13 Chapter Thirteen

"Guys, dragons are cool," Isaac said as they watched the riders decimate the dark swarm of what might have just been numerous dark enemies. The young Siege stood still in his own point of view as he watched the memory as it played in his mind like a movie. Although this was quite different in the way that he could feel everything that happened to him in this dream state. He watched as the version of Kevin in the memories fainted the moment he saw the dragons. The reason as to why that had happened was still unexplained to him.

The riders came down to the artras to tend to the unconscious Siege on the ground. Picking up the boy, the riders led the artras with some resistance from the boys to a building (no an estate, wait no, it was more of a mansion) with the gate that said Artarak in bold letters at the top.

"What is this place?" Ciara asked from the back of one of the riders' dragons.

"This is the Artarak. The main base that was built for the artras," one said.

They placed the Siege on a sofa after leading them through the halls of the gigantic castle,(yes, it was a castle. Don't ask me why they built a castle for their protectors) "What happened to him?" Ciara asked.

"You must be the Alpha. There's a lot to do. This, I presume," the rider says pointing to Kevin, "must be the Siege. You weren't supposed to come here. I'll be back to explain everything. But in the meantime, I have to go somewhere. Feel free to take a look around. My name is Lieutenant Caspro Burnes, head of the Elven guard." And with those few very confusing words, the riders left the artras more confused than they had been when they had just arrived.

There was a moment of silence which was broken by the shuffling sounds of the Siege stirring awake. They all surrounded him, "Kevin, what happened?" Kendall asked before he was properly awake

"What?.....Umm.....I don't know, one moment we were ....then ....wait. Where are we?" Kevin asks suddenly becoming aware of his surroundings.

"We are in the Artarak. It's kinda like the HQ for the artras. It's awesome," Kendall replied rambling. Standing up, they all decided to take a look around the colossal mansion/castle.

.....

Kevin watched his memories of that day as the artras explored the massive mansion. Surprisingly they never got lost even once and it seemed like they always wound up where they wanted to go regardless of the size of this magnificent castle. They looked through bedrooms, a throne room, a library, a game room(what was that doing there), a training room, a conference room, weaponry, potion room. They soon discovered that the castle had an artificial intelligence that spoke with the help of micro speakers embedded into the castle walls and fused with the building with magic. They hadn't managed to fully explore the castle when they got the long-awaited interruption from Caspro. Apparently, he was back from wherever he had gone and he was back with news for the artras.

"Young artras, you seem to be enjoying yourselves. Unfortunately, I bring news that this has to come to an end. Follow me to the conference room immediately. The other members of the Elder Council would like to meet with you immediately," Caspro turned as he led them through the halls of the Artarak towards the conference room.

The conference room comprised of a long table that could probably accommodate one hundred fifty people. What kind of wood did they even use? How do people hear each other at such a long table? At the other side of the conference table, a small cluster of beings(dare I say humans because these were not humans at all). The beings turned their attention on the group of friends as they approached them. When all the artras were seated, the members of the council began introducing themselves personally.

A tall man(well not really) stood up. His skin was rugged like he was made of sand. I guess they were about to find out why he looked so. "My name is Tollahard Grimm, and I am the leader of all trolls in Armensia, the masters of weapon crafting and protectors of magical artefacts of historical value," the troll said in a deep gruff voice that emulated his age and wisdom(possibly). He took his seat and the council member right next to him stood up.

This one was a woman with fairly smooth skin and with a complexion so light it seemed as though she was almost as white as snow. She had white hair that flowed down to just above her waist. She had deep blue eyes that reminded one of the ocean and winter at the same time. Kevin found himself thinking of glaciers just by looking at her. "Regina Crystal, head of Ice Dragons, masters and protectors of the ancient ice and water magic," she announced before taking her seat.

"Harrow Gridlock, head of the Fire Dragons, protectors of the ancient fire and earth magic." Kevin had barely been able to study the red-eyed man who had just made this introduction as swift as possible. Insinuating the fact that this was probably the most unimportant thing he had had to do that day. Nevertheless, his appearance was one that emanated great wisdom that Kevin found unwise to dismiss.

"Jovenor Gunter, leader of wizards and witches, masters in the arts of witchcraft and wizardry. Unlike his companions, Jovenor was rather young and jolly (if that was even possible for these people). To be honest, he looked like an elf to me but I withheld my query.

"Last but not least, Finn Galahad. Leader of dwarfs, masters in having fun. We keep it simple. Fortunately, we also had to our place on this council to avoid slavery," he said casting a charming smile towards us. He was by far the one council member who looked like a free spirit.

"That's enough of your babble, Finn," Caspro said.

"Hey, don't look at me. I'm not the one who proposed so much freedom be entrusted to the dwarfs," he said jokingly.

"No, you all rioted against working, stating it was bad for your Armensia's popularity," Caspro argued causing Finn to chuckle. "Anyway, you already met me, Caspro Burnes, Leader of elves. We are responsible for keeping peace and protecting Armensia. You are seated here before the Elder council that runs Armensia. We've called you here to tell you something of great importance. Part of the many reasons that hinder the progress of the artras. You better get comfortable. It's time you knew the reason you weren't supposed to come here before it's too late," Caspro said to them, the air of the conference room dropping a few degrees as a tense silence took over them.

.........

Back to the artras that had finally found Kevin...

The artras finally arrived at the lake only to find their missing friend lying in a pool of somewhat glowing water unconscious and being tended to by what appeared to be a phoenix. And from the looks of it, the artras began to realise how blessed they were when they found out that they were staring at the mighty Zaraias. The phoenix was tending to the boy in the water.

"Is that...no... It couldn't be....but," Kendall began to exclaim.

"Of course, Kendall, that is Zaraias," Ciara told him as she bowed down to the mighty phoenix, as did the others following her lead.

"Arise young artras," Zaraias said, "I see you've tracked down your friend. You've done well to come this far," he told them.

"We did our best," Ciara said, addressing the phoenix with the utmost respect.

"You're obviously wondering what I'm doing to your friend," Zaraias said, a moment of silence taking over the whole cave urging Zaraias to go on with his narration. "Okay, the young Siege here is to recover his memories," he said and watched as Ciara tensed up, "Relax Ciara, I'll make sure it does not hurt him. That's the purpose of this ritual after all. By guiding him through these memories, I can prevent the pain of an elder dragon's death from killing him."

The artras all looked up at the mention of an elder dragon.

"The Siege was bonded to an elder dragon?" Jacob asked full of amazement.

"Yes, he was. And she was one of the most extraordinary dragons ever to live. I won't press the matter of how it was slain," Zaraias said noticing the worry etching across Ciara's face, "the feud between the Siege and Alpha goes further back than you can imagine Ciara. Don't let it get to you." Zaraias concluded.

..........

Unknown point of view...

"Kevin totally killed it at that match yesterday. Don't you think?" she asked me.

"Yeah, he more than killed it. Those magicless humans didn't stand a chance," I replied smirking.

"No way. He wouldn't. Are you trying to say he used his powers?" she asked.

"More than that. He used high-level magic," I replied.

"But how come I didn't see anything."

"You had gone to get yourself a drink at that moment."

"Just my luck, I really wanted to see the power of a Siege in action."

......