<h2>CHAPTER 95 – ARUNIDAWA</h2>


    The sun warmed Mercinestor’s face. Although he was scared to death being this high up, above the clouds, he never felt better. Zora kept Fathom at a high altitude so they could reach Arunidawa as quickly as possible. When Mercinestor felt like they traveled far enough south he tapped her on the shoulder. They descended back through the clouds. He saw the low-arching beautiful architecture carved into the quarry. Any further, up above the clouds, and they would have missed it.


    It was hard enough to keep from vomiting, Mercinestor could barely keep track of time and distance in the skies. To him, it felt like they went up, sailed on the clouds for a lucky moment, and then dipped back down. Had they been gone for an hour or a day?


    Zora surveyed the land around the town. There were some hills and trees, but the center of town was flat and open, so that’s where Fathom landed. Throughout all the commotion that comes with a dragon landing in a small town not one person revealed themselves. It was a ghost town, empty. Mercinestor hoped it was not barren of absolutely all life. They dismounted and Mercinestor warned Zora.


    “We are going into the caves to have a look around. Fathom won’t fit.”


    Zora nodded her head. She went over to Fathom and pulled a torch from her satchel.


    “I need you to stay here and keep guard, fire-eyes.” She smiled and rubbed the side of his neck. Then Zora lifted the torch. Fathom spat yellow fire on it.


    “If anyone shows up. Alert us. If any darksiders show up. Kill them.”


    “What are they really?”


    “The darksiders are echoes of my kingdom. They remind me of the slaves at the cove, but they fight like dragon kingdom soldiers. Like the legends tell.”


    “We only have one legend of the south around here.”


    “Mitakahn has told me. Evil. But this is not the truth. This is northgate lies.”


    “I guess we are both victims of the times.”


    Mercinestor led Zora into the palace. They passed through, avoiding a couple of dead bodies. The hallway transitioned into the chamber of a cavern beneath the earth. It was pitch black. They brought the torchlight to the front of the room where Mercinestor knew the Orleop Threshi was. As they approached a shadow from the torchlight projected onto the ground of a man on his knees.


    “Cipher!” Mercinestor cried out. He leapt to his son and cradled him in his arms. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    “We found you,” Mercinestor said, “By the gods, you were actually here.” He rubbed Cipher’s head and hugged him. The warmth from his father’s embrace brought Cipher back to reality. He looked out and saw Mercinestor looking right back at him.


    “Dad?”


    “It''s me, Cipher. I’m here. Everything is going to be okay.”


    “Where is Kara?”


    “There is no one else here, son.”


    Cipher jumped up. “We need to get her! She’s in the Corscape with the cor. That’s borrowed time. The Cor will collapse in on itself!”


    “How are we going to get to her if she has the cor, Cipher?”


    Cipher looked at his father and his sword. Mercinestor followed his gaze and unsheathed the krakenwreck. He tightened his grip around the sword and it began to glow blue. Mercinestor gave the krakenwreck to Cipher and upon handing it off nearly keeled over. Cipher held his father’s sword in his left hand and kept his right hand facing-up but in a fist. Cipher closed his eyes and concentrated. He used to be able to open the Corscape on command, just by thinking about it. But that was when the Ignaleos Cor sat safely at Castle Rosi Island. Now the Cor was inside its own realm. If he did it now the Cor could appear anywhere. He needed an attractor, like a sword charged up with the same energy signature as the Ignaleos Cor.


    With his right fist still out, palms up, he opened his hand and with it a tear in the fabric of reality opened right above the krakenwreck and out spilled the Ignaleos Cor gem, as if being physically evacuated, ejected from the Corscape.


    It glowed more vibrantly than Mercinestor had ever seen before in his entire tenure as its guardian. Along with the Ignaleos Cor came Kara Ventrilles, barely keeping her fingers on the gem, and fitting through the pocket portal. She fell right into Cipher’s arms, who dropped his sword just in time.


    “I knew you’d come back for me. But how?”


    “I just needed some help from my old man.”


    Mercinestor waved. That’s when Cipher and Kara noticed Zora standing behind them. Mercinestor looked back and forth. Zora looked astonished at what she had just seen with the gem portal.


    “They mean no harm. Zora and her dragon are not with the enemy. In fact, they’re our escort.”


    “Fathom cannot fit all of us on his back.”


    “He won’t need to.” Cipher closed his right fist and his eyes, trying to concentrate again, but nothing happened. He started to get upset. Kara put her hand on his back. She looked at Cipher intently and smiled.


    “Together.”


    Kara Ventrilles and Cipher Casterosi held hands and closed their eyes as they both reached out with their free hands. The Ignaleos Cor shook on the ground and then exploded into three rings. Between the first and second rings, there was Fathom waiting outside. Behind that, between the second and third rings, there was the smoldering city of Zepathorum City, from this angle it would put them in the fields north of the Gatehouse. They all walked through. Zora escorted Fathom through the final rings. The portals closed in a snap and the Ignaleos Cor fell into Kara’s hands.


    They were standing before the city, after just being told that Mitakahn returned and Axion took the throne, thinking the worst of it was finally behind them. They couldn’t be more wrong. Zora sitting atop Fathom looked on with horror, along with Mercinestor, Cipher, and Kara Ventrilles, as a juggernaut version of the Dark Lord ravaged the city. It looked like it was fighting something in the sky. Like a hive of fireflies.