Chapter 747: A Barren Landscape (Ch.748)
A dim glow flickered in and out of view far ahead, it was almost a speck of dust in the vast night sky, but grew more distinct the closer they flew. First there was just one, but then there was more of it, about a dozen and the numbers grew steadily.
"What is that?" Neveah thought to Xenon, squinting her eyes to get a better view of what lood ahead. Her night vision considered, the chilly wind biting against her skin did her no favors. Though her riding suit was well tailored to keep away the chill of prolonged flight, the night wind had a different feel to it. It was not so bad that Neveah would call it painful, but it was uncomfortable... flight itself was the last place where one would find comfort, except for dragon lords.
"Magic gateways...or Mana pools." Xenon thought back to Neveah.
Mana pools, Neveah had heard of it before. There were so lands blessed with an accumulation of natural magic, so much so that it altered the layout of the sky with mystifying pools of magic energy that flickered like stars dropping closer to the earth than they should have been, and Neveah knew there were only a handful of such territories in all the stronghold.
"Then... the lands ahead..." Neveah asked. They had been airborne for an entire day and Xenon had caught onto narx’s trail, with no help from narx who seed to have blocked all his brothers out of his mind. It had required more effort without narx’s compliance and Neveah had let Xenon focus on tracking it while she was lost in her own thoughts and did not interrupt him, but now, she needed to know where the trail was leading them.
"Inferno." Xenon confird. "The Mana pools you see is why the Fae have chosen to begin their attacks here...the most abundant terrains of natural magic in all of the stronghold are precisely in Forts Inferno, Knight’s Den and Kezrar Dun."
"It is of no benefit to dragons, but for magic users, a terrain of abundant natural magic ans less likelihood of depleting their magic. The academy of magic periodically trains their cadets here...but for Fae royal guards, this terrain promises greater attack power than they could muster anywhere else." Xenon explained.
"That is why Jian stationed the squadrons at these three locations. They are the greatest lure for a magic wielding enemy force." Neveah murmured in understanding. "But narx... why Inferno and not Aloria? Keila would not be silly enough to linger around the battlefield she started, would she?"
"I’m not certain I know what Keila would and would not do... not anymore. But narx is there sowhere... I can feel it." Xenon replied. "But I won’t know where exactly until we are close enough to Inferno."
"You an we might be walking right into the middle of a looming battle. Perhaps even a trap." Neveah completed.
"Inferno is a vast fortress. If narx had been sighted by the Inferno dragons, they would report back to Imagor already...which ans wherever he is, it is not close to the main city, and as such, far enough from the likely points of attack." Xenon concluded. "I will keep out of sight till we are certain of where exactly he is. We do not want to draw any attention, not unless we need to."
"Other than the city, where else in Fort Inferno could he be?" Neveah thought. "I an, the fortress couldn’t be larger than Keep Skies, could it?"
A half hour’s flight later, Xenon circled a vast, endless stretch of barren land leading up to a rocky mountainous outcrop, and Neveah realized she should never have asked that question. "I should have guessed." Neveah murmured, her tone grim as she took in the lava dos, and geysers shooting up at different locations.
Far up ahead were unmistakably a cluster of dormant volcanos, each of varying sizes, the structures that had once been the very motivation behind the title given to the closest dragon stronghold to the volcanoes... Fort Inferno.
Xenon flew low, the night sky provided just enough cover and his onyx scales blended perfectly into the darkness. A natural camouflage Neveah had often been grateful for in these days of constant flight.
"I don’t see anyone." Neveah observed, the vast landscape was devoid of any life save for two flight patrols they had noticed flying by a few levels above their own flight. The volcanos were on the very edge of Fort Inferno, as though creating a natural border and the barren lands stretched on and on, the geysers growing more frequent the farther one went. Whatever was on the other side would have to be a beast of flight to even contemplate going over these lands.
There were not many hidden points in the landscape, save for worn down caves, cinder cones, lava dos and weathered rocks littered around. Neveah wondered why narx’s trail would lead here of all places in the Stronghold. The cluster of volcanoes were the primary source of attraction in the barren landscape, and amongst them, one stood out in particular. It was the largest in the cluster and Xenon had circled its axis twice now.
Neveah knew what that ant, he was assessing threats and the stability of the land below before he made a landing.
"Don’t tell ..." Neveah trailed off as Xenon banked slightly, approaching closer to the caldera. He hovered above it for a mont, the passage was narrow, too narrow for Xenon’s dragon form or any dragon form to fit and it was too dark to see anything, just an abyss of shadow that most likely led on and on till wherever the bottom of the volcanoe was.
Xenon made a safer choice, he landed so distance away from the volcano instead. "Careful, there’s a reason this terrain is inhabitable, the geysers shoot up jets of water hot enough to cook a mortal alive." Xenon warned as Neveah began dismounting.
"How exciting." Neveah murmured sarcastically and then made her way down Xenon’s side till her boots touched the solid ground.
Xenon shifted back into his human form, nodding towards the volcano. "He is in one of those...safe to assu, he is not the only one."
"It is almost impossible to pick up any scents here. All I sll is sulfur, a tallic tang, burnt rock, ash and sothing acidic." Neveah admitted, scrunching her nose up at the odd and unsettling blend of slls.
"The volcanos in Inferno may be inactive in these past decades, but they retain heat and magma deep underground and give off deadly fus. They are dangerous and unstable. It is not a site for fun fare or et and greets." Xenon said in a dark tone. "We should keep moving, the geysers on the surface are difficult to predict. Follow my step."
Neveah nodded in understanding and she followed behind Xenon. Making sure to keep to the path he confird safe, they made their way to the gigantic volcano, looming in the midst of all the others.
"For a cluster of volcanoes, it is quite cold out here." Neveah observed, keeping her voice low. She was not even certain why she felt the need to break the silence, perhaps she needed the distraction from her wolf’s building restlessness.
"It was cold a few nights before it erupted all those decades ago as well." Xenon replied, his tone still tinged with his displeasure.
Neveah could tell their current location did not please Xenon at all and she sensed there was so backstory to it. After over two years here, she was confident in her knowledge of the stronghold at this point but not so much that she knew the history of each fortress. All she knew about Fort Inferno was that quite a number of volcanic eruptions since the uprising had claid many victims and made the outskirts of the fortress a no man’s land.
Volcanoes were not necessarily a great threat to dragons who had high resistance to fire and could easily fly far above the effect range, but for those they were sworn to protect...it was one of those evils that was beyond even their own control.
"Right...so that doesn’t count as reassurance. Noted." Neveah replied. Xenon glanced over his shoulder at Neveah, an apologetic look in his eyes.
"I don’t an to be gloomy. This place... bringing you here wasn’t on my list of promising adventures." Xenon said. "Many lives were lost here...and these barren lands you see were once thriving human settlents."
Neveah shook her head slightly, she was not bothered by Xenon’s pessimism. She was not thrilled to be in this environnt either. "I know. We just need to get to narx and get him and Adrienne and we’ll be out of here."
They soon arrived at the base of the volcano, it was as wide as the base of a small mountain and would take a long ti to go around or even scale.
"The caldera doesn’t seem promising as an entry point. There should be another entrance." Xenon pondered, leading the way around the unsteady landscape surrounding the base.
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