"You see the craftsdragons," explained Hardtoignite, "used the available material around them to pursue their... let's call it a hobby."
"Again, how does that help us?" enquired the librarian.
Holding the reproduction of For'son out in front of him, the archaeologist stated,
"Look at the eyes and tell me what you see."
As one, the entire group leaned in closer to get a look at the model dragon.
"Oh my God."
"No... It can't be. Can it?"
"That's unreal."
"It looks exactly the same colour. Is that even possible?"
"Indeed it is," added Hardtoignite, "difficult to believe, but ultimately it's true. I gather the pupils in the eyes of the dragon model were made out of the off cuts from the jewel which now sits in the king's ring."
"Which means," cut in one of the academics, "that it might be possible to fool the magic into thinking the king, and more importantly, his ring are trying to enter the council chamber."
"Exactly," stated Hardtoignite. "Shall we?"
Approaching the large silver double doors, images of newborn dragons exploring the world for the first time, as well as some just escaping from their eggs, all being overseen by a kind looking dragon face, carved into both, were ignored by the bold interlopers on their mission of evil. Holding the model of For'son up to the centre of the door, Hardtoignite closed off his mind and focused all his thoughts in casting the mantra that he hoped would gain them access to the precious artefacts within. Fuelled by optimism and having forgotten everything around him, he filled his mind with the same words the cooks used when they entered with the prepared food for the Council meetings. He knew he had to get it just right.
'Patefacio, patefacio, solvo vestri obfirmo quod permissum mihi obduco,' he thought, directing all his will towards the firmly closed doors. Eyes screwed shut, the tiniest hum in the world disappeared into the background and was immediately followed by an ordinary click. The heavy doors started to pull back, the sound of monstrous metal moving slowly growled back at them. Hardtoignite opened his eyes to the beaming smiles of the others. After back patting all around, the small group entered the chamber. Much to their surprise, and discomfort, the chamber was cold, extremely cold. Long gone were the usual fires and spit roasted meats, blackened ash the only sign they had once been there. Crusty black lava spewed out across the white and gold flecked marble pillars that adorned the room. Two of the academics marvelled at the prophecy agreement depiction on the floor as they entered, but the others just walked over it, more interested in what they came for. Ignoring the grey, granite, trident shaped table as they passed it, the giant, gold coloured abacus the size of a bus sat lonely against the far wall, beneath the tapestry made of dragon scales. In their own way, the interlopers were making a small piece of history, in a room that positively reeked of it. Ignoring everything, and with the academics having caught them up, they all stopped in the furthest corner from the entrance. Dark, colder and positively reeking of deadly magic, more so than the rest of the room, wooden bookshelves with an array of magical items were faintly illuminated by a cool, blue glow. Water dripped and splashed onto the floor from the ceiling and the shelves. Small patches of melting ice covered one or two of the items and the occasional corner of the shelves. It felt to the dragons exactly how it looked... DANGEROUS, COLD and DARK!
It was a treasure trove of rare magical items. Daggers, bows, leather armour (dragon sized), gauntlets, bracers, belts with deeply disturbing engraved buckles, a set of folded robes, a compass, pocket watches, a leather Stetson, a gnarled staff, half a dozen wands, a set of lanterns, an array of jewellery including rings, necklaces, brooches and an assortment of hat pins, as well as all alone, almost begging for some company, an 'alea' exactly the same as the one Peter inherited. Light of one sort or another shrouded most of the items. A thick, dull, all absorbing brightness exuded from some, whilst others radiated a dazzling, white halo in and around their majestic forms. The contrast was immense. Standing stock still for a moment, the small band looked on, utterly flabbergasted at what lay on the shelves before them.
"We should catalogue it all first," noted one of the academics.
"Agreed," piped up a librarian. "Dividing it up into light and dark to start with might help."
Each nodded their agreement.
From out of nowhere, one of the priests yelped. "Owwwww!!!!"
"You okay?"
"No," said the priest rubbing a spot on his neck vigorously. "Something bit me!"
"In here?" replied one of the others sceptically. "It's been sealed for goodness knows how long."
"I'm just telling you what happened," declared the priest. "It really hurts!"
"We really don't have time for this," insisted Hardtoignite. "We've already taken long enough getting in as it is. I for one want to get all of this stuff catalogued and up to Manson as quickly as possible."
On that, they could all agree.
With them splitting into two groups of four, taking dark and light relics respectively, they immediately got on with their assigned tasks. One of the academics checking the light sided objects, made straight for the artefact that had first caught his attention... the alea. With a quick flick of his wings, he bounded straight up to the high shelf that it was on, grasped it firmly in the palm of his hand and drifted back down to the floor, his landing as light as a feather. Not bad for a being of his size. Studying the object in the palm of his hand, with thoughts about its history and magical significance running through his mind, he was startled from his reverence by a loud CRASH off to his right, as the dragon priest, the one who claimed to have been bitten, the one who had been studying a gorgeous set of light tan leather armour a little further into the corner, had abruptly collapsed on the floor. Instantly, the entire group stopped what they were doing and rushed over to him. One of the librarians knelt down towards his head while Hardtoignite listened to the unmoving dragon's chest. Others looked on in horror at what was happening.
"I can't feel a pulse," queried the one at his head.
"There's no heartbeat. Breathe damn it, breathe," fumed Hardtoignite from the priest's chest, driven now to frantically beating it.
"Uhhhh... guys!"
"NOT NOW!" screamed Hardtoignite, beating the dragon's torso furiously with both of his hands.
"YOU REALLY NEED TO SEE THIS!!!"
Hardtoignite hung his head helplessly over the chest of the dead dragon, anger and despair welling up deep inside him. Why was it going so wrong? Why, just for once, couldn't things go exactly as planned? And just what the hell could be more important than trying to save the life of one of their own? Standing up, he turned to face the others, who all, oddly, had their backs to him, staring back towards the entrance. With his patience about to snap, he shoved two of them aside and made his way to the front. It was only then that he saw what was so important. Only then did it dawn on him just how much trouble they were all in.
The fighting in the basement had taken its toll. Corpses of all shapes and sizes littered the walkways and corridors. Blood and other bodily fluids pooled together in rainbow like puddles. Limbs, tails, paws and heads lay precariously scattered about. It was a crime scene investigator's nightmare. But it had all stopped, well, apart from the rock demon, who was still very much on the rampage. Mainly, it was the ra-hoon's doing. After devouring the naga that had tried to escape, the thinned out herd had headed deeper into the containment facility, eventually coming face to face with the horde of different creatures all trying to destroy each other. Smart didn't really do the ra-hoon justice, because they were cunning as well. They could see things for what they really were, now that they'd escaped captivity. And so with one concerted telepathic blast, that quite literally stunned everything (with the exception of the rock demon) around them into submission, they began to outline, to all the species there, just how they should proceed, and how working together in this strange new world that they'd suddenly found themselves in, would benefit one and all. For most of them it made sense, for the rest, it was too scary a prospect to say no. So they didn't, and agreed to tag along, always on the lookout for an opportunity to gain an advantage.