THE DRAGON'S RETURN

Into The Dead Vaults

The dust in the underground tunnel tasted of copper, sulfur, and old bones. Chen Lan kept his left hand hidden beneath his heavy dark cloak, his fingers lightly brushing the cold stone walls. Every time his palm touched the rock, a tiny spark of heat jumped from his black scales, leaving a faint, glowing orange smudge behind. It was the only light they had in the damp darkness.

"Can you turn that down?" Ruo Xi whispered from ahead, her boots making a soft squelching sound in the mud. "You are like a walking torch."

"I am not doing it on purpose," Chen Lan muttered, his teeth clenching as a sharp cramp squeezed his chest. "The magic in these walls is pulling at my blood. It feels like gravity, but sharper."

"That means we are close," Ruo Xi said, pausing at a heavy stone doorway covered in thick green moss. She pulled a brass scraping tool from her belt and began clearing the stone. "The ancient texts said the outer defense runes are carved right into the threshold. If a normal human steps on them, their blood turns to lead in three heartbeats."

"And what happens when I step on them?" Chen Lan asked, leaning against the damp wall for support. "I am already dying, Ruo Xi. If I take on any more energy, my heart might just stop."

"Your dragon blood is supposed to drink the magic," Ruo Xi said, not looking back. "Think of it like a sponge. You absorb the charge, the rune goes dark, and then I walk across safely. Simple. Do not let it stop."

"And if my sponge is already full?" Chen Lan asked.

"We will find out in a second," she said, tapping her finger against a glowing blue character she had just uncovered on the stone floor. "There. That is the first trigger. Go ahead. Take a step."

Chen Lan looked down at the glowing blue rune. It hummed with a low, vibrating sound that made his teeth ache. He took a deep breath, steeling himself, and pressed his heavy boot directly onto the symbol.

A sudden, violent jolt of pure energy shot up his leg, bypassing his muscles and slamming straight into his chest. Chen Lan gasped, his eyes flying wide as his left eye flashed a brilliant, blinding gold. He could feel Long Ye’s distant soul roar in pain, a sympathetic burning sensation lighting up his veins. The black scales on his arm expanded, crawling higher up his bicep toward his shoulder.

"Chen Lan!" Ruo Xi hissed, grabbing his shoulder to keep him from falling. "Are you still with me?"

"I am... fine," Chen Lan choked out, a thin trickle of black, smoking blood running from his nose. He wiped it away with his sleeve, leaving a dark smear. "The rune is dead."

Ruo Xi looked down. The blue glow had vanished from the stone, leaving only a dull, grey carving. "Excellent. It worked perfectly. Only nine more to go."

"Nine?" Chen Lan stared at her in disbelief. "You said there was only one threshold."

"One threshold for this room," Ruo Xi corrected, slipping past him into the massive, high-ceilinged chamber beyond. "But this is the central treasury. They did not make it easy to get in here."

The chamber was massive, the walls carved directly out of the mountain's heart. Huge stone pillars held up a ceiling hidden in dark shadows. In the center of the room, a grand stone pedestal stood under a shaft of pale, gray light coming from a c***k in the mountain above. But the air did not smell like ancient dust. It smelled like fresh blood.

"Something is wrong," Chen Lan said, his dragon senses screaming at him. He could feel the residual heat of a magical fire that had not been lit by him. "We are not alone."

"Do not move," Ruo Xi whispered, her hand immediately dropping to the hilt of her dagger.

They advanced slowly toward the pedestal, their footsteps echoing off the high stone walls. As they got closer, the shape on the floor became clear. A man dressed in heavy black armor lay slumped against the base of the pedestal. A pool of fresh, dark red blood was slowly spreading across the gray stone.

"He wears the black-and-crimson crest of the Shadow Dominion," Ruo Xi said, kneeling beside the body and checking his neck. "He is still warm. He died less than an hour ago."

"How did he get past the runes?" Chen Lan asked.

"He did not," Ruo Xi said, pointing to the man's hands. His fingers were completely blackened and cracked, as if he had touched a hot iron stove. "He used a bypass key. A relic designed to trick the security system. But it looks like it did not save him from whatever is in this room."

"Or whoever," Chen Lan added, his eyes scanning the dark corners of the chamber.

"Look," Ruo Xi said, her voice dropping to a panicked whisper. She pointed to the top of the pedestal.

The stone surface was empty. A small, circular indentation in the center showed where a relic had recently been resting, but the object itself was gone.

"The key to the Silent Blade," Chen Lan said, his heart sinking. "They beat us to it."

"Not by much," Ruo Xi said, standing up and wiping her bloody fingers on her trousers. "If this soldier is still warm, the rest of his squad is still inside the mountain. They must have taken the key and headed toward the upper levels."

"Then we have to go after them," Chen Lan said, a desperate edge in his voice. "I do not have days to hunt them down. I have hours."

"We cannot just run up there," Ruo Xi said, grabbing his cloak. "The upper levels are heavily guarded. If they have the key, they will be heading straight for their extraction point. Probably an airship."

"Then we find their airship," Chen Lan said, turning toward the dark exit stairs.

Suddenly, a heavy, grinding sound echoed from the entrance tunnel behind them. The stone doors they had just passed through began to slide shut, locking them inside the dark chamber.

"They are sealing the vaults!" Ruo Xi yelled. "Run!"

"I cannot run fast enough," Chen Lan gasped, his legs buckling as another spasm of age ripped through his knees. "Go!"

"I am not leaving my shield behind," Ruo Xi grunted, hooking her arm under his shoulder. "Now lift your feet!"

They scrambled toward the heavy stone door as it slowly descended, the gap narrowing to a mere two feet. Chen Lan felt his dragon-scale arm flare with heat, reacting to his rising panic. He threw his arm forward, wedging his black, taloned hand under the heavy stone block just before it could slam into the floor.

The raw weight of the descending stone crashed onto his arm. Chen Lan roared in agony, his bones popping as he held the massive block. The kinetic heat from his claws melted the bottom edge of the stone door, sending hot sparks showering over his face.

"Get through!" Chen Lan screamed.Ruo Xi did not hesitate. She slid under his raised arm, rolling onto the gravel of the outer tunnel. She spun around and grabbed his human collar, pulling with everything she had.

"Now pull your arm out!" she yelled.

Chen Lan yanked his scaled hand back, and the stone door slammed shut with a thunderous boom that shook the entire mountain. The impact blew a wave of dust and heat over them, leaving them in total darkness once more.

Chen Lan lay on his back, panting heavily, his left arm smoking. "Are we dead?"

"Not yet," Ruo Xi's voice came from the dark, followed by the strike of a flint. A small, warm orange flame appeared on a torch she had pulled from her pack. "But we are locked out. And our targets are heading up."

"Then we climb," Chen Lan said, pushing himself up. "Before my heart stops."

"There is a maintenance shaft further down," Ruo Xi said, her face pale under the torchlight. "It leads straight to the high docks where the military ships anchor. If we are lucky, we can catch them before they take off."

"And if we are unlucky?" Chen Lan asked, his golden eye flickering weakly.

"Then we get to see how well you can fly without a dragon," Ruo Xi said, turning to lead the way up the steep, rising steps of the dark stone stairs.