The Journey (II)

Zero, too went looking around the Leprechaun's town. The Leprechauns waved and bowed toward Zero, acknowledging his good deeds. They were slowly packing their things, ready to move towards Draconis Library. He thought this might be a good time to make a couple of deals. But then he remembered he needed to try and make some Medicine that he was experimenting on.

Finding a comfortable place to sit, he sat down and pulled out a couple of plants and his mixing bowls. Then, one by one for the next hour, he diligently created simple home medicine that he knew how to make in real life. A couple of times, he used different ingredients to see what other odd medicine he could come up with for use later on.

He made twenty low-level health pills, poison tonics, cough medicines, and even mint-flavored hot tea. More times, he failed than succeeded in making the medicines and those he had to scrap. But throughout this process, he successfully leveled up his medicine-making skills to beginner level 3.

One of the female Leprechauns walked over to Zero and sat in front of him. "Young dragon."

"Yes?" Zero noticed that it was Berry.

"I wanted to thank you for saving us. I heard from the elder that you don't know where your kind disappeared too."

"Yea, that's a mystery in itself."

"Well, would you like to hear some stories about them? I know we don't have much to give because the Evil Magician Mano took and sold all our things, and it will take time to recover what we have lost. So I thought this was the best I could give you. Having no family in this world is a lonely burden, but it seems your friends are as close as you can get to one."

"Yeah, you could say that," Zero looked over towards his friend and smiled.

"Well, the story was passed on from my great-great-great grandmother down the family line on the mother-side and finally came to me. My mother used to tell me stories about how they used to see many Drezo Regalias in the sky. Different colors would make them shine like jewels under the summer sun. They were wise and great creatures that helped and guided the world in a positive direction, but one day the world shifted in a different direction. At first, darkness was not evident and strong. It was hidden well in man's heart as greed and envy took them like poison. They say a demon had taken residence in the heart of a kind king, who took a fancy to the queen of dragons. He wanted the queen of dragons for himself and wooed her many times, trying to get her hand in marriage. But the queen did not turn her head towards him and married her own kind. A golden dragon." Berry continued to weave the story to life with her colorful words.

Zero could already imagine everything she had said in his head. Berry continued using her hands to tell the story, "This golden dragon was not like any other golden dragon. His scales were like the sun. He radiated such light, power, and pureness that any being who saw him bowed their head respectfully towards him. The queen took a fancy to the golden dragon and made him the King of all dragons. This infuriated the human King. He wanted her to the point of going as far as murder. The crazed King murdered one of the dragons, and the taste for dragons began. Rumors, conspiracies, and even the concept of eternal life can be gained through the hearts of dragons. This caused the massacre of dragons to begin. It was a sad day after losing one of the many great treasures: the dragons."

"So, what happened next?" Zero asked. He was already on the edge of his seat, waiting to hear more of the story.

"Just like that, every dragon disappeared in one day until you came along. Now in this world, there is only one dragon. I pray that you live long enough to withstand this harsh world." Berry reached over towards Zero's hands and held them. "It would be awful to see the last dragon die and lose a part of an ancient history from this world." She stroked his hands in sadness as she recalled the story.

"I can't make promises, but I'm an Adventurer now. Death is a different story when it comes to being an Adventurer."

"Yes. That is true, but even Adventurers will die one day."

"What do you mean?"

Berry smiled, "It's enough of a sad story to tell you for today. Even my heavy heart can not bear this thought any longer." She pulled back away from him. Zero reached over, trying to stop her from leaving, but stopped. He knew at that moment that Berry would not spill anymore. If he pushed her any further, he knew she would have a backlash towards him, causing him to lose favor in her trust.

"What did she mean?" Zero was rolling over her words, wondering what she had to say.

"Zero!" Agnis called his name, waving him over.

"Yea?" Zero turned around and noticed that Alan, Bob, Zeraph, Agnis, and Jack were standing next to each other ready to go. He didn't notice that time had already passed so quickly. Walking over to them, Zero noticed how they were speaking among themselves about how they would get to the Maze of Geruem.

"How about we just go the normal way through the Valley of Swans?" said Alan. "Wouldn't it be a safer passage?"

"No. Apparently, Bob said that the Valley of Swans is an infested place with monsters that are over 170," said Agnis. Her eyes were wrinkled with heavy thoughts.

"Since when?" Jack asked.

"When the invasion of the Land sharks happened. More recent sightings of high-level monsters are coming and invading the Land of Fire. Since there is no more hero's blessing, monster invasions will be prominent. I wouldn't be surprised if a monster over level 200 sometimes appears in the future."

"You're kidding?" Alan turned pale. "There are higher-level monsters?" He gulped.

"Do I look like I'm kidding to you? Yes, there is."

Alan shook his head.

"There is a safer passage through the underground tunnels that the Dwarves used to mine. It's actually shorter and faster to get to the Maze of Geruem that way than traveling over land." Bob had suggested. "The time is right to go through the tunnel now than later at night."

"Why?" Zeraph asked. Everyone turned their heads towards Zero. "Are the tunnels abandoned or infested with monsters?"

"Yes to both questions. During the day, the monsters are less manageable to take carefully, but when it hits sunset, they start to swarm in back to the tunnel. This is why the Dwarves quit working in the tunnels and left."

"This could be a problem. But it's not as bad as the Valley of Swans, right?"

"Right. The amount in the Valley of Swans is three times the amount in the tunnel during the night. So with a party of six, it would be possible to sneak past the monsters and arrive safely at the entrance to the Maze of Geruem."

"That would be better than constantly wasting our time and energy fighting monsters."

"Then let's go with what Bob says and go ahead with going through the tunnel," replied Zero. Their priority was not power leveling but getting through to the Maze of Geruem safely and finding the Golden Eye. If they could make it through safely, they would not have to burn all their consumables to stay alive and have nothing when they make it to the Maze of Geruem. "We'll leave now. How long should it take to make it?" he asked Bob.

"It takes a six-hour trip to get there. The only problem is that if we leave now, we will cut it really close and possibly run into the monsters."

"Then let's go. We should be able to deal with the last part."

They all had begun to follow Bob through the cuts and turns of the Forgotten Forest. Zero noticed while they were going through the last cut through the Forgotten Forest that the forest was not foggy or dark anymore. He could hear the returning of the birds and insects singing their songs in joy at the return of the once peaceful forest.

Their journey continued towards open terrain where the once thick forest was now but a dwindling number of trees. Only tall grass the height of an adult dwarf could be seen.

"Wretched grass. I can't see anything!" Jack grumbled. He was blindly walking through the grass, following Agnis. They were all in a straight line, following each other like a train so they wouldn't lose each other.

"It's not too bad." Zero replied. He was grateful that he was slightly taller than Jack. If he wasn't, he would have been in the same situation, swearing at the grass for being too tall.

"This kind of terrain is highly disadvantaged to us Dwarves." Jack used his hammer to split the grass aside, but the grass that Agnis was pushing aside hit Jack in the face like a whip. "We can't see anything higher than this. Whose preposterous idea was it to make Dwarves so short."

"Blame the game designers and artists. In my opinion, it would be weird to see tall Dwarves." Agnis replied. She was having a difficult time going through the thick bushes.

"We're here!" Bob called out towards the group. Zero was amazed that Bob could navigate his way around the tall grass without being lost. He was already lost in where they were in the field of tall grass.

Following Bob's voice, they came to an old trap door that led downwards to the ground.

"This is it. We just need to go in this tunnel, and it's a straight shot towards where we are headed."

"What purpose did the Dwarves even have making this underground passageway?" Zero asked. It baffled him that an underground passageway was even here in the first place.

"They were trying to make an underground road connecting the City of Diadem to Dwarven mountain. The Dwarves and the King were very close friends in the past." Bob replied to Zero's answer.

"Did you know about this, Jack?" Zero asked.

"No. There was nothing about this in Dwarven history."

"Well then, let's make our way down."