"MATED TO THE DRAGON KING"

*MATED TO THE DRAGON KING* PART FIFTEEN

*THE OUTPOST*

Outpost seven was silent, and the star iron doors were intact, the ward lights were switched on, and the beds were made,but everyone were gone.

Rhen found a message scratched into the wall of the command room.It wasn't words it was a symbol instead, and a spiral inside a circle.

Elena had drawn it once in her journal, just next to a note, The keepers older than the dragons. Kaela saw Rhen's face go pale, "What is it?" she asked. Rhen did not give any answer, he just pointed a finger down, the floor was warm.

*THE BELOW*

The tunnels beneath outpost seven were not concord - built, they were older and smoother, the air did not smell of rot or sulfur, it smelled of ozone and cold layer. They found the first keeper on the third day, it was not a human, neither was it a dragon, but it was construct, eight feet tall, made of a metal that did not exist in any concord's forge. It's eyes were black but when it saw them they lit up to blue.

_Identify _ it said, it's voice had no inflection. Rhen stepped forward, "Rhen drakmere, first speaker's line" The construct paused.

_ Lineage confirmed_ it said, "Elena drakmere's genetic marker deleted in subject "

Kaela stared,"You know her?The construct titled his head,

" Elena initiated contact with the keeper network in year thirty - eight, she was designated "Anchor."

Rhen felt his hand shake"What's happening?" he asked

The Concord gestured down the tunnel"The Concord is waking up" it said.

*THE KEEPER NETWORK*

The keepers had been here, before dragons and before humans. They were caretakers, archivists, their job was to maintain the star- iron network that spanned the planet. When the first dragons tried to unmake the world, the keepers sealed them, when Ashfang and Hollow rose, the keepers stayed dormant until now." The network is distablizing "the construct said," Residual dragon energy from Ignis's death has corrupted three nodes, if left unchecked, the network will fail."

"And if it fails?" Kaela asked,

"Then the global seismic and atmospheric will collapse," The construct said, "Matter of fact, within forty years."

Rhen looked at Kaela, "So.....we will fix it," he said.

*THE FIRST NODE*

The first corrupted node was under the Salt Marshes, it took. the wardens, two keepers, and Rhen's team, three weeks to reach there. The node was a chamber of blue light, with a core of star- iron, as the size of a house, and it was singing. Not a music, but a sound that made the teeth ache, and memories blur.

Rhen approached the core, the bond in his blood thin as it was, resonated. He heard Elena, though wasn't a voice, but a memory. _ If you find this, don't be afraid, it is broken already, yes, but it can still be mended, you just have to choose to._

Rhen placed his hand on the core, and it burned.

*THE MENDING*

Mending of the node took Rhen eleven hours, Rhen did not sleep, neither did he eat, he just stood still, allowing the core to sync in his blood line, and letting Elena's memory guide him. when it was done, the singing stopped, the core went still, blue light shone steadily.The construct nodded, "First node stabilized, but two remaining," Then collapsed.

Kaela caught him immediately, "You did it," she said, Rhen smiled,tired but managed to speak, "No, she did."

*THE SECOND NODE*

The second node was under Aurel, under the council hall itself, the Concord did not want to evacuate, not for an old and damaged machine.

Sari went to meet them herself, she was eighty-two, she walked into the council hall with a cane and a star- iron badge and said, "It's either you clear this hall, or I clear it for you, Your choice."

They cleared the hall immediately, and the mending of the node took nine hours, Rhen almost didn't make it out but later succeeded.

*THE LAST NODE*

The last node was under Varis, the island founded by Elena, it was the oldest and deepest of them all. And it was guided, not by a hollow and not by the dragons either, but by something else, something the keepers had sealed and forgotten long ago. It called itself,"The Archivist."

"You are not authorized," it said to Rhen when he approached, "Linage insufficient. Rhen stepped forward "Then authorize me," he said.

The archivist looked at him, at the bond in his blood , and at the memory of Elena that still lingered there," Very well then"it said," Prove you are worthy. "

*THE TEST*

The test was not a fight, it was just a choice. The archivist showed Rhen the concord's future two paths,

Path one: seal the network,let the world forget,let it live small,safe and remain ignorant.

Path two:Open the network, let knowledge spread, let people build, fail, grow and maybe destroy themselves again. Rhen thought of Elena's garden, about Sari's wardens, about the kids in the school of the Ridge who asked "why" instead of "how". He chose path two, and immediately the archivist bowed, "Anchor accepted." And the node stabilized that same moment.

*THE WORLD AFTER*

The network came online slowly, communications across the Concord became instant, star- iron engineering advanced fifty years in a decade, medicine, agriculture, energy and infact, everything else changed completely.

Rhen became the first keeper liaison, Sari retired at eighty_five,and moved back to Thornevale for her rest. She walked the ridge every morning and finally died in the garden, surrounded by her great grand children.

Kaela became the first warden -commander and kept the Deep guards sharp, even when there was nothing to fight again. The world did not become perfect but it became free.

*THE FINAL ENTRY*

Rhen found Elena's last journal in the ridge archives, the last page was blank all through except for one line. _ If you are reading this, then it worked, don't stop building. _ Rhen covered the journal and looked out over the valley, it was quiet like a grave yard, with no fear but with peace. And below it all, in the deep places, the star- iron hummed, steady and waiting.

*THE STARS BEYOND*

*THE FIRST LAUNCH*

In year one hundred and twenty-eight, after the bargain ended, the Concord did not call it a ship, they called it a vessel, star- iron hull, keeper - built core, no sails, no engines that burned fuel, it moved by syncing to the network, nodes and sliding along the lines of the force that bound the planet to it's sun. Rhen stood on the launch platform in Varis and looked up at it, Concord dawn . Kaela stood beside him now forty years old, and the warden -commander of everything inside and outside of the valley. "You're sure about this?" she asked. Rhen smiled, "Elena would have gone herself."

"She also would have checked the seals three times herself," Kaela added. The launch crews finished their checks and the count down started, Ten... Nine.. Eight... Below them the star- iron core hummed, three... two... one.... Concord dawn lifted, off without a sound and vanished into the sky.

*THE FIRST CONTACT*

The voyage took eleven months subjective time, when Concord dawn dropped out of the network at the edge of the star- iron's origin system , they found something waiting. A station, not ruins, not derelict, Active. The station identified itself as archive -seven, "Welcome anchor line." The station said, "We have been expecting you." Rhen now was forty-six, and the keeper- liaison, stepped forward on the comms, "Expecting us for what?" he asked. Then the station replied, "For the test."

Archive -seven did not have walls, or floors in the human sense. It was a lattice of star- iron and light, shifting to form rooms s needed.