Chapter 17

As Hide and Tai flew, Hide's mind raced with thoughts. Who was he really? Why was he here? Was his mother, really his mother? Who was his father? How did he fit in?

His mind raced with this newfound information, he was caught off-guard by Tai yelling in his ear though.

"Hide! We're here." She shouted, over the howling wind, and wingbeats.

Hide looked up, to find a beautiful ruin. The terrain had shaped itself to cliffs that went nowhere, and sand fields that were shorter than he had been expecting. The place looked like it had been decaying for a long time. With the old sandstone towers, and stairs. It looked like the temple had been destroyed a long time ago, and whatever Serpent was, it was powerful enough to leave barely a scrap of the beautiful castle it once was.

Hide and Tai landed on a cracked staircase, very close to a glowing door. It was a pastel blue and looked like it was missing the key to something. Tai fluttered up to the doorway, examining it. She soon set her tail in the keyhole. The spikes on her tail fit it perfectly, even the length of her tail fit just fine, and before much longer, the doorway's pastel blue entrance turned to a pale yellow, that matched Tai's scales perfectly. Tai quickly stuck her paw through the disk, noticing she could pass through.

She quickly hopped through the disk, as Hide followed her. When they arrived though, they were met with a grand ballroom, crumbled, and seemingly broken, with the stench of decay lacing every inhale. The room had multiple doorways leading to only Orena knowing where. The inside was illuminated with artificial sun rays peeking in, as it illuminated a large statue of a serpent-like dragon in the center. It had no wings, at all, and had short legs. It had tufts of fur and ruby eyes. It was sitting on a tall platform, that was at least Hide's height. The dragon above looked like a long, furred salamander with horns.

The regal dragon was on her hind legs and standing like a Ravager. She had a crown made of exotic-looking flowers, and pine branches sticking out here and there. The crown also had little strands of pearls that looked from the kingdom of sea, dangling from a few spots in the crown. She had lots of gold and silver chains hanging from her neck and a feathered tail.

"That's her. Lady Kinkijou." Tai whispered.

"She's right there! How are we gonna get past her, without her noticing?" Hide whispered back.

"We don't know if her spirit's still alive in that husk of a statue. Her spirit could have withered away over time. It's been over five years since her incident here, meaning her power, and her spirit, are probably less controlling over the area." Tai whispered.

"How will we know?" Hide asked.

Tai picked up a rock, seemingly the size of Hide's paw. Then, she tossed it. Hide watched as it rolled up to the statue quickly. Suddenly, Hide heard cracks, and noticed Lady Kinkijou's neck was moving, her head turning to face the now-stopped rock. Without another breath, a geyser of sand shot up, consuming the rock. Kinkijou's ruby eyes soon began glowing, as a powerful voice filled the room.

"Who dares cross my sacred grounds." her voice boomed.

With more moments of silence, the two dragonets heard a sigh, along with more hollow cracking.

"Well. I suppose I have to see for myself." Her voice continued.

Hide and Tai then heard a loud thump, even feeling the ground shake. Hide soon looked at the room surrounding him, with all the pale yellows of the sandstone, and darkness of the shadows. Hide concentrated on the colors, and soon began to shift to match the walls around him.

"Hide! You can't just leave me with her!" Tai whispered.

Without another word, Hide grabbed her and shelled them in his wings. He kept her close and covered her talons and tail with his wings and tail. They both watched the darkness of Hide's wings, as they heard loud thumps against the cracked tiles.

"Hide- what the fuck! She might be able to sniff us out!" Tai whispered.

"She's a statue, if she can smell us, she never really lost her senses, which means she may not have completely died." Hide whispered, keeping his ears focused on Lady Kinkijou's steps.

"But-" Tai began.

"Shh. She's close." Hide whispered, covering her mouth.

More loud thumps filled the room, as they formed closer after each step. After a moment, the thumping stopped, and Hide and Tai were hit with a heavy force, sending them flying into a pillar.

"You two have no clue when to be quiet, do you? If you're going to test my abilities, at least be quiet when you're whispering. I can hear you from the west side of Solia." She said.

Hide shook his head, seeing Lady Kinkijou right in front of him. Her fierce ruby eyes now had iris and sclerae. Her pale gray sculpting was now a vibrant yellow with a brown stripe leading down her back.

Lady Kinkijou stood on her hind legs, looking like a goddess. Her Ruby eyes had shifted to the color of sapphire, and her sclera had shifted to a slightly darker hue of blue. She had long whiskers that hung from her face, and tall, regal horns that were black, completely unfitting for her vibrant colors. Her body was long. Very long. She was the length of Takashi, Hide, and Tai combined.

"Who are you two." She asked, coldly.

"My name is Hide Yashira." Hide said.

"And I'm Tai Ramlia." She said.

"What interesting names. You there, yellow dragon. I believe I remember seeing you a few years back. You were smaller than you are now. What year is it? How much time has passed?" Kinkijou asked.

"It's year Floro. The year of you're remembrance for being this badass war woman." Tai replied.

"Heh. You amuse me. The first dragon on this side of the continent to make me laugh." She said.

"Do you remember how you got here?" Hide asked.

"Oh yes, I remember. I had been stuck in the RainClan for ages. When I managed to get out, I had struck a deal, blah blah blah. I had been pronounced dead by medics in the Kingdom of the Stars. They carried my body and just assumed I had been turned into a statue when the kingdom of Sand got it. I've been careful to keep my mask on and to make my eyes look like rubies. From the day I got here, I've been still. You can imagine how painful it's been for me." She said, smiling.

"So, how did your scales shift? You must have been thinking about other things, how did you maintain your color for so long?" Hide asked.

"Well, I've been keeping the color in the back of my mind as I awaited this temple to abandon our kind, so I could rush away. That day didn't come until I finally put this place to ruin." She said, her scales shifting to what seemed like her usual color. She was a vibrant purple, with pink patches, and blue hints in her feathered tail. Hide took a moment, before realizing how big she was.

She was at least tall as his mother, who was huge. Hide's mother was at least seven Ravagers tall, standing normally. This dragon was probably taller than that.

"Why did you do it? Why did you destroy this place?" Hide asked.

"I originally wanted to go home. I tried for decades to return to my clan, but I kept the profits coming for the PineClan, so they continued to auction me for my children. Over the months, I was being sold further and further away from my home. I settled here, the closest place to live at least within a day's flight home.

I waited and waited and waited for the citizens here to die off, or find a place to live that left me an opening to go home. The day never came. I couldn't leave at night either. The place was bustling with life even after most of the populous went to bed. After over a hundred years, I saw the yellow one here. The life in her eyes inspired me. When you and you're family departed, I gave up on protecting the dragons who resided here.

I let out a blast of my power that was capable of killing millions, and destroying the Palace this place used to be. It became a ruin overnight. However, when I tried to escape, I couldn't. The door you two entered through refused to let me leave. The holes in the ruin were similar. I couldn't leave. I was stuck. I gave up on escaping a week after the place died out. I remained in a statue form for years, as I was unable to do anything else. Now we're here. I have the entire ruin map memorized, and no one to speak with," She said.

Hide's eyes shot wide. A dragon like her should be out in the world, exploring, and finding herself.

"Would you mind showing us around the ruin?" Tai asked.

"For what reason?" Lady Kinkijou asked.

"I want to show Hide the amount of serpent magic in this place, in hoping it may be easier for him to use his powers before we leave," Tai said, smiling.

"More serpent users? How fascinating! How did you get your talons ahold of the scrolls?" She asked.

"Scrolls?" Tai asked.

"The serpent scrolls. It's what gave me my magic." Lady Kinkijou said, looking confused.

Hide's jaw hit the floor, as his wings drooped. Her magic didn't even exist?! It was all just some scroll?!