We had been walking for only a few minutes when I got he notification. [Beware! There is a powerful presence approaching. Proceed with caution.]
I frowned. "Choal?" I whispered. The system appeared beside me. [I am sorry but I cannot give any more info. But you cannot defeat this. Just…play along.] The system then disappeared and I growled glaring onto the air. "Stupid system."
But my train of thoughts and Choal bashing was interrupted by a sudden crushing aura. I gasped and in front of me Part and Kiri did the same. I bent down gasping for air, suddenly feeling weighed down. The aura wasn't even directed at me and yet it still felt like someone was slowly squeezing my lungs. Then the forest went quiet. All sound stopped and I glanced around frantically. The sky seemed to darken and now I could barely see 10 feet in front of me.
"Shit. What the hell is going on?" Larry snapped, constantly tapping his foot, head tilted. "I don't know but we need to leave now." Miri said, panting.
I nodded unable to speak and Lart helped me up. This presence seemed to be affecting me more than them. Why? That's when I saw it. Two slanted green eyes glaring right us. We all froze as something big moved forward. We stumbled back as the light filtering through the trees revealed a black scaled snout, horned head, long scaly neck and a lizard like body. Except they were the size of a building.
Miri was whimpering pressing against Lart who had instinctively stepped in front of us, eyes open. I half expected the somehow familiar creature to turn to stone but nothing happened. Yet, Lart did not back down.
"Poor children. Lost in my woods. Helpless. Alone." I jumped, not expecting it, no, a she, to talk. How I knew it was female was unknown.
The dragon extended its wings. They seemed to be decaying with glowing green cracks and wrinkles within. I shuddered as a wave of pure unbridled magic energy rolled over us. And with that I knew who this was.
And something both within and out of me was not happy.
"Beledros Witherbloom." I said, glaring at the dragon. Why was I so bothered? I should have been shaking in my boots.
"I see. She gave you knowledge too. Though it only comes when you need it." Beledros hissed bringing her head closer the plants around her decaying into dust.
"Who are you talking about?" I snapped, crossing my arms.
The dragon leaned back suddenly and began to…laugh. I frowned confused.
"Um, no offense but is something funny? I wanna laugh too." I snapped. "Peren!" Miri hissed glancing at me and back at Beledros. I didn't understand why she was so so scared.
But the dragon was unbothered, simply staring at us in amusement.
"Do what you must, Klothys but do not interfere further than you should. It would not be good for Arcavios and Theros to come to war." Beledros said leaning forward again.
There was a sudden breeze and the air seemed to shimmer forming a giant web around them for a second before disappearing again.The dragon nodded, seemingly satisfied. She eyed me for a minute and I squirmed uncomfortable. "Um….may we leave now?" I said hesitantly. Beledros didn't answer for a minute. "Yes you may." With the tilt of her head a green glowing path appeared next us leading into the trees. "Follow that path. It will lead you back to the main part of the campus." I nodded while Miri full on bowed. Lart chuckled, no longer afraid. "We're sorry for disturbing you." Miri said, still bowing. The dragon laughed again, flapping her wings sending a wave of energy around her. I suddenly felt revitalized and the plants that had decayed when she arrived suddenly came back as green and lush as ever.
"Holy shit." Lart muttered staring at his hands.
"Raise your head child. Never be afraid to stand up for what you believe. Keep your chin up, my child. I will be watching you, children. Do not disappoint. And come visit. It is not often I get to see students. Beware of the future, champion of Klothys. It will hold much suffering and I, for one cannot wait." The dragon shuddered in excitement and I smiled weakly trying to ignore the rolling fear in my stomach.
With those words the dragon spread its wings and flapped them once and with a boom she burst into hundreds of glowing leaves dispersing on the wind.
The three of us stood there for a few minutes unable to process what just happened.
"We just met a founder dragon." Lart muttered, voicing all of our thoughts. Suddenly, Miri stood up and stomped over to me before hitting me on the back of my head. "Ow!" I yelped. "What was that for?"
She glared at me."You know what it was for. You back talked a dragon. A very old wise powerful dragon. We could have died." She snapped. Lart sighed, his snakes hissing signaling his irritation.
"That's not important. We need to get back to the campus. Plus we should discuss this Klothys person Beledros was speaking about and why our little butterfly here is this person's so called champion." He snapped moving towards the still glowing path. I sighed before following, Miri not far behind.
"So any ideas?" Miri asked glancing around warily. I shook my head avoiding a large rock in my way. "No. I have no idea who this Klothys is. But she mentioned one thing." I said glancing at Lart.
The gorgon grimaced. "Theros." He said. Miri blinked. "Like as in the Pantheon Of The Gods? That Theros?" She asked. I nodded. I had seen a campaign once based on Theros. apparently a plane full of gods and champions.
"Which means Klothys might be one of the gods of Theros. But why they are supposedly interfering here in a completely different plane of existence is still unknown." I said. I had an idea of who Klothys was but I need proof first. Miri suddenly squealed and I spun, hands ablaze expecting a threat. But no it was just Miri finally spotting the huge tree in the middle of the Witherbloom campus.
"Let's get some rest when we get back and then we can go explore another campus." Lart said. I nodded. I was actually a little tired.
"Let's explore Silverquill tomorrow. Lot easier to mavigate and we probably won't die or get chased by a founder dragon." Miri said, stretching. I laugh and nodded as we finally reached the campus. I wonder what tomorrow would hold in store.
Probably nothing bad.
****
Fuck. Fuck. I was so wrong. This was a disaster. Here we are again surrounded by swirling darkness, sitting next to a fucking werewolf staring at a white dragon lounging in front of us underneath the Silverquill campus. Why is my luck so bad?
It started when we woke up early and arrived on the Silverquill campus. "Wow this is actually pretty nice." Miri said glancing at the intricate dark buildings. I scoffed. "No shade then?" Miri stared at me confused. "The suns not out. What do you need shade for?"
I facepalmed and sighed.
"Let's go. I don't have time for this" I muttered as Miri trailed looking utterly confused.[Beware! The hostile force from earlier is back] I frowned and straightened, alert. "Where?" I whispered
[Behind us. Under the Dramarium] I slowly turned and made eye contact with the culprit.
It was the same guy from the Biblioplex. He was staring at us intently and I waved again. This time, he seemed to laugh in amusement and gave a small wave back before quite literally melting into the shadows. I grinned counting that as a win.
"Peren! Come on!" Miri shouted. I jogged to catch up.
This place was amazing and probably looked the most normal out of the campuses. We began walking east towards the Rose Stage which from here looked like a black twisted colleseum.
"That's the Rose Stage where Silverquill holds many performances. Any student can attend as well as take part." I blinked and stared down at one of the little campus guides in front of us. It had probably see us staring at the stage.
"Wow. Can you take us on a tour?" Miri asked crouching
The campus guide jumped up and down in excitement. "Oh, but of course. I would be delighted." It then waddled away and we followed. Finally we could explore without meeting a founder dragon. But a big part of me wanted to meet the other dragons. It's not everyday you see a life sized dragon. And one that can talk and use magic at that. "Hey, guide? What are the names of the founder dragons?"
The guide jumped up and down in excitement and began walking backwards. "Velomachus Lorehold, Galazeth Prismari, Tanazir Quandrix, Shadrix Silverquill, and Beledros Witherbloom. These dragons founded the school and legend states that they were born from magical eggs made by the energy of newborn world, Arcavios. They were the first to learn magic and decided it was better used in the hands of others. So they founded Strixhaven. The dragons have not been seen for centuries, though, probably only interfering if the school is in grave danger." The campus guide explained.
I frowned. That means that no one knew that the dragons stayed near the school. The fact that the deans couldn't feel even a trace of the dragon's aura was amazing. They really were on a different level. Damn. Maybe Miri was right about me disrespecting a founder dragon. I might get obliterated. But I needed answers. With that I followed my friends and the campus guide, unaware of yellow eyes watching me from the roof of a building.