“I believe I prefer the forest,” Mayne said, peering into the towering, dark corridor. There were crystal columns carved with intricate swirl and leaf designs, displaying three-dimensional images of the forest far above. On the left lay an emerald wall composed of shapes made from randomly linked hexagons. Almost holographic and translucent, it showed many layers of florescent green beneath each other. To the right impenetrable darkness lurked. It seemed to flow forever forward. The floor was covered in a two-decimeter layer of fine black ash.

“Netherial,” Sayth commented, “darkness that casts like light. Une Sailanse is full of it. This corridor is actually quite narrow.”

Alouve stepped out from behind Mayne. “Are you sure Altnexxis passed through here?” she asked, running her claw over the cool metal door frame. It clacked across the indentations, complex shapes that could be seen as either animals or flowers with the right lens of imagination.

Sayth had Azalyske run a scan for the fruit Altnexxis ate at Brak Thaa. Indeed, faint traces could be detected in the still air. “Yes, and recently.”

“Then onward we shall tread,” Alouve announced, taking Mayne’s hand and stepping forward. Mayne stumbled but followed of his own volition, with Zene riding on his tail. Mayne knew what the decay meant to her. Zene’s eyes pinned as he rotated his head like an owl, observing the very different surroundings.

“Une Sailanse is an ancient highway built long before recorded history. A labyrinth reaching the far corners of TriCora that’s mostly uncharted yet commonly used due to its ability to breach great overworld distances quickly. One step here could equal thousands in TriCora, but it’s inconsistent. An enigma. We don’t know what else is down here and should limit unnecessary conversation,” Sayth said, leading them in. His fingers ran across the cold wall as he walked.

Soon pillars displaying Harpe above ceased to appear, and the party was left in between the emerald glow of the left wall and darkness to the right.

The faintest whisper spoke volumes. To breathe, an anthem. To sing, anathema. Only the darkest silence permeated the ancient and alien halls, but the halls weren’t ready for an irrepressible pair of wayward young dragons.

“If, in theory, we were to run afoul of something hiding in the darkness, you could handle it as a guardian dragon, correct?” Mayne asked as he hugged the wall.

“Yes,” Sayth replied.

“You’re certain?”

“Yes.”

“Because, as you stated, we don’t precisely know what could be down here.”

“Yes, but if I can’t handle it, I only need to outrun you.” Sayth smiled.

“Ah, primitive human humor,” Alouve commented.

“Tell me a better one,” Sayth rolled his eyes without turning his head back.

“I’m no virtuoso of humor; however, funny things happen to me. As an example, I was part of a historical reenactment taking place in the second Lytrik/Raydaytion war. I played first officer to the Raydaytion prime alpha Z’targ. Now, needless to say, he was an ill-tempered sack of storms. Very paranoid and cross, as one must be to get anywhere in the Raydaytion fleet. I was tasked to deliver an important report regarding the battle of Opheln. Unfortunately, come my line, I addressed him as Prime Z’Tarken!” Alouve laughed, fidgeting with her fingers. “You must realize Z’Tarken was the prime alpha from the Raydaytion civil war and had a rather embarrassing private history made public ...”

She continued her story for ten more minutes. Rather than embark on futile attempts to quiet her, Sayth had Azalyske carefully scanned the surrounding area. The corridor had widened significantly, and they passed several offshoots hidden by netherial, but no other life forms were detected.

Z’targ? Sayth remembered meeting with him to form a treaty. Small universe.

When she reached a break in her story, Sayth was quick to capitalize on it. “You like Raydaytion jokes? I don’t know how familiar you are with the Raydaytion military, but it’s standard protocol for the arthropods to devour their dead to prevent resources from falling into enemy hands.

“A squad prime, his lieutenant, and a few remaining soldiers were trapped in free space with their ship’s engines damaged after a battle. There was precious little oxygen remaining, so the lieutenant was ordered to kill the remaining squad members and consume their bodies. After doing so, he complained about being bloated and how hard his role was: ‘I can’t believe I was able to eat all of them. My stomach is bursting!’

The prime took offense to this, saying, ‘You think you have it hard, lieutenant? How do you think I’ll feel after I eat you?’” Sayth paused for a moment after the punchline. Alouve and Mayne stopped and stared at him in silence. Finally, Sayth said, “Wrong audience. Raydaytion find that hilarious.

I saw your ship in Brak Thaa. Impressive. What were you doing up current from Thaa? First Drako was destroyed cycles ago.”

“Ah, you saw that? The facts fall as such, we were doing some sensitive research on one of the outer moons, nothing unusual, when First Drako was attacked. We happened to get stranded there because our ship wasn’t intended for interstellar travel,” Mayne explained.

“And because of your research, you were able to grow a ship that could ride the currents between stars?” Sayth pried.

“Yes, well, grow isn’t exactly accurate, but yes, that’s the essence of it. Merely expanding the boundaries of genetics in harmless ways. It’s all rather boring. I won’t bother you with it.” Mayne’s tail twitched back and forth so hard Zene nearly toppled off.

“No, I insist. Tell me all about your process,” Sayth said, knowing well it exceeded legal boundaries.

“Err, I … you see, the sails were spliced from a rare and extremely durable type of leaf ...” Mayne mumbled.

“That’s where we found Zene,” Alouve chimed in. “He was injured and drifting in free space. Three stab wounds narrowly missed his heart. We nursed him back to health.”

“Indeed. Don’t worry about me. I dabble in signature engineering myself; in fact, this coat was engineered from my dragon form’s scales. Flexible yet more durable than starship hulls. There’s no finer material,” Sayth said.

“I still don’t understand why Oth would want us captured in the first place,” Alouve said, intentionally shifting the subject.

“The Ogigah are eldritch mysteries as ancient as the universe. Who knows why he does anything, though I suspect it has to do with the decay. Oth reeks of it, like all Ogigah, and Altnexxis is the key to curing it. You had contact with Altnexxis,” Sayth said, arriving at a large spherical chamber drizzled in doorways, each three meters high and curving inward to a point at its apex. Like the entry, they were an unknown metal of copper color. The netherial was thick, as was the ash. Azalyske carefully scanned the area before confirming Altnexxis passed through the second from right.

“Wait, that would make you wearing your own hide? A rather … Alouve?” Mayne stopped and swerved his long neck around. He couldn’t find her in the darkness.

“I’m in here,” she called. Her primrose voice sounded far off and echoed throughout the corridor. “A pinch of help? I can’t seem to locate the doorway.”

“The doorway you just entered?” Sayth asked, shaking his head.

“It’s different from this side. The room is far broader a scale than what should fit; it’s like an auditorium. I don’t believe I know. It’s dreadfully dark in here,” Alouve yelled with one part irritation and two parts panic.

“I’m coming, Louve!” Mayne called, starting in the direction of her voice, but Sayth grabbed his wing.

“No, stay here. It’s bad enough I have to find one of you. I’ll bring Alouve back,” he said and walked slowly through the passage.

​

-Rainbows Wane