future rp breath of change universe

[killjoy]

There's no spot to talk hmm so we waiting?

[Shockstorm]

sorry, forgot to put it XP it should be there, so just add on

[killjoy]

After some time flying, Peter became aware that they were nearing Dracobyen. He couldn't really see it, the entire island had more protection than Asralie and Ekoros combined, but as he was able to understand there was a powerful beacon made from special stones that reacted with the gems that are inlaid in the Protectorate seal that would hum slightly as the seal and the beacon grew closer. As they were flying, though, Peter noticed that the little bit of light they had been getting from the moon was cut off, and the air around them became thicker and smoke-like. "Ebonystriker technology of course expected as much." Said Rovertson "Even more powerfull then Asralies field it seems but Asralie probably has a smaller protection field because of our limited resources. A little overkill if you ask me." Said Azronical carefull to not sound jealeous. "I'm......finding it........hard.......to.......BREATH!" Kyle said. "Trust me, you have no idea how many close calls we've had of getting detected, especially with modern technology! So naturally we use all the defensive measures we can get our hands on, but this smoke is, odd." Peter said before a loud roar filled the air. Shortly thereafter he heard a thud and looked back to see if the others were okay, but he couldn't quite make out where Azronicle was. He was about to call out when he heard a particularly familiar voice. "AZRONICLE!!! It's been FOREVER, where have you been? Have you had any trouble over the last few hundred years? Why did you never bother to contact me?" demanded a familiar dragon as it and Azronicle came back into view, after Azronicle had been knocked down a bit. The newcomer was a Smothering Smokebreath, and probably the largest out of it's entire species' history, at just under the same size as Arc, and likely the oldest living as well.

After several seconds of recovering his wits Azronicle finally replied "Haze your still alive I did try and contact you but I could never find you! You have grown so much almost as big as I was when we first met. You definitely gained some weight almost knocked me in the ocean. Lets land so i can catch my breath and we can catch up you winded me a bit but I'm so glad your still okay I did miss you." replied Azronicle sounding a lot happier then he had in a long time. Peter turned back around to face where he knew Dracobyen was, and wasn't surprised to see that the path to the island was now lined with Protectorate dragons, many of which had riders, and that right in the middle hovered a middle aged man riding a Bonenapper. "I'm sorry about the royal welcome. The Council insisted that your return receive all the royal rights owed to friends of Jorgen, and their descendants." the man called. "I'm sure they don't mind too bad dad, though I am surprised by just how many of the Council members I can see out here." Peter called back. "I appreciate it but wish it was under better circumstances. So who are you?" Said Rovertson carefully in english so if there where any who had not learnt dragonese around yet they would understand. Not used to being around so many at one time made him a little nervous at all the attention Meanwhile Gillien seemed to be in shock and quite a bit fazed by all the dragons. "I'm perfectly fine with all this and I've desired what my answer to the request to join the Protectorates I'd be happy to join" Kyle said now able to breath probably. "Oh, sorry, where are my manners. My name is Thomas Fasten, Chief of the Protectorate and father of Peter. My friend here is called Screech, though he won't say anything. He had an accident when he was a hatchling that nearly killed him, but his vocal cords never recovered." Thomas said in perfect dragonese, patting Screech the Bonenapper on the head. "And I will be honored to conduct the ceremony myself, Lord Kyle. Though we will have to modify it a bit, normally part of the ceremony is when the new member chooses his dragon companion, often one that they grew up with, but you already have a companion. But enough of that for now, let's land and get all of you situated." Thomas finished before turning and guiding the group over to Dracobyen, still barely visible through the Ebonystriker defenses.

"That sounds a lot like what happened to Darkender and I can't wait Mr Thomas Fasten." Kyle said excitedly. After Kyle got done talking Rovertson asked Thomas "I think I should talk to you alone soon about Askin. I know a lot more about her then anything else alive and can tell you what she Really is. And the talk alone part is not a request its mandatory if I'm going to tell what I have to tell. I'm sorry if its inconvenient but the only reason I've lived as long as I have and nearly hunted the deamon population to extinction over ten times is because of my suspicions and I'm not so keen on losing the thing that has kept me alive all this time. On a different note you ever noticed how the deamon population fluctuates up and down over the years? Every time deamon activity has significantly lowered is mostly because I became more active in hunting them and I've become so close to ridding of them all but they always have recovered. I was hoping the Protectorate might know how they recover so quickly so after Askin is dealt with the deamons can be dealt with properly." After saying this Rovertson looked over to his wounded side and winced in pain. "I need you to see what you can have done about this demonic disease I doubt you can cure it but maybe you can slow it down so I can find a cure myself. Its not contagious luckily or we would be in a much more dire situation and its spreading slower then it should be probably due to my unrivaled healing abilities. Even so I would have died months ago if not for the massive amount of energy I have stored away. Something anciently powerful did this and I've never heard of anything like it and I've heard of them all I fear another arch deamon has awoken thanks to Askin's meddling. One as powerful or more powerful then Rezeroth. More likely the latter even Rezeroth could not hurt ebonystrikers with his plague and I should be the hardest to infect of them all."

Thomas did not reply to Rovertson, but instead flew on in silence toward Dracobyen. As they began passing through the many layers of defenses, the surface portion of Dracobyen slowly became more visible. Once they were through the defenses and past the walls, they landed on a large tower Peter knew was specifically designed for numerous dragons to land on. "Alright, well welcome to the capitol of the Draco Protectorate, the city of Dracobyen. Although you may recognize the name of the island more easily, welcome to Dovangard, once home of the Sea-Pillar tribe and now the Protectorate. Anyway, Rovertson, you'll come with me. We have much to discuss about Askin, and we'll see if we can at least slow that disease. I imagine Haze will show Azronicle around our home, so Peter, I want you to show Kyle, Darkender and Rouge around. And Gillien, if that's alright with you Rovertson." Thomas said in a more commanding voice than before, Peter recognized it as his chief voice. "Yes father. I expect you'll want us all to meet you in the Great Hall in a few hours?" Peter asked. Hos dad nodded in reply. "That's perfectly fine with me. Just be carefull he has a nack for getting in trouble." Said Rovertson. Gillien gave him a glare before mumbling "just like my brother annoying as can be". "It feel nice to be back here" Kyle said as he followed Peter with Rouge on his head as for Darkender he stayed outside upset by the fact that Kyle got to see Rovertson and Azronicle again, Rouge got to see Haze again and he couldn't get to see Tempest again. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Once Peter had led the others away, and Haze had gone off with Azronicle, Thomas turned to Rovertson. "Well, we should find a place where we won't be interrupted, but also where you can fit. Follow me, Lord Rovertson, we'll continue our discussion on Askin in the Grand Archives." Thomas said as he mounted Screech and took off. "Everyone trying to call me lord Rovertson is going to take some time to get used to in my mind your a much higher authority then me and it should be the other way around but not my customs I guess. Anyhow I wouldn't mind getting to see this place anyhow. Although I bet Azronicals going to get a kick out of it the first time someone calls him that it'll take weeks for me to quiet him down. I can't say I'm not flattered tho that I'm thought that highly of." "Sorry if it seems odd to you, but all those who were friends of Jorgen are given the title of lord, and their descendant are titled master. But those who are descendant of Jorgen have higher titles, I am the Chief Protector and my son is the Prince Protector. And Councillors are, well Councillors. Any way, the fastest way is through the mountain, we'll have to take one of the lower entrances though, they're made for larger dragons." Thomas said as they flew toward the single mountain that rose up from the island. "I'm unfamiliar with human terms like some of those and I don't know the order of them makes me feel well kinda stupid since I used to be human but two years before I became this way I did not even know how to speak any language at all so its not very surprising. And the architecture in this place I always liked how Jorgen designed things." "That makes sense. And Jorgen wanted all the cultures of the world he had seen to be represented here, so he made an architectural style that was a hybrid of them all." Thomas said as they flew through one of the larger tunnels in the mountain. The tunnel shortly emptied out into a massive chamber that went up to the mountain's peak and extended far below the surface, the entire chasm lined with cooking hearths, benches, and so on, with a particularly nice platform held in place right in the center of the chasm by large stone bridges. "The entire mountain is hollow, and the chasm stretches down deeper than any modern mine. Welcome to the Great Hall. Over time we've expanded the Hall because when Jorgen rebuilt Dovangard, he wanted the Great Hall to fit all of his tribe as well as the inhabitants of Berk. Later, once the Sea-Pillar tribe became the Draco Protectorate and spread to be a world wide organization, Jorgen wanted all it's members to be able to fit in this hall, human and dragon alike. We have kept up with that desire of his to this day and more, the Great Hall currently is large enough to hold the entire Protectorate, the full population of Asralie, and most of Ekoros's population. The Great Hall is also the central hub for Dracobyen, from here there are tunnels leading anywhere and everywhere within the city." Thomas said as he and Screech began flying down into the chasm. "Asralie has a similer system everywhere is connected underground and recently because of how crowded everywhere with humans near Azralie we have had to make tunnels leading miles below the ground to have ways of leaving Asralie undetected. and the largest mineshaft of Asralie reaches the core of the earth even though only the most fit for the heat ebonystrikers go that far down. So is this where we do our talking?"

"We are aware of that, where do you think the inspiration came from. But no, we will not talk here, this is a very public place and I don't think we want too many interruptions. We're going to go to a special part of the Grand Archive. Follow me." Thomas said as Screech dove down toward what from there distance was just a speck of green light. At the green light, which spilled from crystals lining an ornately decorated tunnel, Screech pulled up and landed in the tunnel before walking toward a pair of massive doors which appeared to be gold encrusted with various gems forming the Sea-Pillar, now Protectorate, seal. "Amazing it must of taken forever to make them doors. And the gems down the walkway lighting the way what are they I don't remember ever seeing them." "The doors did indeed take quite some time. One of Jorgen's grandchildren commisioned them, but they weren't finished for for several decades. And I'm not surprised you don't recognize the crystals. We call them Illuma gems, they aren't found in Europe naturally, Jorgen had brought a few samples back from New Zealand, and found that these crystals can be grown with relative ease. They can glow in various colors and we use them to both illuminate the city, they're much safer than torched or electrical lights, and for color coordinating certain areas. But even after centuries of study, we have not learned how they glow, or what determines the coloration." Thomas said as he opened the doors to reveal a chamber that strongly resembled the Asralie Archives, only significantly larger. "Welcome to the Grand Archive, home to both the memories of Protectorate Ebonystrikers and the E-Net. We can talk in my private study, come along." Thomas said, leading the way to the back of the Grand Archives and past several water fountains and statues, which were also adorned with the Illuma gems. "Quite impressive I'd say Azronical might have a heart attack if you show him this place." "Thomas just nodded as he pushed his hand against a glowing button on the wall, which was followed by a grinding sound as a section of wall swung open to reveal a library, much smaller than the Archive but still rather large. "This is my private study and library, the only reason for us to be interrupted is if there is an emergency." he said as he shut the door after Rovertson had entered. "Now, I believe we have an annoying female presence to discuss." Thomas said as he sat in an ornately carved chair behind the central desk. "Well where to start first of all probably be what she is. Most assume she is a deamon and well she couldn't be further from that to be honest. She didn't start out evil she actually is a norse god before she betrayed the others by trying to kill Thor but failing. As punishment she was stripped of her body and banished but gods cant kill each other its an ancient truth so she survived and the hatred only grew in her for everything and she learned how to posses bodies and use them as conduits for her energy. But she was rather inexperienced in it and could barely effect what happened around her. It was then when she posessed Gathril Azronicles father that she made a mistake. Unbeknownst to her ebonystrikers where rather smart in the area of the mind so when she was discovered they devised a way to trap her and remove her from Gathril and it worked till Azronical as a youngling got to curious and accidentally released her from her prison and she entered him until Rezeroth one day attacked Azronical and she fled into him. Sadly the way the ebonystrikers trapped her would be ineffective anymore with how powerful she has gotten and if she gets a hold of her body again even I cant defeat her as I've done before. You already know her basic abilities and stuff but shes gotten a whole new worse since Rezeroth. Shes so much more powerful and will no doubt find someway over here its only a matter of time when she arrives I can hold her off once maybe twice but as I weaken shell have an advantage. but every time I manage to destroy her body we have maybe a week or two of safety before shes ready to face us again. I suspect we got a few monthes before she finds me so we have time to prepare but that's also more time for me to weaken. As for killing her it won't be easy. We would need to find her body which disappeared some were after I defeated her and completely destroy it which would take so much energy its mind-blowing but I think the sword I made for Gillien the aurora gem might just hold enough energy to do so but finding Askin's body before she finds it herself will be hard. Any questions before I continue?"

Thomas sat quietly a moment before replying. "Well, that is a bit troubling. Thankfully if she, when she finds us, the Protectorate has also grown greatly in strength over our existence. We combine ancient knowledge with Ebonystriker and modern technology, but don't get me wrong, I have no illusions that we could win in the long run, but we may at least frustrate her. And we have allies, a few bands of dragons that still choose to roam the Earth as well as Ekoros and Asralie, united we are quite the force. But here is my question, what do you have in mind to deal with Askin? You have obviously put much thought on the matter." Thomas remarked. "Honestly the main goal is finding her body before she does and I feel that the only way we could stop her from searching is to use her attention span against her. You'd swear she only has the attention span of a three year old she is so easily distracted. We would need to probably use me and azronical as bait making her focus on trying to kill us whilst the rest of you look in the list of potential sites I'll get set up. Of anything in the whole world she probably wants us dead and would do just about anything to kill us. But we have some time before she becomes a problem she still probably is weak from being stuck in the state she was in for so long. Plus I have these." Moving a bit he managed to pull off the pack that gillien had strapped to him and dragged out the belt of 15 aurora gems. "These aurora gems have allot of stored power and abilities with them all I can use many abilities from all three ebonystriker types although with less effectiveness then my original abilities the power stored in these gems is the only reason I'm still alive and fighting the disease Azronical has a similar one with less gems." Rovertson winced in pain as he accidentally shifted to his side a bit and continued "the rest we can talk about in the open later but first I need to have this checked out." "Of course, Screech and I will escort you back to the Great Hall, I called a medical team earlier and they should be waiting for us." Thomas said as he and his Bonenapper led the way back through the Grand Archive and down the tunnel before flying back up the chasm to the central platform which held the seats for higher leveled persons. Once there, Thomas, Screech, and Rovertson were met by a medical team comprised of life Ebonystrikers, humans, and other, more exotic dragons that Thomas knew had a combination of healing and poisonous capabilities. But what Thomas hoped didn't bother too much was the largest member of the medical crew, a large creature whose body was as much made of stone, crystal, and bone as it was flesh, that vaguely resembled a winged serpent. The crystals forming an extravagant array of colors along the creature's body.

"I recognize all the dragon types but what is that. If I did not know any better I'd say that is a deamon" Said Rovertson more then a lil creeped out and anxious but he'd seen much more disturbing deamons in his past. And partially wondering if asking for medical help was such a good idea after all especially considering the family ties. Jorgen tended to make everything painful so maybe that trait had followed down the line.... to late now. "Well, it is a demon, technically. He and a few... relatives of his came to us after one of our larger movements against the demons, asking for forgiveness and swearing to aid our cause for as long they live. Since then they have proven immensely loyal and useful to the Protectorate. This one specifically is a demon of the unknown, of darkness and death and other things. I figured if any member of the Protectorate could help with this disease, he would be particularly qualified. I hope this won't be a problem." Thomas said to Rovertson. "I am capable of speaking for myself." the demon said to Thomas before turning to Rovertson, "My name is Urkendel, and the Chief Protector's description of me is true. Neither me nor my brothers bear you any ill-will, killer of Rezeroth, and since you liberated us, we have slowly learned to speak for ourselves. But in truth our loyalty to this Protectorate is not out of our good graces, not entirely, but out of self preservation. We joined them when they began killing our kind in great numbers, and now we cannot return to the demon hoards, as they would kill us on sight for betraying them. Think of us what you will, demon slayer, but you may be our best hope of stopping the Askin spirit, the corrupted goddess will surely kill us all." Urkendel said in a rasping, metallic, almost etheral voice. "And of course I know what she truly is, it is my nature to know of these secrets one way or another. I did not pass along the information because it was not needed for me to survive." the demon added before either Thomas or Rovertson could question him. Rovertson gave a glare that if possible probably woulda fried the deamon on sight but managed to forcebly tear his eyes off the deamon and grind his claws into the ground in anger and frustration. After several tense minutes that seemed like hours his muscles untensed the slightest bit but everyone could tell that Rovertson was still dangerous. After a bit he started talking but refused to look at the deamon. "He can look but if he even gets within striking distance of me I will show how quickly I really can kill thats my terms take it or leave it." Rovertson was absoulutely repulsed by the idea of allying with deamons but no matter how repulsed he was he couldnt help but see the advantages it would give. But he would not let that thing close friend or foe.
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Peter checked to make sure everyone was following him and noticed Darkender staying where he was. "Come on Darkender, you don't want to get left behind." Peter called back. "Come on bud we need to get going" Kyle said "Hey lazy scales got your butt in gear now" Rouge said not even caring how it would impact on Darkender. Gillien took one look at the black dragon and knew that look. The black dragon must be depressed about something. Confident that the others were following him, Peter led the way down the tower's stairwell, which was lined with colorful and detailed images from Jorgen's life. Among them were images of the battle with Rezeroth, a battle with a Snpatrapper on a small island, and Jorgen's battle against the Island Crusher, which made the Red Death look like a new born, but still could not compare to Rezeroth. (night's OCs)(Gillien?)
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Haze was immensely glad to see Azronicle, he had begun to think that Azronicle and Rovertson had died. But now he flew along his old friend and father figure toward his home. "Well I guess we are a bit hard to find, the Protectorate has spent many fortunes to remain undetected by the modern world. But anyway, how have you been? It's been what, almost a thousand years since we last saw each other?" Haze asked. "Well Haze I've been Chasing and hunting deamons almost the full time killing of their population and trying to find a way to finish Askin forever. Its been lonely most of the time with just Rovertson and Azura occasionally when Asralie didn't need her. It has been about a thousand years. But enough about me has life been treating you well Haze? I want to hear all about you for one time instead of just me telling the stories." replied Azronicle. "Well, when Jorgen created the Protectorate, Shock, Sunfire and I all joined of course. Then there was the process of building the Protectorate up, which took a lot of time and involved quite a few battles that I can talk about later. After that everything just sort of fell into a routine, rescue some humans from rogue dragons, or vice versa, provide safety for refugee Ebonystrikers from the east and west, and so on. It only just got interesting in the last few centuries! First we merged with the Hunters, you know, Ingrid's and Tempest's group, though the joining wasn't entirely peaceful. But lately we've been gearing up for when Askin returns, which by what I've heard is now, and fighting demons where we can. You should have been there for the Great Revolt, back from 1930 to 1952! Dracobyen was under siege almost the entire time, I never thought I'd see old Shock get so mad! When his mate and two of his kids died, he flew into a rage! Even Rovertson wasn't as scary when he went into a rampage! By that time Dracobyen was about to fall, most of us were exhausted and badly injured, most of the life Ebonystrikers were hurt especially bad, so Shockstorm flew out alone against that army of eastern Ebonystrikers and humans and took them all down on his own! I think his powers leftover from Askin helped too, he actually created a storm system that took days to clear up!" Haze said excitedly as they flew back toward Dracobyen. "that most definitely sounds like the Shock I knew. A thousand years is a long time alot has happened. Over time me and Rovertson have at times almost widdled the deamon population down the extinction multiple times but they always recover before we can finish them off. Almost all the deamons fear Rovertson because hes gotten to be such a good deamonhunter. You remember those deamonhunters that joined us in the fight against Rezeroth? Well after Jorgen left Rovertson joined their ranks and made it a personal vendetta to wipe out all deamons and has become the best deamonkiller out there in the world today over time. Me I keep him from getting himself killed as usual. He still has that old habit of ending up in dire situations like crazy." Azronical laughed a bit before continuing. "Why don't you give me a tour of the place I'd love to see what this place looks like now."

"Of course I'll give you a tour! Though I won't be able to show you everywhere, you're a little, ah, large to fit through some corridors." Haze said eagerly as they landed on the perch tower. "Come on, the Chief Protector will understand that I'm giving you a tour." Haze said as he led the way over to a large castle-like structure. "Is that a crack about my weight! I'm rather slim for a rock ebonystriker my age!" Azronical couldn't hold his serious tone any longer and cracked a laugh. "This place certainly has grown all I remember is a barely inhabited island last time I was here." "Oh yeah, I forgot you and Rover haven't been here since around the time we dealt with Rezeroth. A couple years after that, Jorgen actually found some other survivors from the islands destruction who had returned. After that, with some help from Berk, he and the survivors rebuilt Dovangard, and improved on the old design. Jorgen insisted on mixing in designs he'd seen from all across the world into the new village, and Vidoron, I'm sure you remember him, helped build up the first Ebonystriker defenses to wrap around a human city by Jorgen's request." Haze said as they flew. "Of course I still see Vidoran and remember him he does happen to be in Asralie most of the time Even though he doesn't seem to tell us everything strait up we didn't even know that he still kept in contact with the Protectorate until recently. Seems the only thing he has not told is about us being alive." Azronicle said. "That isn't entirely true. He would've told us if you had died, so in a way he told us you were alive. Let's land in the courtyard in front of the castle, it's a good place to start." Haze said, descending down to the ground and landing on a large mosaic courtyard that depicted the battle with Rezeroth. "As you can see, Rezeroth left a lasting impression on Jorgen." Haze added once they had landed. "Not nearly as much of an impression as he left on me. The only time I've ever felt just pure joy from killing something was when I killed that deamon and hope that i never feel that much happiness in killing something again." remarked Azronicle. "Yeah, that was not a very fun time. But at least this mosaic works like a warning of demons who get too powerful. Jorgen even called up a friend of his from Rome just to make sure it came out accurate. But anyway, This castle is the main surface stronghold on the island, is invaders ever managed to land on the island and push us back, this would be our last stand before retreating underground. It also holds the Council Hall, where the Protectorate Council meets to discuss matters that are not important enough for the Chief Protector to handle directly. now please get off the mosaic, I have something to show you." Haze said as he walked over to the northern border of the mosaic. "Ok now I'm curious and also do you still have the aurora gem I gave you so long ago?" "I do indeed still have the aurora gem you gave me. I'm not wearing it currently though because one of our smiths is making a new necklace for it to hang from, as you can guess I sort of outgrew the old one." Haze said as he placed his claws into neatly spaced holes in the northern marker tile. He then turned the tile and removed his claws. As the tile rotated to it's original position, the entire mosaic began spiraling open to reveal a tunnel that reached straight down, with a staircase spiraling along the outside. "Wow quite amazing and glad to hear that I might as well power up your gem its bound to be rather depleted."

"And that's another reason I don't wear it very often, I don't have much need for making a fashion statement. Anyway, this pit leads down for several hundred kilometers. It is lined with tunnels that lead to various dragon nests across the city, and is one of the main emergeny exits in case of a disaster like a cave in. It also connects to several points of interest, such as the Great Hall, Grand Archives, Jorgen's Library, and the Old Crypt. But we'll use it to get to one of my favorite places in the city." Haze said as he began flying down the abyss. "Oh and what might this place be?" "Oh, you'll see. All I'll say now is it's called the Mystic Grotto." Haze said as they flew deeper and deeper into the earth. At first it got colder the deeper they went, but then it started getting warmer before Haze finally changed course and flew down a barely lit side tunnel that was just barely big enough for Azronicle to fit. "I hope this doesn't get any tighter then this further down because id be rather hard to get unstuck." "Don't be such a worry wort! If you get stuck we'll just have some Whispering Deaths dig you out, but it win't get tighter. It should open up just about now." Haze said as they entered a massive cavern. The walls were lined with crystals glowing in a variety of colors, and that light reflecting off a clear lake in the middle of the cavern made ribbons rainbow light move on the walls and ceiling. And all along the ground, a thick mist swirled. "This, is my favorite place in the city, my special little recluse." Haze said with a wave of his long tail making more of the fog swirl. Azronicle looked around in awe at just how perfect the place is and suddenly felt the urge to play as he had not done in many years because of how serious things had gotten. "Want to swim? I'm not the best swimmer but we could have some fun." Said Azronical sounding slightly juvinile despite his age but tired of being so serious all the time and needed a release from the constant stress. Wagging his tail a bit in anticipation. "Well look who started sounding like a hatchling again, Vidoron told me all about how you were when you were young." Haze said with a laugh. "But alright, lets swim. But just to warn you, that lake connects directly to an underwater cave, so don't be surprised if a Scauldron or Thunderdrum joins us." Haze said as he half jumped, half flew into the lake with a large splash, angling his tail deliberately so that water splashed onto Azronicle. "Why you litt" Was all Azronicle could get out before he hit the water after the smokebreath. Soon in the chase it became apparent that Azronical was a rather large clutz in the water and managed to get himself tangled in himself multiple times as he chased the smokebreath in the water but he couldn't care less he was having more fun then he'd had in over 300 years.

[killjoy]

Rovertson isnt happy...

[Shockstorm]

lol, and there's more than one...

[Shockstorm]

After some time flying, Peter became aware that they were nearing Dracobyen. He couldn't really see it, the entire island had more protection than Asralie and Ekoros combined, but as he was able to understand there was a powerful beacon made from special stones that reacted with the gems that are inlaid in the Protectorate seal that would hum slightly as the seal and the beacon grew closer. As they were flying, though, Peter noticed that the little bit of light they had been getting from the moon was cut off, and the air around them became thicker and smoke-like. "Ebonystriker technology of course expected as much." Said Rovertson "Even more powerfull then Asralies field it seems but Asralie probably has a smaller protection field because of our limited resources. A little overkill if you ask me." Said Azronical carefull to not sound jealeous. "I'm......finding it........hard.......to.......BREATH!" Kyle said. "Trust me, you have no idea how many close calls we've had of getting detected, especially with modern technology! So naturally we use all the defensive measures we can get our hands on, but this smoke is, odd." Peter said before a loud roar filled the air. Shortly thereafter he heard a thud and looked back to see if the others were okay, but he couldn't quite make out where Azronicle was. He was about to call out when he heard a particularly familiar voice. "AZRONICLE!!! It's been FOREVER, where have you been? Have you had any trouble over the last few hundred years? Why did you never bother to contact me?" demanded a familiar dragon as it and Azronicle came back into view, after Azronicle had been knocked down a bit. The newcomer was a Smothering Smokebreath, and probably the largest out of it's entire species' history, at just under the same size as Arc, and likely the oldest living as well.

After several seconds of recovering his wits Azronicle finally replied "Haze your still alive I did try and contact you but I could never find you! You have grown so much almost as big as I was when we first met. You definitely gained some weight almost knocked me in the ocean. Lets land so i can catch my breath and we can catch up you winded me a bit but I'm so glad your still okay I did miss you." replied Azronicle sounding a lot happier then he had in a long time. Peter turned back around to face where he knew Dracobyen was, and wasn't surprised to see that the path to the island was now lined with Protectorate dragons, many of which had riders, and that right in the middle hovered a middle aged man riding a Bonenapper. "I'm sorry about the royal welcome. The Council insisted that your return receive all the royal rights owed to friends of Jorgen, and their descendants." the man called. "I'm sure they don't mind too bad dad, though I am surprised by just how many of the Council members I can see out here." Peter called back. "I appreciate it but wish it was under better circumstances. So who are you?" Said Rovertson carefully in english so if there where any who had not learnt dragonese around yet they would understand. Not used to being around so many at one time made him a little nervous at all the attention Meanwhile Gillien seemed to be in shock and quite a bit fazed by all the dragons. "I'm perfectly fine with all this and I've desired what my answer to the request to join the Protectorates I'd be happy to join" Kyle said now able to breath probably. "Oh, sorry, where are my manners. My name is Thomas Fasten, Chief of the Protectorate and father of Peter. My friend here is called Screech, though he won't say anything. He had an accident when he was a hatchling that nearly killed him, but his vocal cords never recovered." Thomas said in perfect dragonese, patting Screech the Bonenapper on the head. "And I will be honored to conduct the ceremony myself, Lord Kyle. Though we will have to modify it a bit, normally part of the ceremony is when the new member chooses his dragon companion, often one that they grew up with, but you already have a companion. But enough of that for now, let's land and get all of you situated." Thomas finished before turning and guiding the group over to Dracobyen, still barely visible through the Ebonystriker defenses.

"That sounds a lot like what happened to Darkender and I can't wait Mr Thomas Fasten." Kyle said excitedly. After Kyle got done talking Rovertson asked Thomas "I think I should talk to you alone soon about Askin. I know a lot more about her then anything else alive and can tell you what she Really is. And the talk alone part is not a request its mandatory if I'm going to tell what I have to tell. I'm sorry if its inconvenient but the only reason I've lived as long as I have and nearly hunted the deamon population to extinction over ten times is because of my suspicions and I'm not so keen on losing the thing that has kept me alive all this time. On a different note you ever noticed how the deamon population fluctuates up and down over the years? Every time deamon activity has significantly lowered is mostly because I became more active in hunting them and I've become so close to ridding of them all but they always have recovered. I was hoping the Protectorate might know how they recover so quickly so after Askin is dealt with the deamons can be dealt with properly." After saying this Rovertson looked over to his wounded side and winced in pain. "I need you to see what you can have done about this demonic disease I doubt you can cure it but maybe you can slow it down so I can find a cure myself. Its not contagious luckily or we would be in a much more dire situation and its spreading slower then it should be probably due to my unrivaled healing abilities. Even so I would have died months ago if not for the massive amount of energy I have stored away. Something anciently powerful did this and I've never heard of anything like it and I've heard of them all I fear another arch deamon has awoken thanks to Askin's meddling. One as powerful or more powerful then Rezeroth. More likely the latter even Rezeroth could not hurt ebonystrikers with his plague and I should be the hardest to infect of them all."

Thomas did not reply to Rovertson, but instead flew on in silence toward Dracobyen. As they began passing through the many layers of defenses, the surface portion of Dracobyen slowly became more visible. Once they were through the defenses and past the walls, they landed on a large tower Peter knew was specifically designed for numerous dragons to land on. "Alright, well welcome to the capitol of the Draco Protectorate, the city of Dracobyen. Although you may recognize the name of the island more easily, welcome to Dovangard, once home of the Sea-Pillar tribe and now the Protectorate. Anyway, Rovertson, you'll come with me. We have much to discuss about Askin, and we'll see if we can at least slow that disease. I imagine Haze will show Azronicle around our home, so Peter, I want you to show Kyle, Darkender and Rouge around. And Gillien, if that's alright with you Rovertson." Thomas said in a more commanding voice than before, Peter recognized it as his chief voice. "Yes father. I expect you'll want us all to meet you in the Great Hall in a few hours?" Peter asked. Hos dad nodded in reply. "That's perfectly fine with me. Just be carefull he has a nack for getting in trouble." Said Rovertson. Gillien gave him a glare before mumbling "just like my brother annoying as can be". "It feel nice to be back here" Kyle said as he followed Peter with Rouge on his head as for Darkender he stayed outside upset by the fact that Kyle got to see Rovertson and Azronicle again, Rouge got to see Haze again and he couldn't get to see Tempest again. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Once Peter had led the others away, and Haze had gone off with Azronicle, Thomas turned to Rovertson. "Well, we should find a place where we won't be interrupted, but also where you can fit. Follow me, Lord Rovertson, we'll continue our discussion on Askin in the Grand Archives." Thomas said as he mounted Screech and took off. "Everyone trying to call me lord Rovertson is going to take some time to get used to in my mind your a much higher authority then me and it should be the other way around but not my customs I guess. Anyhow I wouldn't mind getting to see this place anyhow. Although I bet Azronicals going to get a kick out of it the first time someone calls him that it'll take weeks for me to quiet him down. I can't say I'm not flattered tho that I'm thought that highly of." "Sorry if it seems odd to you, but all those who were friends of Jorgen are given the title of lord, and their descendant are titled master. But those who are descendant of Jorgen have higher titles, I am the Chief Protector and my son is the Prince Protector. And Councillors are, well Councillors. Any way, the fastest way is through the mountain, we'll have to take one of the lower entrances though, they're made for larger dragons." Thomas said as they flew toward the single mountain that rose up from the island. "I'm unfamiliar with human terms like some of those and I don't know the order of them makes me feel well kinda stupid since I used to be human but two years before I became this way I did not even know how to speak any language at all so its not very surprising. And the architecture in this place I always liked how Jorgen designed things." "That makes sense. And Jorgen wanted all the cultures of the world he had seen to be represented here, so he made an architectural style that was a hybrid of them all." Thomas said as they flew through one of the larger tunnels in the mountain. The tunnel shortly emptied out into a massive chamber that went up to the mountain's peak and extended far below the surface, the entire chasm lined with cooking hearths, benches, and so on, with a particularly nice platform held in place right in the center of the chasm by large stone bridges. "The entire mountain is hollow, and the chasm stretches down deeper than any modern mine. Welcome to the Great Hall. Over time we've expanded the Hall because when Jorgen rebuilt Dovangard, he wanted the Great Hall to fit all of his tribe as well as the inhabitants of Berk. Later, once the Sea-Pillar tribe became the Draco Protectorate and spread to be a world wide organization, Jorgen wanted all it's members to be able to fit in this hall, human and dragon alike. We have kept up with that desire of his to this day and more, the Great Hall currently is large enough to hold the entire Protectorate, the full population of Asralie, and most of Ekoros's population. The Great Hall is also the central hub for Dracobyen, from here there are tunnels leading anywhere and everywhere within the city." Thomas said as he and Screech began flying down into the chasm. "Asralie has a similer system everywhere is connected underground and recently because of how crowded everywhere with humans near Azralie we have had to make tunnels leading miles below the ground to have ways of leaving Asralie undetected. and the largest mineshaft of Asralie reaches the core of the earth even though only the most fit for the heat ebonystrikers go that far down. So is this where we do our talking?"

"We are aware of that, where do you think the inspiration came from. But no, we will not talk here, this is a very public place and I don't think we want too many interruptions. We're going to go to a special part of the Grand Archive. Follow me." Thomas said as Screech dove down toward what from there distance was just a speck of green light. At the green light, which spilled from crystals lining an ornately decorated tunnel, Screech pulled up and landed in the tunnel before walking toward a pair of massive doors which appeared to be gold encrusted with various gems forming the Sea-Pillar, now Protectorate, seal. "Amazing it must of taken forever to make them doors. And the gems down the walkway lighting the way what are they I don't remember ever seeing them." "The doors did indeed take quite some time. One of Jorgen's grandchildren commisioned them, but they weren't finished for for several decades. And I'm not surprised you don't recognize the crystals. We call them Illuma gems, they aren't found in Europe naturally, Jorgen had brought a few samples back from New Zealand, and found that these crystals can be grown with relative ease. They can glow in various colors and we use them to both illuminate the city, they're much safer than torched or electrical lights, and for color coordinating certain areas. But even after centuries of study, we have not learned how they glow, or what determines the coloration." Thomas said as he opened the doors to reveal a chamber that strongly resembled the Asralie Archives, only significantly larger. "Welcome to the Grand Archive, home to both the memories of Protectorate Ebonystrikers and the E-Net. We can talk in my private study, come along." Thomas said, leading the way to the back of the Grand Archives and past several water fountains and statues, which were also adorned with the Illuma gems. "Quite impressive I'd say Azronical might have a heart attack if you show him this place." "Thomas just nodded as he pushed his hand against a glowing button on the wall, which was followed by a grinding sound as a section of wall swung open to reveal a library, much smaller than the Archive but still rather large. "This is my private study and library, the only reason for us to be interrupted is if there is an emergency." he said as he shut the door after Rovertson had entered. "Now, I believe we have an annoying female presence to discuss." Thomas said as he sat in an ornately carved chair behind the central desk. "Well where to start first of all probably be what she is. Most assume she is a deamon and well she couldn't be further from that to be honest. She didn't start out evil she actually is a norse god before she betrayed the others by trying to kill Thor but failing. As punishment she was stripped of her body and banished but gods cant kill each other its an ancient truth so she survived and the hatred only grew in her for everything and she learned how to posses bodies and use them as conduits for her energy. But she was rather inexperienced in it and could barely effect what happened around her. It was then when she posessed Gathril Azronicles father that she made a mistake. Unbeknownst to her ebonystrikers where rather smart in the area of the mind so when she was discovered they devised a way to trap her and remove her from Gathril and it worked till Azronical as a youngling got to curious and accidentally released her from her prison and she entered him until Rezeroth one day attacked Azronical and she fled into him. Sadly the way the ebonystrikers trapped her would be ineffective anymore with how powerful she has gotten and if she gets a hold of her body again even I cant defeat her as I've done before. You already know her basic abilities and stuff but shes gotten a whole new worse since Rezeroth. Shes so much more powerful and will no doubt find someway over here its only a matter of time when she arrives I can hold her off once maybe twice but as I weaken shell have an advantage. but every time I manage to destroy her body we have maybe a week or two of safety before shes ready to face us again. I suspect we got a few monthes before she finds me so we have time to prepare but that's also more time for me to weaken. As for killing her it won't be easy. We would need to find her body which disappeared some were after I defeated her and completely destroy it which would take so much energy its mind-blowing but I think the sword I made for Gillien the aurora gem might just hold enough energy to do so but finding Askin's body before she finds it herself will be hard. Any questions before I continue?"

Thomas sat quietly a moment before replying. "Well, that is a bit troubling. Thankfully if she, when she finds us, the Protectorate has also grown greatly in strength over our existence. We combine ancient knowledge with Ebonystriker and modern technology, but don't get me wrong, I have no illusions that we could win in the long run, but we may at least frustrate her. And we have allies, a few bands of dragons that still choose to roam the Earth as well as Ekoros and Asralie, united we are quite the force. But here is my question, what do you have in mind to deal with Askin? You have obviously put much thought on the matter." Thomas remarked. "Honestly the main goal is finding her body before she does and I feel that the only way we could stop her from searching is to use her attention span against her. You'd swear she only has the attention span of a three year old she is so easily distracted. We would need to probably use me and azronical as bait making her focus on trying to kill us whilst the rest of you look in the list of potential sites I'll get set up. Of anything in the whole world she probably wants us dead and would do just about anything to kill us. But we have some time before she becomes a problem she still probably is weak from being stuck in the state she was in for so long. Plus I have these." Moving a bit he managed to pull off the pack that gillien had strapped to him and dragged out the belt of 15 aurora gems. "These aurora gems have allot of stored power and abilities with them all I can use many abilities from all three ebonystriker types although with less effectiveness then my original abilities the power stored in these gems is the only reason I'm still alive and fighting the disease Azronical has a similar one with less gems." Rovertson winced in pain as he accidentally shifted to his side a bit and continued "the rest we can talk about in the open later but first I need to have this checked out." "Of course, Screech and I will escort you back to the Great Hall, I called a medical team earlier and they should be waiting for us." Thomas said as he and his Bonenapper led the way back through the Grand Archive and down the tunnel before flying back up the chasm to the central platform which held the seats for higher leveled persons. Once there, Thomas, Screech, and Rovertson were met by a medical team comprised of life Ebonystrikers, humans, and other, more exotic dragons that Thomas knew had a combination of healing and poisonous capabilities. But what Thomas hoped didn't bother too much was the largest member of the medical crew, a large creature whose body was as much made of stone, crystal, and bone as it was flesh, that vaguely resembled a winged serpent. The crystals forming an extravagant array of colors along the creature's body.

"I recognize all the dragon types but what is that. If I did not know any better I'd say that is a deamon" Said Rovertson more then a lil creeped out and anxious but he'd seen much more disturbing deamons in his past. And partially wondering if asking for medical help was such a good idea after all especially considering the family ties. Jorgen tended to make everything painful so maybe that trait had followed down the line.... to late now. "Well, it is a demon, technically. He and a few... relatives of his came to us after one of our larger movements against the demons, asking for forgiveness and swearing to aid our cause for as long they live. Since then they have proven immensely loyal and useful to the Protectorate. This one specifically is a demon of the unknown, of darkness and death and other things. I figured if any member of the Protectorate could help with this disease, he would be particularly qualified. I hope this won't be a problem." Thomas said to Rovertson. "I am capable of speaking for myself." the demon said to Thomas before turning to Rovertson, "My name is Urkendel, and the Chief Protector's description of me is true. Neither me nor my brothers bear you any ill-will, killer of Rezeroth, and since you liberated us, we have slowly learned to speak for ourselves. But in truth our loyalty to this Protectorate is not out of our good graces, not entirely, but out of self preservation. We joined them when they began killing our kind in great numbers, and now we cannot return to the demon hoards, as they would kill us on sight for betraying them. Think of us what you will, demon slayer, but you may be our best hope of stopping the Askin spirit, the corrupted goddess will surely kill us all." Urkendel said in a rasping, metallic, almost etheral voice. "And of course I know what she truly is, it is my nature to know of these secrets one way or another. I did not pass along the information because it was not needed for me to survive." the demon added before either Thomas or Rovertson could question him. Rovertson gave a glare that if possible probably woulda fried the deamon on sight but managed to forcibly tear his eyes off the deamon and grind his claws into the ground in anger and frustration. After several tense minutes that seemed like hours his muscles untensed the slightest bit but everyone could tell that Rovertson was still dangerous. After a bit he started talking but refused to look at the deamon. "He can look but if he even gets within striking distance of me I will show how quickly I really can kill that's my terms take it or leave it." Rovertson was absolutely repulsed by the idea of allying with deamons but no matter how repulsed he was he couldn't help but see the advantages it would give. But he would not let that thing close friend or foe. Urkendel just nodded his skull-like head, "Very well, killer of my kind. I will observe the disease from a distance and allow my companions to do all the work. I do not desire a fight, it would be counterproductive to my goals." After that the medical crew worked in silence, with the demon keeping a safe distance from Rovertson. Thomas had gone over the the bench on the platform and had begun checking reports from outposts across the world, and Screech curled around behind him. "I believe there is no cure that we can make, not without whatever created this in the first place." Urkendel said after about an hour of the medical team working on the diseased area. "But I do have two solutions to slow it, to buy time a the humans put it. One is far less painful than the other, and less time consuming, but you may not like what would be required." Urkendel said. (Rov) "Well, either we cut open the diseased area and remove a large portion of the flesh, which would be a foolish choice that could just as easily kill you, hunter of demons. Or you could allow me to... learn the disease. I would not be able to use it against others, but I would learn some of it's nature, and in so doing I would essencially remove it from you and add it to me, though I am not strong enough to move it all. However this process requires physical contact and cannot be forced upon an unwilling subject." Urkendel suggested, his voice devoid of any emotion. (Rov).
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Peter checked to make sure everyone was following him and noticed Darkender staying where he was. "Come on Darkender, you don't want to get left behind." Peter called back. "Come on bud we need to get going" Kyle said "Hey lazy scales got your butt in gear now" Rouge said not even caring how it would impact on Darkender. Gillien took one look at the black dragon and knew that look. The black dragon must be depressed about something. Confident that the others were following him, Peter led the way down the tower's stairwell, which was lined with colorful and detailed images from Jorgen's life. Among them were images of the battle with Rezeroth, a battle with a Snpatrapper on a small island, and Jorgen's battle against the Island Crusher, which made the Red Death look like a new born, but still could not compare to Rezeroth. (night's OCs)(Gillien?)
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Haze was immensely glad to see Azronicle, he had begun to think that Azronicle and Rovertson had died. But now he flew along his old friend and father figure toward his home. "Well I guess we are a bit hard to find, the Protectorate has spent many fortunes to remain undetected by the modern world. But anyway, how have you been? It's been what, almost a thousand years since we last saw each other?" Haze asked. "Well Haze I've been Chasing and hunting deamons almost the full time killing of their population and trying to find a way to finish Askin forever. Its been lonely most of the time with just Rovertson and Azura occasionally when Asralie didn't need her. It has been about a thousand years. But enough about me has life been treating you well Haze? I want to hear all about you for one time instead of just me telling the stories." replied Azronicle. "Well, when Jorgen created the Protectorate, Shock, Sunfire and I all joined of course. Then there was the process of building the Protectorate up, which took a lot of time and involved quite a few battles that I can talk about later. After that everything just sort of fell into a routine, rescue some humans from rogue dragons, or vice versa, provide safety for refugee Ebonystrikers from the east and west, and so on. It only just got interesting in the last few centuries! First we merged with the Hunters, you know, Ingrid's and Tempest's group, though the joining wasn't entirely peaceful. But lately we've been gearing up for when Askin returns, which by what I've heard is now, and fighting demons where we can. You should have been there for the Great Revolt, back from 1930 to 1952! Dracobyen was under siege almost the entire time, I never thought I'd see old Shock get so mad! When his mate and two of his kids died, he flew into a rage! Even Rovertson wasn't as scary when he went into a rampage! By that time Dracobyen was about to fall, most of us were exhausted and badly injured, most of the life Ebonystrikers were hurt especially bad, so Shockstorm flew out alone against that army of eastern Ebonystrikers and humans and took them all down on his own! I think his powers leftover from Askin helped too, he actually created a storm system that took days to clear up!" Haze said excitedly as they flew back toward Dracobyen. "that most definitely sounds like the Shock I knew. A thousand years is a long time alot has happened. Over time me and Rovertson have at times almost widdled the deamon population down the extinction multiple times but they always recover before we can finish them off. Almost all the deamons fear Rovertson because hes gotten to be such a good deamonhunter. You remember those deamonhunters that joined us in the fight against Rezeroth? Well after Jorgen left Rovertson joined their ranks and made it a personal vendetta to wipe out all deamons and has become the best deamonkiller out there in the world today over time. Me I keep him from getting himself killed as usual. He still has that old habit of ending up in dire situations like crazy." Azronical laughed a bit before continuing. "Why don't you give me a tour of the place I'd love to see what this place looks like now."

"Of course I'll give you a tour! Though I won't be able to show you everywhere, you're a little, ah, large to fit through some corridors." Haze said eagerly as they landed on the perch tower. "Come on, the Chief Protector will understand that I'm giving you a tour." Haze said as he led the way over to a large castle-like structure. "Is that a crack about my weight! I'm rather slim for a rock ebonystriker my age!" Azronical couldn't hold his serious tone any longer and cracked a laugh. "This place certainly has grown all I remember is a barely inhabited island last time I was here." "Oh yeah, I forgot you and Rover haven't been here since around the time we dealt with Rezeroth. A couple years after that, Jorgen actually found some other survivors from the islands destruction who had returned. After that, with some help from Berk, he and the survivors rebuilt Dovangard, and improved on the old design. Jorgen insisted on mixing in designs he'd seen from all across the world into the new village, and Vidoron, I'm sure you remember him, helped build up the first Ebonystriker defenses to wrap around a human city by Jorgen's request." Haze said as they flew. "Of course I still see Vidoran and remember him he does happen to be in Asralie most of the time Even though he doesn't seem to tell us everything strait up we didn't even know that he still kept in contact with the Protectorate until recently. Seems the only thing he has not told is about us being alive." Azronicle said. "That isn't entirely true. He would've told us if you had died, so in a way he told us you were alive. Let's land in the courtyard in front of the castle, it's a good place to start." Haze said, descending down to the ground and landing on a large mosaic courtyard that depicted the battle with Rezeroth. "As you can see, Rezeroth left a lasting impression on Jorgen." Haze added once they had landed. "Not nearly as much of an impression as he left on me. The only time I've ever felt just pure joy from killing something was when I killed that deamon and hope that i never feel that much happiness in killing something again." remarked Azronicle. "Yeah, that was not a very fun time. But at least this mosaic works like a warning of demons who get too powerful. Jorgen even called up a friend of his from Rome just to make sure it came out accurate. But anyway, This castle is the main surface stronghold on the island, is invaders ever managed to land on the island and push us back, this would be our last stand before retreating underground. It also holds the Council Hall, where the Protectorate Council meets to discuss matters that are not important enough for the Chief Protector to handle directly. now please get off the mosaic, I have something to show you." Haze said as he walked over to the northern border of the mosaic. "Ok now I'm curious and also do you still have the aurora gem I gave you so long ago?" "I do indeed still have the aurora gem you gave me. I'm not wearing it currently though because one of our smiths is making a new necklace for it to hang from, as you can guess I sort of outgrew the old one." Haze said as he placed his claws into neatly spaced holes in the northern marker tile. He then turned the tile and removed his claws. As the tile rotated to it's original position, the entire mosaic began spiraling open to reveal a tunnel that reached straight down, with a staircase spiraling along the outside. "Wow quite amazing and glad to hear that I might as well power up your gem its bound to be rather depleted."

"And that's another reason I don't wear it very often, I don't have much need for making a fashion statement. Anyway, this pit leads down for several hundred kilometers. It is lined with tunnels that lead to various dragon nests across the city, and is one of the main emergeny exits in case of a disaster like a cave in. It also connects to several points of interest, such as the Great Hall, Grand Archives, Jorgen's Library, and the Old Crypt. But we'll use it to get to one of my favorite places in the city." Haze said as he began flying down the abyss. "Oh and what might this place be?" "Oh, you'll see. All I'll say now is it's called the Mystic Grotto." Haze said as they flew deeper and deeper into the earth. At first it got colder the deeper they went, but then it started getting warmer before Haze finally changed course and flew down a barely lit side tunnel that was just barely big enough for Azronicle to fit. "I hope this doesn't get any tighter then this further down because id be rather hard to get unstuck." "Don't be such a worry wort! If you get stuck we'll just have some Whispering Deaths dig you out, but it win't get tighter. It should open up just about now." Haze said as they entered a massive cavern. The walls were lined with crystals glowing in a variety of colors, and that light reflecting off a clear lake in the middle of the cavern made ribbons rainbow light move on the walls and ceiling. And all along the ground, a thick mist swirled. "This, is my favorite place in the city, my special little recluse." Haze said with a wave of his long tail making more of the fog swirl. Azronicle looked around in awe at just how perfect the place is and suddenly felt the urge to play as he had not done in many years because of how serious things had gotten. "Want to swim? I'm not the best swimmer but we could have some fun." Said Azronical sounding slightly juvinile despite his age but tired of being so serious all the time and needed a release from the constant stress. Wagging his tail a bit in anticipation. "Well look who started sounding like a hatchling again, Vidoron told me all about how you were when you were young." Haze said with a laugh. "But alright, lets swim. But just to warn you, that lake connects directly to an underwater cave, so don't be surprised if a Scauldron or Thunderdrum joins us." Haze said as he half jumped, half flew into the lake with a large splash, angling his tail deliberately so that water splashed onto Azronicle. "Why you litt" Was all Azronicle could get out before he hit the water after the smokebreath. Soon in the chase it became apparent that Azronical was a rather large clutz in the water and managed to get himself tangled in himself multiple times as he chased the smokebreath in the water but he couldn't care less he was having more fun then he'd had in over 300 years.

[killjoy]

I so knew you'd try and drop that bomb lol

[Shockstorm]

hehehe

[Shockstorm]

mutulation or demon contact, hmmm...

[killjoy]

Well you do forget he can heal himself but I know you'd hate it if I took that option working on it stay put

[Shockstorm]

can he heal an entire chunk of flesh missing from his body(and not a small chunk either)

[night fury100]

After some time flying, Peter became aware that they were nearing Dracobyen. He couldn't really see it, the entire island had more protection than Asralie and Ekoros combined, but as he was able to understand there was a powerful beacon made from special stones that reacted with the gems that are inlaid in the Protectorate seal that would hum slightly as the seal and the beacon grew closer. As they were flying, though, Peter noticed that the little bit of light they had been getting from the moon was cut off, and the air around them became thicker and smoke-like. "Ebonystriker technology of course expected as much." Said Rovertson "Even more powerfull then Asralies field it seems but Asralie probably has a smaller protection field because of our limited resources. A little overkill if you ask me." Said Azronical carefull to not sound jealeous. "I'm......finding it........hard.......to.......BREATH!" Kyle said. "Trust me, you have no idea how many close calls we've had of getting detected, especially with modern technology! So naturally we use all the defensive measures we can get our hands on, but this smoke is, odd." Peter said before a loud roar filled the air. Shortly thereafter he heard a thud and looked back to see if the others were okay, but he couldn't quite make out where Azronicle was. He was about to call out when he heard a particularly familiar voice. "AZRONICLE!!! It's been FOREVER, where have you been? Have you had any trouble over the last few hundred years? Why did you never bother to contact me?" demanded a familiar dragon as it and Azronicle came back into view, after Azronicle had been knocked down a bit. The newcomer was a Smothering Smokebreath, and probably the largest out of it's entire species' history, at just under the same size as Arc, and likely the oldest living as well.

After several seconds of recovering his wits Azronicle finally replied "Haze your still alive I did try and contact you but I could never find you! You have grown so much almost as big as I was when we first met. You definitely gained some weight almost knocked me in the ocean. Lets land so i can catch my breath and we can catch up you winded me a bit but I'm so glad your still okay I did miss you." replied Azronicle sounding a lot happier then he had in a long time. Peter turned back around to face where he knew Dracobyen was, and wasn't surprised to see that the path to the island was now lined with Protectorate dragons, many of which had riders, and that right in the middle hovered a middle aged man riding a Bonenapper. "I'm sorry about the royal welcome. The Council insisted that your return receive all the royal rights owed to friends of Jorgen, and their descendants." the man called. "I'm sure they don't mind too bad dad, though I am surprised by just how many of the Council members I can see out here." Peter called back. "I appreciate it but wish it was under better circumstances. So who are you?" Said Rovertson carefully in english so if there where any who had not learnt dragonese around yet they would understand. Not used to being around so many at one time made him a little nervous at all the attention Meanwhile Gillien seemed to be in shock and quite a bit fazed by all the dragons. "I'm perfectly fine with all this and I've desired what my answer to the request to join the Protectorates I'd be happy to join" Kyle said now able to breath probably. "Oh, sorry, where are my manners. My name is Thomas Fasten, Chief of the Protectorate and father of Peter. My friend here is called Screech, though he won't say anything. He had an accident when he was a hatchling that nearly killed him, but his vocal cords never recovered." Thomas said in perfect dragonese, patting Screech the Bonenapper on the head. "And I will be honored to conduct the ceremony myself, Lord Kyle. Though we will have to modify it a bit, normally part of the ceremony is when the new member chooses his dragon companion, often one that they grew up with, but you already have a companion. But enough of that for now, let's land and get all of you situated." Thomas finished before turning and guiding the group over to Dracobyen, still barely visible through the Ebonystriker defenses.

"That sounds a lot like what happened to Darkender and I can't wait Mr Thomas Fasten." Kyle said excitedly. After Kyle got done talking Rovertson asked Thomas "I think I should talk to you alone soon about Askin. I know a lot more about her then anything else alive and can tell you what she Really is. And the talk alone part is not a request its mandatory if I'm going to tell what I have to tell. I'm sorry if its inconvenient but the only reason I've lived as long as I have and nearly hunted the deamon population to extinction over ten times is because of my suspicions and I'm not so keen on losing the thing that has kept me alive all this time. On a different note you ever noticed how the deamon population fluctuates up and down over the years? Every time deamon activity has significantly lowered is mostly because I became more active in hunting them and I've become so close to ridding of them all but they always have recovered. I was hoping the Protectorate might know how they recover so quickly so after Askin is dealt with the deamons can be dealt with properly." After saying this Rovertson looked over to his wounded side and winced in pain. "I need you to see what you can have done about this demonic disease I doubt you can cure it but maybe you can slow it down so I can find a cure myself. Its not contagious luckily or we would be in a much more dire situation and its spreading slower then it should be probably due to my unrivaled healing abilities. Even so I would have died months ago if not for the massive amount of energy I have stored away. Something anciently powerful did this and I've never heard of anything like it and I've heard of them all I fear another arch deamon has awoken thanks to Askin's meddling. One as powerful or more powerful then Rezeroth. More likely the latter even Rezeroth could not hurt ebonystrikers with his plague and I should be the hardest to infect of them all."

Thomas did not reply to Rovertson, but instead flew on in silence toward Dracobyen. As they began passing through the many layers of defenses, the surface portion of Dracobyen slowly became more visible. Once they were through the defenses and past the walls, they landed on a large tower Peter knew was specifically designed for numerous dragons to land on. "Alright, well welcome to the capitol of the Draco Protectorate, the city of Dracobyen. Although you may recognize the name of the island more easily, welcome to Dovangard, once home of the Sea-Pillar tribe and now the Protectorate. Anyway, Rovertson, you'll come with me. We have much to discuss about Askin, and we'll see if we can at least slow that disease. I imagine Haze will show Azronicle around our home, so Peter, I want you to show Kyle, Darkender and Rouge around. And Gillien, if that's alright with you Rovertson." Thomas said in a more commanding voice than before, Peter recognized it as his chief voice. "Yes father. I expect you'll want us all to meet you in the Great Hall in a few hours?" Peter asked. Hos dad nodded in reply. "That's perfectly fine with me. Just be carefull he has a nack for getting in trouble." Said Rovertson. Gillien gave him a glare before mumbling "just like my brother annoying as can be". "It feel nice to be back here" Kyle said as he followed Peter with Rouge on his head as for Darkender he stayed outside upset by the fact that Kyle got to see Rovertson and Azronicle again, Rouge got to see Haze again and he couldn't get to see Tempest again. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Once Peter had led the others away, and Haze had gone off with Azronicle, Thomas turned to Rovertson. "Well, we should find a place where we won't be interrupted, but also where you can fit. Follow me, Lord Rovertson, we'll continue our discussion on Askin in the Grand Archives." Thomas said as he mounted Screech and took off. "Everyone trying to call me lord Rovertson is going to take some time to get used to in my mind your a much higher authority then me and it should be the other way around but not my customs I guess. Anyhow I wouldn't mind getting to see this place anyhow. Although I bet Azronicals going to get a kick out of it the first time someone calls him that it'll take weeks for me to quiet him down. I can't say I'm not flattered tho that I'm thought that highly of." "Sorry if it seems odd to you, but all those who were friends of Jorgen are given the title of lord, and their descendant are titled master. But those who are descendant of Jorgen have higher titles, I am the Chief Protector and my son is the Prince Protector. And Councillors are, well Councillors. Any way, the fastest way is through the mountain, we'll have to take one of the lower entrances though, they're made for larger dragons." Thomas said as they flew toward the single mountain that rose up from the island. "I'm unfamiliar with human terms like some of those and I don't know the order of them makes me feel well kinda stupid since I used to be human but two years before I became this way I did not even know how to speak any language at all so its not very surprising. And the architecture in this place I always liked how Jorgen designed things." "That makes sense. And Jorgen wanted all the cultures of the world he had seen to be represented here, so he made an architectural style that was a hybrid of them all." Thomas said as they flew through one of the larger tunnels in the mountain. The tunnel shortly emptied out into a massive chamber that went up to the mountain's peak and extended far below the surface, the entire chasm lined with cooking hearths, benches, and so on, with a particularly nice platform held in place right in the center of the chasm by large stone bridges. "The entire mountain is hollow, and the chasm stretches down deeper than any modern mine. Welcome to the Great Hall. Over time we've expanded the Hall because when Jorgen rebuilt Dovangard, he wanted the Great Hall to fit all of his tribe as well as the inhabitants of Berk. Later, once the Sea-Pillar tribe became the Draco Protectorate and spread to be a world wide organization, Jorgen wanted all it's members to be able to fit in this hall, human and dragon alike. We have kept up with that desire of his to this day and more, the Great Hall currently is large enough to hold the entire Protectorate, the full population of Asralie, and most of Ekoros's population. The Great Hall is also the central hub for Dracobyen, from here there are tunnels leading anywhere and everywhere within the city." Thomas said as he and Screech began flying down into the chasm. "Asralie has a similer system everywhere is connected underground and recently because of how crowded everywhere with humans near Azralie we have had to make tunnels leading miles below the ground to have ways of leaving Asralie undetected. and the largest mineshaft of Asralie reaches the core of the earth even though only the most fit for the heat ebonystrikers go that far down. So is this where we do our talking?"

"We are aware of that, where do you think the inspiration came from. But no, we will not talk here, this is a very public place and I don't think we want too many interruptions. We're going to go to a special part of the Grand Archive. Follow me." Thomas said as Screech dove down toward what from there distance was just a speck of green light. At the green light, which spilled from crystals lining an ornately decorated tunnel, Screech pulled up and landed in the tunnel before walking toward a pair of massive doors which appeared to be gold encrusted with various gems forming the Sea-Pillar, now Protectorate, seal. "Amazing it must of taken forever to make them doors. And the gems down the walkway lighting the way what are they I don't remember ever seeing them." "The doors did indeed take quite some time. One of Jorgen's grandchildren commisioned them, but they weren't finished for for several decades. And I'm not surprised you don't recognize the crystals. We call them Illuma gems, they aren't found in Europe naturally, Jorgen had brought a few samples back from New Zealand, and found that these crystals can be grown with relative ease. They can glow in various colors and we use them to both illuminate the city, they're much safer than torched or electrical lights, and for color coordinating certain areas. But even after centuries of study, we have not learned how they glow, or what determines the coloration." Thomas said as he opened the doors to reveal a chamber that strongly resembled the Asralie Archives, only significantly larger. "Welcome to the Grand Archive, home to both the memories of Protectorate Ebonystrikers and the E-Net. We can talk in my private study, come along." Thomas said, leading the way to the back of the Grand Archives and past several water fountains and statues, which were also adorned with the Illuma gems. "Quite impressive I'd say Azronical might have a heart attack if you show him this place." "Thomas just nodded as he pushed his hand against a glowing button on the wall, which was followed by a grinding sound as a section of wall swung open to reveal a library, much smaller than the Archive but still rather large. "This is my private study and library, the only reason for us to be interrupted is if there is an emergency." he said as he shut the door after Rovertson had entered. "Now, I believe we have an annoying female presence to discuss." Thomas said as he sat in an ornately carved chair behind the central desk. "Well where to start first of all probably be what she is. Most assume she is a deamon and well she couldn't be further from that to be honest. She didn't start out evil she actually is a norse god before she betrayed the others by trying to kill Thor but failing. As punishment she was stripped of her body and banished but gods cant kill each other its an ancient truth so she survived and the hatred only grew in her for everything and she learned how to posses bodies and use them as conduits for her energy. But she was rather inexperienced in it and could barely effect what happened around her. It was then when she posessed Gathril Azronicles father that she made a mistake. Unbeknownst to her ebonystrikers where rather smart in the area of the mind so when she was discovered they devised a way to trap her and remove her from Gathril and it worked till Azronical as a youngling got to curious and accidentally released her from her prison and she entered him until Rezeroth one day attacked Azronical and she fled into him. Sadly the way the ebonystrikers trapped her would be ineffective anymore with how powerful she has gotten and if she gets a hold of her body again even I cant defeat her as I've done before. You already know her basic abilities and stuff but shes gotten a whole new worse since Rezeroth. Shes so much more powerful and will no doubt find someway over here its only a matter of time when she arrives I can hold her off once maybe twice but as I weaken shell have an advantage. but every time I manage to destroy her body we have maybe a week or two of safety before shes ready to face us again. I suspect we got a few monthes before she finds me so we have time to prepare but that's also more time for me to weaken. As for killing her it won't be easy. We would need to find her body which disappeared some were after I defeated her and completely destroy it which would take so much energy its mind-blowing but I think the sword I made for Gillien the aurora gem might just hold enough energy to do so but finding Askin's body before she finds it herself will be hard. Any questions before I continue?"

Thomas sat quietly a moment before replying. "Well, that is a bit troubling. Thankfully if she, when she finds us, the Protectorate has also grown greatly in strength over our existence. We combine ancient knowledge with Ebonystriker and modern technology, but don't get me wrong, I have no illusions that we could win in the long run, but we may at least frustrate her. And we have allies, a few bands of dragons that still choose to roam the Earth as well as Ekoros and Asralie, united we are quite the force. But here is my question, what do you have in mind to deal with Askin? You have obviously put much thought on the matter." Thomas remarked. "Honestly the main goal is finding her body before she does and I feel that the only way we could stop her from searching is to use her attention span against her. You'd swear she only has the attention span of a three year old she is so easily distracted. We would need to probably use me and azronical as bait making her focus on trying to kill us whilst the rest of you look in the list of potential sites I'll get set up. Of anything in the whole world she probably wants us dead and would do just about anything to kill us. But we have some time before she becomes a problem she still probably is weak from being stuck in the state she was in for so long. Plus I have these." Moving a bit he managed to pull off the pack that gillien had strapped to him and dragged out the belt of 15 aurora gems. "These aurora gems have allot of stored power and abilities with them all I can use many abilities from all three ebonystriker types although with less effectiveness then my original abilities the power stored in these gems is the only reason I'm still alive and fighting the disease Azronical has a similar one with less gems." Rovertson winced in pain as he accidentally shifted to his side a bit and continued "the rest we can talk about in the open later but first I need to have this checked out." "Of course, Screech and I will escort you back to the Great Hall, I called a medical team earlier and they should be waiting for us." Thomas said as he and his Bonenapper led the way back through the Grand Archive and down the tunnel before flying back up the chasm to the central platform which held the seats for higher leveled persons. Once there, Thomas, Screech, and Rovertson were met by a medical team comprised of life Ebonystrikers, humans, and other, more exotic dragons that Thomas knew had a combination of healing and poisonous capabilities. But what Thomas hoped didn't bother too much was the largest member of the medical crew, a large creature whose body was as much made of stone, crystal, and bone as it was flesh, that vaguely resembled a winged serpent. The crystals forming an extravagant array of colors along the creature's body.

"I recognize all the dragon types but what is that. If I did not know any better I'd say that is a deamon" Said Rovertson more then a lil creeped out and anxious but he'd seen much more disturbing deamons in his past. And partially wondering if asking for medical help was such a good idea after all especially considering the family ties. Jorgen tended to make everything painful so maybe that trait had followed down the line.... to late now. "Well, it is a demon, technically. He and a few... relatives of his came to us after one of our larger movements against the demons, asking for forgiveness and swearing to aid our cause for as long they live. Since then they have proven immensely loyal and useful to the Protectorate. This one specifically is a demon of the unknown, of darkness and death and other things. I figured if any member of the Protectorate could help with this disease, he would be particularly qualified. I hope this won't be a problem." Thomas said to Rovertson. "I am capable of speaking for myself." the demon said to Thomas before turning to Rovertson, "My name is Urkendel, and the Chief Protector's description of me is true. Neither me nor my brothers bear you any ill-will, killer of Rezeroth, and since you liberated us, we have slowly learned to speak for ourselves. But in truth our loyalty to this Protectorate is not out of our good graces, not entirely, but out of self preservation. We joined them when they began killing our kind in great numbers, and now we cannot return to the demon hoards, as they would kill us on sight for betraying them. Think of us what you will, demon slayer, but you may be our best hope of stopping the Askin spirit, the corrupted goddess will surely kill us all." Urkendel said in a rasping, metallic, almost etheral voice. "And of course I know what she truly is, it is my nature to know of these secrets one way or another. I did not pass along the information because it was not needed for me to survive." the demon added before either Thomas or Rovertson could question him. Rovertson gave a glare that if possible probably woulda fried the deamon on sight but managed to forcibly tear his eyes off the deamon and grind his claws into the ground in anger and frustration. After several tense minutes that seemed like hours his muscles untensed the slightest bit but everyone could tell that Rovertson was still dangerous. After a bit he started talking but refused to look at the deamon. "He can look but if he even gets within striking distance of me I will show how quickly I really can kill that's my terms take it or leave it." Rovertson was absolutely repulsed by the idea of allying with deamons but no matter how repulsed he was he couldn't help but see the advantages it would give. But he would not let that thing close friend or foe. Urkendel just nodded his skull-like head, "Very well, killer of my kind. I will observe the disease from a distance and allow my companions to do all the work. I do not desire a fight, it would be counterproductive to my goals." After that the medical crew worked in silence, with the demon keeping a safe distance from Rovertson. Thomas had gone over the the bench on the platform and had begun checking reports from outposts across the world, and Screech curled around behind him. "I believe there is no cure that we can make, not without whatever created this in the first place." Urkendel said after about an hour of the medical team working on the diseased area. "But I do have two solutions to slow it, to buy time a the humans put it. One is far less painful than the other, and less time consuming, but you may not like what would be required." Urkendel said. (Rov) "Well, either we cut open the diseased area and remove a large portion of the flesh, which would be a foolish choice that could just as easily kill you, hunter of demons. Or you could allow me to... learn the disease. I would not be able to use it against others, but I would learn some of it's nature, and in so doing I would essencially remove it from you and add it to me, though I am not strong enough to move it all. However this process requires physical contact and cannot be forced upon an unwilling subject." Urkendel suggested, his voice devoid of any emotion. (Rov). _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Peter checked to make sure everyone was following him and noticed Darkender staying where he was. "Come on Darkender, you don't want to get left behind." Peter called back. "Come on bud we need to get going" Kyle said "Hey lazy scales got your butt in gear now" Rouge said not even caring how it would impact on Darkender. Gillien took one look at the black dragon and knew that look. The black dragon must be depressed about something. Confident that the others were following him, Peter led the way down the tower's stairwell, which was lined with colorful and detailed images from Jorgen's life. Among them were images of the battle with Rezeroth, a battle with a Snpatrapper on a small island, and Jorgen's battle against the Island Crusher, which made the Red Death look like a new born, but still could not compare to Rezeroth. "Look thats the time we battled Rezeroth and there's the time we battled the Snaptrapper and I don't recall this battle."(Gillien?) _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Haze was immensely glad to see Azronicle, he had begun to think that Azronicle and Rovertson had died. But now he flew along his old friend and father figure toward his home. "Well I guess we are a bit hard to find, the Protectorate has spent many fortunes to remain undetected by the modern world. But anyway, how have you been? It's been what, almost a thousand years since we last saw each other?" Haze asked. "Well Haze I've been Chasing and hunting deamons almost the full time killing of their population and trying to find a way to finish Askin forever. Its been lonely most of the time with just Rovertson and Azura occasionally when Asralie didn't need her. It has been about a thousand years. But enough about me has life been treating you well Haze? I want to hear all about you for one time instead of just me telling the stories." replied Azronicle. "Well, when Jorgen created the Protectorate, Shock, Sunfire and I all joined of course. Then there was the process of building the Protectorate up, which took a lot of time and involved quite a few battles that I can talk about later. After that everything just sort of fell into a routine, rescue some humans from rogue dragons, or vice versa, provide safety for refugee Ebonystrikers from the east and west, and so on. It only just got interesting in the last few centuries! First we merged with the Hunters, you know, Ingrid's and Tempest's group, though the joining wasn't entirely peaceful. But lately we've been gearing up for when Askin returns, which by what I've heard is now, and fighting demons where we can. You should have been there for the Great Revolt, back from 1930 to 1952! Dracobyen was under siege almost the entire time, I never thought I'd see old Shock get so mad! When his mate and two of his kids died, he flew into a rage! Even Rovertson wasn't as scary when he went into a rampage! By that time Dracobyen was about to fall, most of us were exhausted and badly injured, most of the life Ebonystrikers were hurt especially bad, so Shockstorm flew out alone against that army of eastern Ebonystrikers and humans and took them all down on his own! I think his powers leftover from Askin helped too, he actually created a storm system that took days to clear up!" Haze said excitedly as they flew back toward Dracobyen. "that most definitely sounds like the Shock I knew. A thousand years is a long time alot has happened. Over time me and Rovertson have at times almost widdled the deamon population down the extinction multiple times but they always recover before we can finish them off. Almost all the deamons fear Rovertson because hes gotten to be such a good deamonhunter. You remember those deamonhunters that joined us in the fight against Rezeroth? Well after Jorgen left Rovertson joined their ranks and made it a personal vendetta to wipe out all deamons and has become the best deamonkiller out there in the world today over time. Me I keep him from getting himself killed as usual. He still has that old habit of ending up in dire situations like crazy." Azronical laughed a bit before continuing. "Why don't you give me a tour of the place I'd love to see what this place looks like now."

"Of course I'll give you a tour! Though I won't be able to show you everywhere, you're a little, ah, large to fit through some corridors." Haze said eagerly as they landed on the perch tower. "Come on, the Chief Protector will understand that I'm giving you a tour." Haze said as he led the way over to a large castle-like structure. "Is that a crack about my weight! I'm rather slim for a rock ebonystriker my age!" Azronical couldn't hold his serious tone any longer and cracked a laugh. "This place certainly has grown all I remember is a barely inhabited island last time I was here." "Oh yeah, I forgot you and Rover haven't been here since around the time we dealt with Rezeroth. A couple years after that, Jorgen actually found some other survivors from the islands destruction who had returned. After that, with some help from Berk, he and the survivors rebuilt Dovangard, and improved on the old design. Jorgen insisted on mixing in designs he'd seen from all across the world into the new village, and Vidoron, I'm sure you remember him, helped build up the first Ebonystriker defenses to wrap around a human city by Jorgen's request." Haze said as they flew. "Of course I still see Vidoran and remember him he does happen to be in Asralie most of the time Even though he doesn't seem to tell us everything strait up we didn't even know that he still kept in contact with the Protectorate until recently. Seems the only thing he has not told is about us being alive." Azronicle said. "That isn't entirely true. He would've told us if you had died, so in a way he told us you were alive. Let's land in the courtyard in front of the castle, it's a good place to start." Haze said, descending down to the ground and landing on a large mosaic courtyard that depicted the battle with Rezeroth. "As you can see, Rezeroth left a lasting impression on Jorgen." Haze added once they had landed. "Not nearly as much of an impression as he left on me. The only time I've ever felt just pure joy from killing something was when I killed that deamon and hope that i never feel that much happiness in killing something again." remarked Azronicle. "Yeah, that was not a very fun time. But at least this mosaic works like a warning of demons who get too powerful. Jorgen even called up a friend of his from Rome just to make sure it came out accurate. But anyway, This castle is the main surface stronghold on the island, is invaders ever managed to land on the island and push us back, this would be our last stand before retreating underground. It also holds the Council Hall, where the Protectorate Council meets to discuss matters that are not important enough for the Chief Protector to handle directly. now please get off the mosaic, I have something to show you." Haze said as he walked over to the northern border of the mosaic. "Ok now I'm curious and also do you still have the aurora gem I gave you so long ago?" "I do indeed still have the aurora gem you gave me. I'm not wearing it currently though because one of our smiths is making a new necklace for it to hang from, as you can guess I sort of outgrew the old one." Haze said as he placed his claws into neatly spaced holes in the northern marker tile. He then turned the tile and removed his claws. As the tile rotated to it's original position, the entire mosaic began spiraling open to reveal a tunnel that reached straight down, with a staircase spiraling along the outside. "Wow quite amazing and glad to hear that I might as well power up your gem its bound to be rather depleted."

"And that's another reason I don't wear it very often, I don't have much need for making a fashion statement. Anyway, this pit leads down for several hundred kilometers. It is lined with tunnels that lead to various dragon nests across the city, and is one of the main emergeny exits in case of a disaster like a cave in. It also connects to several points of interest, such as the Great Hall, Grand Archives, Jorgen's Library, and the Old Crypt. But we'll use it to get to one of my favorite places in the city." Haze said as he began flying down the abyss. "Oh and what might this place be?" "Oh, you'll see. All I'll say now is it's called the Mystic Grotto." Haze said as they flew deeper and deeper into the earth. At first it got colder the deeper they went, but then it started getting warmer before Haze finally changed course and flew down a barely lit side tunnel that was just barely big enough for Azronicle to fit. "I hope this doesn't get any tighter then this further down because id be rather hard to get unstuck." "Don't be such a worry wort! If you get stuck we'll just have some Whispering Deaths dig you out, but it win't get tighter. It should open up just about now." Haze said as they entered a massive cavern. The walls were lined with crystals glowing in a variety of colors, and that light reflecting off a clear lake in the middle of the cavern made ribbons rainbow light move on the walls and ceiling. And all along the ground, a thick mist swirled. "This, is my favorite place in the city, my special little recluse." Haze said with a wave of his long tail making more of the fog swirl. Azronicle looked around in awe at just how perfect the place is and suddenly felt the urge to play as he had not done in many years because of how serious things had gotten. "Want to swim? I'm not the best swimmer but we could have some fun." Said Azronical sounding slightly juvinile despite his age but tired of being so serious all the time and needed a release from the constant stress. Wagging his tail a bit in anticipation. "Well look who started sounding like a hatchling again, Vidoron told me all about how you were when you were young." Haze said with a laugh. "But alright, lets swim. But just to warn you, that lake connects directly to an underwater cave, so don't be surprised if a Scauldron or Thunderdrum joins us." Haze said as he half jumped, half flew into the lake with a large splash, angling his tail deliberately so that water splashed onto Azronicle. "Why you litt" Was all Azronicle could get out before he hit the water after the smokebreath. Soon in the chase it became apparent that Azronical was a rather large clutz in the water and managed to get himself tangled in himself multiple times as he chased the smokebreath in the water but he couldn't care less he was having more fun then he'd had in over 300 years.

[killjoy]

he pretty much could with the amount of energy he has but thatd be no fun to write

[Shockstorm]

pretty much

[killjoy]

After some time flying, Peter became aware that they were nearing Dracobyen. He couldn't really see it, the entire island had more protection than Asralie and Ekoros combined, but as he was able to understand there was a powerful beacon made from special stones that reacted with the gems that are inlaid in the Protectorate seal that would hum slightly as the seal and the beacon grew closer. As they were flying, though, Peter noticed that the little bit of light they had been getting from the moon was cut off, and the air around them became thicker and smoke-like. "Ebonystriker technology of course expected as much." Said Rovertson "Even more powerfull then Asralies field it seems but Asralie probably has a smaller protection field because of our limited resources. A little overkill if you ask me." Said Azronical carefull to not sound jealeous. "I'm......finding it........hard.......to.......BREATH!" Kyle said. "Trust me, you have no idea how many close calls we've had of getting detected, especially with modern technology! So naturally we use all the defensive measures we can get our hands on, but this smoke is, odd." Peter said before a loud roar filled the air. Shortly thereafter he heard a thud and looked back to see if the others were okay, but he couldn't quite make out where Azronicle was. He was about to call out when he heard a particularly familiar voice. "AZRONICLE!!! It's been FOREVER, where have you been? Have you had any trouble over the last few hundred years? Why did you never bother to contact me?" demanded a familiar dragon as it and Azronicle came back into view, after Azronicle had been knocked down a bit. The newcomer was a Smothering Smokebreath, and probably the largest out of it's entire species' history, at just under the same size as Arc, and likely the oldest living as well.

After several seconds of recovering his wits Azronicle finally replied "Haze your still alive I did try and contact you but I could never find you! You have grown so much almost as big as I was when we first met. You definitely gained some weight almost knocked me in the ocean. Lets land so i can catch my breath and we can catch up you winded me a bit but I'm so glad your still okay I did miss you." replied Azronicle sounding a lot happier then he had in a long time. Peter turned back around to face where he knew Dracobyen was, and wasn't surprised to see that the path to the island was now lined with Protectorate dragons, many of which had riders, and that right in the middle hovered a middle aged man riding a Bonenapper. "I'm sorry about the royal welcome. The Council insisted that your return receive all the royal rights owed to friends of Jorgen, and their descendants." the man called. "I'm sure they don't mind too bad dad, though I am surprised by just how many of the Council members I can see out here." Peter called back. "I appreciate it but wish it was under better circumstances. So who are you?" Said Rovertson carefully in english so if there where any who had not learnt dragonese around yet they would understand. Not used to being around so many at one time made him a little nervous at all the attention Meanwhile Gillien seemed to be in shock and quite a bit fazed by all the dragons. "I'm perfectly fine with all this and I've desired what my answer to the request to join the Protectorates I'd be happy to join" Kyle said now able to breath probably. "Oh, sorry, where are my manners. My name is Thomas Fasten, Chief of the Protectorate and father of Peter. My friend here is called Screech, though he won't say anything. He had an accident when he was a hatchling that nearly killed him, but his vocal cords never recovered." Thomas said in perfect dragonese, patting Screech the Bonenapper on the head. "And I will be honored to conduct the ceremony myself, Lord Kyle. Though we will have to modify it a bit, normally part of the ceremony is when the new member chooses his dragon companion, often one that they grew up with, but you already have a companion. But enough of that for now, let's land and get all of you situated." Thomas finished before turning and guiding the group over to Dracobyen, still barely visible through the Ebonystriker defenses.

"That sounds a lot like what happened to Darkender and I can't wait Mr Thomas Fasten." Kyle said excitedly. After Kyle got done talking Rovertson asked Thomas "I think I should talk to you alone soon about Askin. I know a lot more about her then anything else alive and can tell you what she Really is. And the talk alone part is not a request its mandatory if I'm going to tell what I have to tell. I'm sorry if its inconvenient but the only reason I've lived as long as I have and nearly hunted the deamon population to extinction over ten times is because of my suspicions and I'm not so keen on losing the thing that has kept me alive all this time. On a different note you ever noticed how the deamon population fluctuates up and down over the years? Every time deamon activity has significantly lowered is mostly because I became more active in hunting them and I've become so close to ridding of them all but they always have recovered. I was hoping the Protectorate might know how they recover so quickly so after Askin is dealt with the deamons can be dealt with properly." After saying this Rovertson looked over to his wounded side and winced in pain. "I need you to see what you can have done about this demonic disease I doubt you can cure it but maybe you can slow it down so I can find a cure myself. Its not contagious luckily or we would be in a much more dire situation and its spreading slower then it should be probably due to my unrivaled healing abilities. Even so I would have died months ago if not for the massive amount of energy I have stored away. Something anciently powerful did this and I've never heard of anything like it and I've heard of them all I fear another arch deamon has awoken thanks to Askin's meddling. One as powerful or more powerful then Rezeroth. More likely the latter even Rezeroth could not hurt ebonystrikers with his plague and I should be the hardest to infect of them all."

Thomas did not reply to Rovertson, but instead flew on in silence toward Dracobyen. As they began passing through the many layers of defenses, the surface portion of Dracobyen slowly became more visible. Once they were through the defenses and past the walls, they landed on a large tower Peter knew was specifically designed for numerous dragons to land on. "Alright, well welcome to the capitol of the Draco Protectorate, the city of Dracobyen. Although you may recognize the name of the island more easily, welcome to Dovangard, once home of the Sea-Pillar tribe and now the Protectorate. Anyway, Rovertson, you'll come with me. We have much to discuss about Askin, and we'll see if we can at least slow that disease. I imagine Haze will show Azronicle around our home, so Peter, I want you to show Kyle, Darkender and Rouge around. And Gillien, if that's alright with you Rovertson." Thomas said in a more commanding voice than before, Peter recognized it as his chief voice. "Yes father. I expect you'll want us all to meet you in the Great Hall in a few hours?" Peter asked. Hos dad nodded in reply. "That's perfectly fine with me. Just be carefull he has a nack for getting in trouble." Said Rovertson. Gillien gave him a glare before mumbling "just like my brother annoying as can be". "It feel nice to be back here" Kyle said as he followed Peter with Rouge on his head as for Darkender he stayed outside upset by the fact that Kyle got to see Rovertson and Azronicle again, Rouge got to see Haze again and he couldn't get to see Tempest again. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Once Peter had led the others away, and Haze had gone off with Azronicle, Thomas turned to Rovertson. "Well, we should find a place where we won't be interrupted, but also where you can fit. Follow me, Lord Rovertson, we'll continue our discussion on Askin in the Grand Archives." Thomas said as he mounted Screech and took off. "Everyone trying to call me lord Rovertson is going to take some time to get used to in my mind your a much higher authority then me and it should be the other way around but not my customs I guess. Anyhow I wouldn't mind getting to see this place anyhow. Although I bet Azronicals going to get a kick out of it the first time someone calls him that it'll take weeks for me to quiet him down. I can't say I'm not flattered tho that I'm thought that highly of." "Sorry if it seems odd to you, but all those who were friends of Jorgen are given the title of lord, and their descendant are titled master. But those who are descendant of Jorgen have higher titles, I am the Chief Protector and my son is the Prince Protector. And Councillors are, well Councillors. Any way, the fastest way is through the mountain, we'll have to take one of the lower entrances though, they're made for larger dragons." Thomas said as they flew toward the single mountain that rose up from the island. "I'm unfamiliar with human terms like some of those and I don't know the order of them makes me feel well kinda stupid since I used to be human but two years before I became this way I did not even know how to speak any language at all so its not very surprising. And the architecture in this place I always liked how Jorgen designed things." "That makes sense. And Jorgen wanted all the cultures of the world he had seen to be represented here, so he made an architectural style that was a hybrid of them all." Thomas said as they flew through one of the larger tunnels in the mountain. The tunnel shortly emptied out into a massive chamber that went up to the mountain's peak and extended far below the surface, the entire chasm lined with cooking hearths, benches, and so on, with a particularly nice platform held in place right in the center of the chasm by large stone bridges. "The entire mountain is hollow, and the chasm stretches down deeper than any modern mine. Welcome to the Great Hall. Over time we've expanded the Hall because when Jorgen rebuilt Dovangard, he wanted the Great Hall to fit all of his tribe as well as the inhabitants of Berk. Later, once the Sea-Pillar tribe became the Draco Protectorate and spread to be a world wide organization, Jorgen wanted all it's members to be able to fit in this hall, human and dragon alike. We have kept up with that desire of his to this day and more, the Great Hall currently is large enough to hold the entire Protectorate, the full population of Asralie, and most of Ekoros's population. The Great Hall is also the central hub for Dracobyen, from here there are tunnels leading anywhere and everywhere within the city." Thomas said as he and Screech began flying down into the chasm. "Asralie has a similer system everywhere is connected underground and recently because of how crowded everywhere with humans near Azralie we have had to make tunnels leading miles below the ground to have ways of leaving Asralie undetected. and the largest mineshaft of Asralie reaches the core of the earth even though only the most fit for the heat ebonystrikers go that far down. So is this where we do our talking?"

"We are aware of that, where do you think the inspiration came from. But no, we will not talk here, this is a very public place and I don't think we want too many interruptions. We're going to go to a special part of the Grand Archive. Follow me." Thomas said as Screech dove down toward what from there distance was just a speck of green light. At the green light, which spilled from crystals lining an ornately decorated tunnel, Screech pulled up and landed in the tunnel before walking toward a pair of massive doors which appeared to be gold encrusted with various gems forming the Sea-Pillar, now Protectorate, seal. "Amazing it must of taken forever to make them doors. And the gems down the walkway lighting the way what are they I don't remember ever seeing them." "The doors did indeed take quite some time. One of Jorgen's grandchildren commisioned them, but they weren't finished for for several decades. And I'm not surprised you don't recognize the crystals. We call them Illuma gems, they aren't found in Europe naturally, Jorgen had brought a few samples back from New Zealand, and found that these crystals can be grown with relative ease. They can glow in various colors and we use them to both illuminate the city, they're much safer than torched or electrical lights, and for color coordinating certain areas. But even after centuries of study, we have not learned how they glow, or what determines the coloration." Thomas said as he opened the doors to reveal a chamber that strongly resembled the Asralie Archives, only significantly larger. "Welcome to the Grand Archive, home to both the memories of Protectorate Ebonystrikers and the E-Net. We can talk in my private study, come along." Thomas said, leading the way to the back of the Grand Archives and past several water fountains and statues, which were also adorned with the Illuma gems. "Quite impressive I'd say Azronical might have a heart attack if you show him this place." "Thomas just nodded as he pushed his hand against a glowing button on the wall, which was followed by a grinding sound as a section of wall swung open to reveal a library, much smaller than the Archive but still rather large. "This is my private study and library, the only reason for us to be interrupted is if there is an emergency." he said as he shut the door after Rovertson had entered. "Now, I believe we have an annoying female presence to discuss." Thomas said as he sat in an ornately carved chair behind the central desk. "Well where to start first of all probably be what she is. Most assume she is a deamon and well she couldn't be further from that to be honest. She didn't start out evil she actually is a norse god before she betrayed the others by trying to kill Thor but failing. As punishment she was stripped of her body and banished but gods cant kill each other its an ancient truth so she survived and the hatred only grew in her for everything and she learned how to posses bodies and use them as conduits for her energy. But she was rather inexperienced in it and could barely effect what happened around her. It was then when she posessed Gathril Azronicles father that she made a mistake. Unbeknownst to her ebonystrikers where rather smart in the area of the mind so when she was discovered they devised a way to trap her and remove her from Gathril and it worked till Azronical as a youngling got to curious and accidentally released her from her prison and she entered him until Rezeroth one day attacked Azronical and she fled into him. Sadly the way the ebonystrikers trapped her would be ineffective anymore with how powerful she has gotten and if she gets a hold of her body again even I cant defeat her as I've done before. You already know her basic abilities and stuff but shes gotten a whole new worse since Rezeroth. Shes so much more powerful and will no doubt find someway over here its only a matter of time when she arrives I can hold her off once maybe twice but as I weaken shell have an advantage. but every time I manage to destroy her body we have maybe a week or two of safety before shes ready to face us again. I suspect we got a few monthes before she finds me so we have time to prepare but that's also more time for me to weaken. As for killing her it won't be easy. We would need to find her body which disappeared some were after I defeated her and completely destroy it which would take so much energy its mind-blowing but I think the sword I made for Gillien the aurora gem might just hold enough energy to do so but finding Askin's body before she finds it herself will be hard. Any questions before I continue?"

Thomas sat quietly a moment before replying. "Well, that is a bit troubling. Thankfully if she, when she finds us, the Protectorate has also grown greatly in strength over our existence. We combine ancient knowledge with Ebonystriker and modern technology, but don't get me wrong, I have no illusions that we could win in the long run, but we may at least frustrate her. And we have allies, a few bands of dragons that still choose to roam the Earth as well as Ekoros and Asralie, united we are quite the force. But here is my question, what do you have in mind to deal with Askin? You have obviously put much thought on the matter." Thomas remarked. "Honestly the main goal is finding her body before she does and I feel that the only way we could stop her from searching is to use her attention span against her. You'd swear she only has the attention span of a three year old she is so easily distracted. We would need to probably use me and azronical as bait making her focus on trying to kill us whilst the rest of you look in the list of potential sites I'll get set up. Of anything in the whole world she probably wants us dead and would do just about anything to kill us. But we have some time before she becomes a problem she still probably is weak from being stuck in the state she was in for so long. Plus I have these." Moving a bit he managed to pull off the pack that gillien had strapped to him and dragged out the belt of 15 aurora gems. "These aurora gems have allot of stored power and abilities with them all I can use many abilities from all three ebonystriker types although with less effectiveness then my original abilities the power stored in these gems is the only reason I'm still alive and fighting the disease Azronical has a similar one with less gems." Rovertson winced in pain as he accidentally shifted to his side a bit and continued "the rest we can talk about in the open later but first I need to have this checked out." "Of course, Screech and I will escort you back to the Great Hall, I called a medical team earlier and they should be waiting for us." Thomas said as he and his Bonenapper led the way back through the Grand Archive and down the tunnel before flying back up the chasm to the central platform which held the seats for higher leveled persons. Once there, Thomas, Screech, and Rovertson were met by a medical team comprised of life Ebonystrikers, humans, and other, more exotic dragons that Thomas knew had a combination of healing and poisonous capabilities. But what Thomas hoped didn't bother too much was the largest member of the medical crew, a large creature whose body was as much made of stone, crystal, and bone as it was flesh, that vaguely resembled a winged serpent. The crystals forming an extravagant array of colors along the creature's body.

"I recognize all the dragon types but what is that. If I did not know any better I'd say that is a deamon" Said Rovertson more then a lil creeped out and anxious but he'd seen much more disturbing deamons in his past. And partially wondering if asking for medical help was such a good idea after all especially considering the family ties. Jorgen tended to make everything painful so maybe that trait had followed down the line.... to late now. "Well, it is a demon, technically. He and a few... relatives of his came to us after one of our larger movements against the demons, asking for forgiveness and swearing to aid our cause for as long they live. Since then they have proven immensely loyal and useful to the Protectorate. This one specifically is a demon of the unknown, of darkness and death and other things. I figured if any member of the Protectorate could help with this disease, he would be particularly qualified. I hope this won't be a problem." Thomas said to Rovertson. "I am capable of speaking for myself." the demon said to Thomas before turning to Rovertson, "My name is Urkendel, and the Chief Protector's description of me is true. Neither me nor my brothers bear you any ill-will, killer of Rezeroth, and since you liberated us, we have slowly learned to speak for ourselves. But in truth our loyalty to this Protectorate is not out of our good graces, not entirely, but out of self preservation. We joined them when they began killing our kind in great numbers, and now we cannot return to the demon hoards, as they would kill us on sight for betraying them. Think of us what you will, demon slayer, but you may be our best hope of stopping the Askin spirit, the corrupted goddess will surely kill us all." Urkendel said in a rasping, metallic, almost etheral voice. "And of course I know what she truly is, it is my nature to know of these secrets one way or another. I did not pass along the information because it was not needed for me to survive." the demon added before either Thomas or Rovertson could question him. Rovertson gave a glare that if possible probably woulda fried the deamon on sight but managed to forcibly tear his eyes off the deamon and grind his claws into the ground in anger and frustration. After several tense minutes that seemed like hours his muscles untensed the slightest bit but everyone could tell that Rovertson was still dangerous. After a bit he started talking but refused to look at the deamon. "He can look but if he even gets within striking distance of me I will show how quickly I really can kill that's my terms take it or leave it." Rovertson was absolutely repulsed by the idea of allying with deamons but no matter how repulsed he was he couldn't help but see the advantages it would give. But he would not let that thing close friend or foe. Urkendel just nodded his skull-like head, "Very well, killer of my kind. I will observe the disease from a distance and allow my companions to do all the work. I do not desire a fight, it would be counterproductive to my goals." After that the medical crew worked in silence, with the demon keeping a safe distance from Rovertson. Thomas had gone over the the bench on the platform and had begun checking reports from outposts across the world, and Screech curled around behind him. "I believe there is no cure that we can make, not without whatever created this in the first place." Urkendel said after about an hour of the medical team working on the diseased area. "But I do have two solutions to slow it, to buy time a the humans put it. One is far less painful than the other, and less time consuming, but you may not like what would be required." Urkendel said. Rovertson just layed down silently knowing speaking to the deamon mightjust set his sanity over the edge. "Well, either we cut open the diseased area and remove a large portion of the flesh, which would be a foolish choice that could just as easily kill you, hunter of demons. Or you could allow me to... learn the disease. I would not be able to use it against others, but I would learn some of it's nature, and in so doing I would essencially remove it from you and add it to me, though I am not strong enough to move it all. However this process requires physical contact and cannot be forced upon an unwilling subject." Urkendel suggested, his voice devoid of any emotion. Rovertson turned downright evil looking at the mere suggestion of letting a deamon touch him willingly without removing the offending limb in retaliation. Another several minutes of silence happened as Rovertson came to terms with the fact the only way he could survive for long enough to help finish Askin was to allow a deamon to do something to him he didnt even know what it was but he had no choice. Desperation was a strong motivating factor for just about anything. "You... try anything stupid there won't be a second to see how you die. Just get it done." Each word was painfull but every silible came out sounding vicious enough to send most deamons backing away. He growled lowly as the deamon approached and his claws quite litterly dug strait thrue the solid rock below but he managed to keep himself from jumping on the deamon sofar. if that would last when the deamon touched him remained to be seen.
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Peter checked to make sure everyone was following him and noticed Darkender staying where he was. "Come on Darkender, you don't want to get left behind." Peter called back. "Come on bud we need to get going" Kyle said "Hey lazy scales got your butt in gear now" Rouge said not even caring how it would impact on Darkender. Gillien took one look at the black dragon and knew that look. The black dragon must be depressed about something. Confident that the others were following him, Peter led the way down the tower's stairwell, which was lined with colorful and detailed images from Jorgen's life. Among them were images of the battle with Rezeroth, a battle with a Snpatrapper on a small island, and Jorgen's battle against the Island Crusher, which made the Red Death look like a new born, but still could not compare to Rezeroth. (night's OCs)(Gillien?)
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Haze was immensely glad to see Azronicle, he had begun to think that Azronicle and Rovertson had died. But now he flew along his old friend and father figure toward his home. "Well I guess we are a bit hard to find, the Protectorate has spent many fortunes to remain undetected by the modern world. But anyway, how have you been? It's been what, almost a thousand years since we last saw each other?" Haze asked. "Well Haze I've been Chasing and hunting deamons almost the full time killing of their population and trying to find a way to finish Askin forever. Its been lonely most of the time with just Rovertson and Azura occasionally when Asralie didn't need her. It has been about a thousand years. But enough about me has life been treating you well Haze? I want to hear all about you for one time instead of just me telling the stories." replied Azronicle. "Well, when Jorgen created the Protectorate, Shock, Sunfire and I all joined of course. Then there was the process of building the Protectorate up, which took a lot of time and involved quite a few battles that I can talk about later. After that everything just sort of fell into a routine, rescue some humans from rogue dragons, or vice versa, provide safety for refugee Ebonystrikers from the east and west, and so on. It only just got interesting in the last few centuries! First we merged with the Hunters, you know, Ingrid's and Tempest's group, though the joining wasn't entirely peaceful. But lately we've been gearing up for when Askin returns, which by what I've heard is now, and fighting demons where we can. You should have been there for the Great Revolt, back from 1930 to 1952! Dracobyen was under siege almost the entire time, I never thought I'd see old Shock get so mad! When his mate and two of his kids died, he flew into a rage! Even Rovertson wasn't as scary when he went into a rampage! By that time Dracobyen was about to fall, most of us were exhausted and badly injured, most of the life Ebonystrikers were hurt especially bad, so Shockstorm flew out alone against that army of eastern Ebonystrikers and humans and took them all down on his own! I think his powers leftover from Askin helped too, he actually created a storm system that took days to clear up!" Haze said excitedly as they flew back toward Dracobyen. "that most definitely sounds like the Shock I knew. A thousand years is a long time alot has happened. Over time me and Rovertson have at times almost widdled the deamon population down the extinction multiple times but they always recover before we can finish them off. Almost all the deamons fear Rovertson because hes gotten to be such a good deamonhunter. You remember those deamonhunters that joined us in the fight against Rezeroth? Well after Jorgen left Rovertson joined their ranks and made it a personal vendetta to wipe out all deamons and has become the best deamonkiller out there in the world today over time. Me I keep him from getting himself killed as usual. He still has that old habit of ending up in dire situations like crazy." Azronical laughed a bit before continuing. "Why don't you give me a tour of the place I'd love to see what this place looks like now."

"Of course I'll give you a tour! Though I won't be able to show you everywhere, you're a little, ah, large to fit through some corridors." Haze said eagerly as they landed on the perch tower. "Come on, the Chief Protector will understand that I'm giving you a tour." Haze said as he led the way over to a large castle-like structure. "Is that a crack about my weight! I'm rather slim for a rock ebonystriker my age!" Azronical couldn't hold his serious tone any longer and cracked a laugh. "This place certainly has grown all I remember is a barely inhabited island last time I was here." "Oh yeah, I forgot you and Rover haven't been here since around the time we dealt with Rezeroth. A couple years after that, Jorgen actually found some other survivors from the islands destruction who had returned. After that, with some help from Berk, he and the survivors rebuilt Dovangard, and improved on the old design. Jorgen insisted on mixing in designs he'd seen from all across the world into the new village, and Vidoron, I'm sure you remember him, helped build up the first Ebonystriker defenses to wrap around a human city by Jorgen's request." Haze said as they flew. "Of course I still see Vidoran and remember him he does happen to be in Asralie most of the time Even though he doesn't seem to tell us everything strait up we didn't even know that he still kept in contact with the Protectorate until recently. Seems the only thing he has not told is about us being alive." Azronicle said. "That isn't entirely true. He would've told us if you had died, so in a way he told us you were alive. Let's land in the courtyard in front of the castle, it's a good place to start." Haze said, descending down to the ground and landing on a large mosaic courtyard that depicted the battle with Rezeroth. "As you can see, Rezeroth left a lasting impression on Jorgen." Haze added once they had landed. "Not nearly as much of an impression as he left on me. The only time I've ever felt just pure joy from killing something was when I killed that deamon and hope that i never feel that much happiness in killing something again." remarked Azronicle. "Yeah, that was not a very fun time. But at least this mosaic works like a warning of demons who get too powerful. Jorgen even called up a friend of his from Rome just to make sure it came out accurate. But anyway, This castle is the main surface stronghold on the island, is invaders ever managed to land on the island and push us back, this would be our last stand before retreating underground. It also holds the Council Hall, where the Protectorate Council meets to discuss matters that are not important enough for the Chief Protector to handle directly. now please get off the mosaic, I have something to show you." Haze said as he walked over to the northern border of the mosaic. "Ok now I'm curious and also do you still have the aurora gem I gave you so long ago?" "I do indeed still have the aurora gem you gave me. I'm not wearing it currently though because one of our smiths is making a new necklace for it to hang from, as you can guess I sort of outgrew the old one." Haze said as he placed his claws into neatly spaced holes in the northern marker tile. He then turned the tile and removed his claws. As the tile rotated to it's original position, the entire mosaic began spiraling open to reveal a tunnel that reached straight down, with a staircase spiraling along the outside. "Wow quite amazing and glad to hear that I might as well power up your gem its bound to be rather depleted."

"And that's another reason I don't wear it very often, I don't have much need for making a fashion statement. Anyway, this pit leads down for several hundred kilometers. It is lined with tunnels that lead to various dragon nests across the city, and is one of the main emergeny exits in case of a disaster like a cave in. It also connects to several points of interest, such as the Great Hall, Grand Archives, Jorgen's Library, and the Old Crypt. But we'll use it to get to one of my favorite places in the city." Haze said as he began flying down the abyss. "Oh and what might this place be?" "Oh, you'll see. All I'll say now is it's called the Mystic Grotto." Haze said as they flew deeper and deeper into the earth. At first it got colder the deeper they went, but then it started getting warmer before Haze finally changed course and flew down a barely lit side tunnel that was just barely big enough for Azronicle to fit. "I hope this doesn't get any tighter then this further down because id be rather hard to get unstuck." "Don't be such a worry wort! If you get stuck we'll just have some Whispering Deaths dig you out, but it win't get tighter. It should open up just about now." Haze said as they entered a massive cavern. The walls were lined with crystals glowing in a variety of colors, and that light reflecting off a clear lake in the middle of the cavern made ribbons rainbow light move on the walls and ceiling. And all along the ground, a thick mist swirled. "This, is my favorite place in the city, my special little recluse." Haze said with a wave of his long tail making more of the fog swirl. Azronicle looked around in awe at just how perfect the place is and suddenly felt the urge to play as he had not done in many years because of how serious things had gotten. "Want to swim? I'm not the best swimmer but we could have some fun." Said Azronical sounding slightly juvinile despite his age but tired of being so serious all the time and needed a release from the constant stress. Wagging his tail a bit in anticipation. "Well look who started sounding like a hatchling again, Vidoron told me all about how you were when you were young." Haze said with a laugh. "But alright, lets swim. But just to warn you, that lake connects directly to an underwater cave, so don't be surprised if a Scauldron or Thunderdrum joins us." Haze said as he half jumped, half flew into the lake with a large splash, angling his tail deliberately so that water splashed onto Azronicle. "Why you litt" Was all Azronicle could get out before he hit the water after the smokebreath. Soon in the chase it became apparent that Azronical was a rather large clutz in the water and managed to get himself tangled in himself multiple times as he chased the smokebreath in the water but he couldn't care less he was having more fun then he'd had in over 300 years.