could forget about finding Marinius.

  I so dearly wished that I could introduce my fist to those who decided that this must be a test of courage and most probably strength and somewhat fitness.

  Luckily, I was not as idiotic as I may have appeared. To see if this wouldn’t be all for naught, I had taken a little swim earlier, checking to see if there wasn’t already an open passageway standing ready to mock me. Alas I found nothing and this ‘prophecy’ was proven true.

  Fortunately for me the lighthouse tower was firmly built and remained standing over a series of decades, probably ages and ages. Wooden ramps were built around its surface and poles jutted from the sides. No doubt someone tried to add construction, trying to upgrade this old architecture, but it clearly never worked out and ended up abandoned.

  Some wooden planks that looked like stairs led to an open window or two where I could easily enter by hopping in, but others led to a mocking dead-end. Parts of the lighthouse were in complete ruin, leaving empty openings (holes) filled with no more than the warm and loving rays of the coastal sunlight.

  I could only think of one possible thing to do to get where I wanted to be. I took a deep breath, gave myself a good stretch and took one last glance as the tower.

  Instantly, I dashed forward and kicked myself upwards, grabbing the ledge of one of the several wooden planks. I pulled myself up and stood, looking out at the obstacles that lay ahead. To climb this towering lighthouse, one had to muster all of one’s courage and put the fear of heights aside… and the possibility that if I slip I might fall to my death… just maybe…

  I ran up the spiralling ramp and jumped over a gap, successfully grabbing the edge of the remaining stone staircase. I ran upwards and noticed an open window beyond these stairs. I was careful not to lose my balance as I reached over the gap to place my foot on the windowsill. The moment the windowsill felt my full weight, it started to crumble. I quickly leapt inside and watched as it broke and fell to the ground, smashing on the boulders below.

  The inside was nothing more than a dark dusty old room with old wooden mechanisms and contraptions gathering dust and housing spider webs. I noticed various wooden ropes tied to wooden beams.

  I grabbed a piece of rope dangling from the ceiling and rapidly climbed it until I could finally set foot on one of the high beams. I stood and balanced myself with both arms spread to keep equal weight on either side. From thereon I carefully treaded forward, down the narrow beams until finally reaching the top window.

  Painstakingly I climbed onto the stone windowsill and looked down. The height was getting frightful and the ocean seemed to grow larger as I shrunk in comparison.

  I took a deep breath to calm my nerves and scanned the area for anything useful. I then noticed that in order to get even higher, I had to use whatever footholds and loose stones I could find since there wasn’t much construction from here on out.

  I looked up and balanced myself on the edge. I turned to my right and grabbed one of the loose stones jutting from the wall before I could place my foot on another. One by one I climbed upwards, my grip as tight and firm as could be as I hugged the wall the closest I could until finally reaching a metal pole.

  I looked down, soon to discover it to be a tremendous mistake. The height was dire. I had to admit that the wind got stronger with the increasing altitude. It swept through my hair, my face constantly brushed by strands of hair flying aimlessly about.

  Not pleasant!

  I gave myself a boost as I jumped upwards, grabbing the pole.

  A rope hung next to me. It was tied to a pulley above. I swung to and fro until gaining the maximum power to leap and grab it. Luck was on my side as I grabbed hold of it. I climbed it and so it went on with the jumping and the climbing and the battle to keep my grip alongside gravity teasing me all the more. I nearly cursed it, but nevertheless I managed to keep at it and prosper.

  Frequently I had to jump through a window and escape through the other end only to regain the quest of height and climbing higher and higher. I used the meaningless gaps left in the lighthouse, created by age, as quick resting places to catch my breath at right before getting on with it once again.

  I was beginning to pass the clouds and time ran out faster than I could ever have imagined, but I do suppose it was rather fair. Climbing this high really took great effort, body muscle and probably an hour or so of my life. Having experienced this whole exertion, I decided to ignore ancient stone tablets from now on.

  Honestly!

  The task was hard, but there was nothing a Thorel couldn’t do. Nothing a Thorel couldn’t handle. Except demons, dark spirits, evil wizards and… Okay, there’s nothing a Matthews couldn’t do. Nothing a Matthews couldn’t handle. Literally. Talking about my dad’s side of the family here… Nicolas Herman Matthews.

  Note to self: find something else to hit granddad with to snap him out of his crazy vagabond state.

  I was starting to long for magic, but I still remembered the guy who decided that this whole process required a sacrifice. They call it a sacrifice for the intention of good. I call it a sacrifice of my time.

  I needed to rely on my skills and hope I’d live to see the ballroom of Castle what’s-it’s-name over in Krea tonight. What? Terrowin was the geography, history and language genius person thing. Not me.

  Anyways, once or twice I did manage to almost fall by grabbing a loose stone or losing my balance, but I would land on a wooden platform or grab a passing pole. I nearly had a near-death experience and if there’s one thing I knew: I was not up for that again. I’d probably end up searching for myself again… long story. Not to offend Tarauntis or anything, but the Realm of the Void was the last place I’d like to visit right about now. He really needs to lighten that place up a bit!

  Time was running out and I still had a lot to do and a lot of overgrown lizards to see. Not to mention the royal ball tonight. Why did I let Terrowin drag me into this? I wish ‘the royal ball’ were a person so that I could spit in their face, push them into a volcano and eat popcorn whilst I watch them burn… You might have noticed that these sorts of things weren’t really for me.

  As the sun set at dusk, I reached the highest top of the lighthouse at last. With one more pull I lifted myself onto the flat stone platform. For a quick moment, I found myself lying on the surface, exhausted, but soon recovered. The lighthouse fire wasn’t yet lit. Come to think of it… who lights it up here in the first place? I mean, does the same person go through all this each day? There must be more to this than that, but I’ll leave the mystery for another day. I had better things to do than figure out the mysteries of some lighthouse that mysteriously lighted itself at night.

  I got to my feet and approached the wooden plank stretching over the surface of the lighthouse. Almost something like a diving plank. Huh, I guess they knew I was coming.

  I treaded onto the board and kept my balance. Thereafter I couldn’t help but take the moment to stare at the beautiful scenery that lied ahead of me. It was truly spectacular. Soft white clouds mostly covered the skies with a slight gleam of light orange and yellow to them. The sun in the far distance was calmly descending down into the horizon.

  The ocean down below looked rather calm, the light of the sun dancing off its ripples, but I had to keep in mind that I had to hurry up.

  I took a deep breath and felt as the refreshing wind blew against me with a slight tug
. I took the moment in, for it wasn’t every day you could stand atop a lighthouse and look out across the surrounding ocean.

  At first I hesitated, but soon accepted the fate that I might already be as good as dead. I just needed to take a leap of faith.

  I stepped back and pushed myself forward, ran across the board and jumped, diving off the tower’s peak and falling towards my possible watery grave.

  The dive had a rather long duration and left me waiting in anticipation for the touch of frigid water, but not long after did I plummet into the water and dived deeper and deeper into the ocean, leaving a trail of numerous small air bubbles behind as I kept on making for the bottom.

  At first the ocean was as cold as hell, but soon turned refreshing all the same. It actually cooled me down from my little ‘exercise’.

  Come to think of it, if I did use magic, where would the fun be?

  CHAPTER 24

  THE LOST CITY OF ALAN’S FIST

  CARLAYLIN

  I PUSHED DOWN DEEP into the ocean’s frigid waters. Too bad the density was increasing, but at least not too much. I stopped myself by giving a straight pose as though I was standing on a layer of water. It was like a whole new world down here.

  It was breath taking!

  I quickly scanned the area for any signs of hope that this wasn’t just all for nothing, but soon enough the earth trembled. It revealed a rock interface moving downwards as though there was a mechanism that had been triggered.

  As the rock slid downwards it exposed an underwater cave beyond it. I quickly swam forward in hope of finding air inside. I could only hold my breath for so long.

  I swam through the cave’s mouth and enhanced on as briefly as I could. As I swam forth, I felt the slight tug of an underwater currant helping me pick up the pace. On either sides of the large earthen cave of dark solid rock I noticed various species of aquatic plants attached to its rock. Numerous rays of light shone into the cave, giving the needed light.

  Even though it was a stunning scene, I’m afraid I was running out of air. I didn’t have much time left. The underwater cave led me all the way to a dead end, but I noticed it to only be the entrance to another chamber. I swiftly scanned the area until I noted a switch to be sticking out from the rock wall on my right.

  I swam closer and situated my feet firmly against the wall, grabbing the lever with both hands. I pulled it down with all my might until I finally felt slight movements. Little by little the lever broke loose from its coral and barnacle prison until it finally reached the bottom end of its track.

  The cave’s last interior slid downwards, releasing the water to the other side. I detected the water to be flowing over the edge like some sort of a waterfall. There must be air on the other side, without a doubt, but as soon as I knew it led to a long fall I panicked and tried to swim away, but the currant pulling me alongside was too strong and had a firm grasp on me.

  I tried to break loose, but was pulled to the other side before I knew it. Once in the air I started plummeting to the ground… well… luckily it formed a moat surrounding a large city down below.

  Nevertheless, I was plummeting.

  “No no no no!” I yelped as I fell to the waters below. There was no telling just how shallow it might have been. I fell uncontrollably with flailing arms and without a firm pose, meaning that when I hit the water it was stomach first.

  Oh, mama, it stings! I thought the soon as I hit the water. Shortly after, I surfaced head first and gasped for air. With wandering eyes my gaze swept across my surroundings. I wasn’t focused on anything beside the thought of reaching solid ground. With the pain still threatening me, I hesitantly swam forward.

  The soon as I reached the brim of a stone edge, I pulled myself up and ended up on my back, exhausted with the same stinging pain still on my stomach.

  “Ow,” I yelped with a squeaky voice. “Note to self: never pull random levers again.”

  Propitiously the pain was easy to forget. Leaving it to subside, I stood and looked at what lay ahead.

  It was an entire city of stone, many underwater elements and lights. I must’ve been gaping for more than ten minutes.

  Buildings were built of fine oceanic stones, rounded off to the last pointed, uneven edge, but some were clearly built with bricklike shapes and others with wood. It was an entire collection of sorts, but came together to blend as one miraculous scene. Sea plants such as corral, sea grass, barnacles, mangrove roots, red algae and probably all 1500 species of fungi decorated the streets and buildings – yes, I read… sometimes. They mostly grew against the buildings, within the alleyways and burst out of the road, which seemed to be made of cobblestone.

  A massive palace stood in the distance, tall and proud. It was mostly of white stone and had one gigantic dome covering the top of the main part in the middle; no doubt the highlight of my little accidental trip to this underwater city.

  I mean, honestly. It’s a city underwater…. above water… I really can’t explain.

  Old streetlamps stood on various areas, shining with blue light. Mostly because I presume that the glass lamps were filled with shining colonial jellyfish that gave enough light to light up any dark corner.

  The light created by these marine species bounced off on the various aquatic plants and created numerous colours shining from the plants. From red to orange and blue to green and even purple!

  The people here couldn’t actually be classified as human, though. Sure, they had the forms and postures of any normal human being, but they had ‘fish people’ written all over them. Their skin was scaly and they had webbed feet and strange ears. Some people had purple scales and others had blue scales … not a wide variety though. They wore clothes and their jewellery was of shells and precious stones and gems.

  Many structures of the city looked rather wet and soggy and most fish-people carried on with their daily lives, making their own living down here with their own sets of taverns, markets, residences and shops. I could only imagine all kinds of strange knickknacks they would be selling!

  By the sight of this amazing scenery I knew that I had no doubt discovered a lost city. I knew now that I was at Mantiss! Wait, no, that didn’t sound right. I was at the lost city of Alansfist! No. Atlantis? Okay, it can’t be that. Ah, whatever. All I know, judging by Terrowin’s many boring stories of research at the campfires we had on the way to various destinations, is that these people are part of the Valican race – fish-people.

  Of course I was stunned at first, but soon decided to take my chances. It isn’t every day you get to see a forgotten city in an underwater cave, underneath another city… No surprise that the fish guys checked me out, wondering what I am. Perhaps it was just the warm feeling you get when you see a stranger you know absolutely nothing about and want to welcome them even if they are carrying a large array of deadly weapons.

  I soon treaded onwards, aiming for the gigantic fish palace up ahead. I was just as thrilled as I was curious.

  CHAPTER 25

  HOT WATERS

  CARLAYLIN

  AS I WANDERED ON, the fish-people got stranger somehow. Some of their heads started to differ. My eyes fell upon shark-people of different kinds, more types of fish and squid people. It was getting both freaky and somewhat gross. I mean, seriously… slimy!

  Even though the people started to scare me, the scenery did not disappoint. Not even in the slightest! It just got better and better the closer I came to the richer districts. My surroundings lit up in the most extraordinary of ways.

  Yet, sometimes something odd did manage to catch my attention fairly quickly. Like the bizarre monster fish-man with the dark jacket and bowler hat sombrely waiting for the bus at the tall streetlight. It was a lonesome soul. Also creepy, might I add. Those eyes of his were pitch-black and kept staring, never blinking. He stood like a frog with those abnormal long arms of his.

  “Watch where going!” someone scolded as I accidentally bumped into some fish dude.

  “Oh, sorry!”
I really wasn’t looking where I was going. I really had to be careful. I didn’t want to attract too much attention to myself.

  As I looked back over my shoulder in order to apologize, I accidentally walked into someone else. This one wasn’t as merciful as the other, though, and forcefully shoved me to the side before she kept walking on, not even looking back to see if I was okay.

  “Woah!” I yelped, for I was sure that I was about to plummet to the street that looked particularly hard and painful, but to my surprise I burst in through the flap doors of a local tavern and fell straight to the planked ground. Wood beats rough stone, I guess.

  My cheek was glued to the floor. I fought off a moment of stars dancing around my head before finally deciding to raise my gaze. The questioning Valicans snapped me out of my daze. It seemed like they were about to burst into an uproar of panic, outrage and perhaps even start a revolution with fire and pitchforks, too. The whole shebang!

  “What is hideous creature?” someone shrieked.

  “Repulsive!” another called to my offense.

  “Call guard! Call guard!” others cried.

  “No, no, wait! I’m a mermaid! Nothing new to see here. I’m just new in town! A mermaid with two legs,” I hurriedly tried to explain as I quickly pulled myself to my feet, raising my hands in dejection. These Valicans looked like the unreasonable kind. The case of what I was wasn’t helping much either, but so far my reasoning seemed to be just the key I needed to win myself out of this situation.

  “Mermaid with two legs?” a few asked in unison.

  “A mermaid with two legs!” I stated, feeling a bit irritated. I noticed a few shared glances before most shrugged with acceptance and went on with their daily lives. It was their way of saying, “Meh, whatever.”