Chapter 63: 62. The Moonlight

Leila was free-falling. Her hair was flying upwards. She was surrounded by darkness. She tried to reach, to grab onto anything around her, but there was nothing she could do to slow the fall. Fear flashed across her mind, but it was too brief to take notice. The faint gleaming of the scepter in her hands anchored her—it was a part of her. The constant noise of water sloshing was gone. She felt a tickling sensation in her throat as the air became drier and hotter. Then she heard the same whisper again,

Sla..thar... Sla.. thar..

As the sound grew louder and clearer, for the first time ever, Leila felt the power the word carried with it. It seemed like some sort of energy was resonating within her, shattering her muscles and bones, affecting her mind and thoughts as if an unknown power was waiting for her, and it was buried deep down below.

She couldn’t possibly know how far she had been falling. When she landed, the ground was strewn with smoldering ashes and cushioned her landing. She launched forward, gripping the scepter tightly and muttering, “Thorn..... Where are you?”

Stopping abruptly, she heard a sound quickly approaching from her left side. Her entire body stiffed. She realized that she needed to find a place to hide immediately. But the gleaming scepter was like a lighthouse in a dark sea. She felt totally, dangerously exposed. 

Within a fraction of a second, someone grabbed her, pulling her to the left.

“Leila...” the voice was deep and low. It was Thorn. “Are you alright?” Thorn said hotly, “Are you hurt? How are you feeling? Where is our baby?” 

Leila looked up at him. His face was exceptionally gorgeous under the faint light, dark eyes staring at her with the utmost concern. Leila reminded herself she shouldn’t be distracted by the beauty of her love at such a critical moment, but she couldn't deny that Thorn's concern made him even more ravishing. She wondered if it was the fire gem's doing.

“Yes, I’m fine. And the baby was safe with Rina.” Leila said, surprised that her strength had recovered so quickly after delivering a baby. She had to trust Rina to protect Thorn’s baby, even though her opinion towards her was still reserved. 

Thorn exhaled slightly, his shoulders relaxed a bit, then tensed again. “Come. We can’t stay here for long. Olcan is still hiding out there. We need to move.”

“What is this place? And where did all the water go?” Leila said suspiciously, getting more and more anxious, “I can’t smell or feel the water.”

“I believe we’ve entered the very core of the lost Stormy Clan.” Thorn clasped Leila’s hand in his, firmly and determinedly. “Be extremely careful now. Olcan had changed to his wolf form. I’m worried that the moon has made him lose control.” They walked in a straight line, then turned to the left and the right, until a patch of silver light loomed at the farther end of the pitch-black darkness. He pulled Leila closer, then walked towards the light. 

Sla.. thar...

“It’s there!” Leila said in a quiet voice, “The sound in my ears... I think it’s coming from there.” She trotted faster towards the light. 

The air was getting hotter and stuffier. 

As they approached, they saw a stone wall separating them from the other side. “The heat is coming from in there.” Thorn said while gliding his fingers across the wall, “This is some sort of clay. It feels damp, rather than dry.” 

The light was filtered from a small entrance on the wall. It was just large enough for one person to get through. Leila lowered herself down and peeked through to the other side. A gust of hot wind gracefully blew on her face. 

A spacious, circular room was dimly-lit by a few crystals on the ground. The roof was so high up that the room felt like it stretched upward endlessly, seemingly connected to the outside of the Craggy Mountains. A big patch of darkness shadowed the right side of the room, blurring her vision. Leila couldn’t see what was hidden there. As she raised the scepter and tried to put it in, Olcan arrived. 

He shifted into an enormous wolf and attacked her aggressively. It was like he was going mad, biting and drooling. He pinned Leila down and opened his rancid mouth wide. 

Thorn got hold of the fur on the back of his head, lifted the wolf with his bare hands, and tossed him away. Ash flew everywhere. The wolf jumped from the ground and pounced on Thorn.

Thorn tried to shift, but the space was too small to stretch his wings. Olcan got the chance and slammed Thorn onto the ground, stopping him from shifting. The wolf flashed his sharp teeth in Thorn’s face, as though he was announcing his triumph. 

Before Olcan could bite down on Thorn’s head, a storm of wind gushed in through the entrance of the wall. 

Leila raised the scepter, and it shined as bright as a torch. She was shocked at how easily her mind worked with the wind. It was as though the wind responded and submitted to her. She could conjure it, steer it, and call it to attack.

The wind threw Olcan off of Thorn, but he didn’t intend to give up. 

He quickly got back on his feet, howling as he charged violently toward Leila. His strength was immense, and it was impossible for her to stop him. Before she even registered his second attack, she was hit hard. The scepter slipped from her grip. 

Cunning as he was, Olcan changed his target to the scepter. He opened his bloody mouth, aiming to destroy the shiny object in one blow. 

Thorn didn’t allow him. Within a hundred fractions of a second, he shifted back into a dragon and crumbled the wall into pieces. 

Olcan dropped the scepter and quickly escaped to the other side. He hid in the darkness, trying to stay away from the crystal lights. 

Thorn flared his nostrils and tried to locate Olcan, but the mysterious rancid smell had conveniently disguised his scent. He slowly inched forwards into the darkness that Leila had observed before. 

Leila picked up the scepter and followed Thorn in. The room was unexpectedly spacious. There were even more ashes on the ground, now up to her knees. She had a feeling that if Mother Dragon hadn't bestowed her with her power, her skin wouldn’t be able to tolerate the heat of the ashes. She scooped some ashes up and studied them carefully. She noticed small, red crystals inside, like shards of fire gems, but the color was more intense—a bright crimson red with a hint of blazing blue at the core of each grain.

“These are not normal ashes,” Leila muttered, heart pounding. She held up the scepter and stepped in front of Thorn, lighting up their surroundings. Ashes piled higher as they moved forward. 

Then, they heard something moving. An enormous silhouette was inching towards them. 

Thorn breathed out a gentle flame, controlling the range. But it was enough for them to see.

A gigantic dragon skeleton began to fill the room. It was moving because Olcan was pushing it. He wanted to move the skeleton to the spot right underneath the well’s roof, and he was merely one or two meters away.

Leila looked up to the far-off sky. The clouds had already gone. The lunar eclipse was almost over. She raised the scepter and observed the dragon skeleton as Thorn had already started to push it away from where the moonlight would shine. 

Now Leila clearly saw what was carried on the dragon skeleton.

Millions of small dragon eggs were piled on top of it like a mountain of caviar.

Leila’s heart cringed at the shocking scene. If the first beam of moonlight struck the dragon eggs, they would turn to stone.

She put her hands on the dragon skeleton and pushed it together with Thorn. But Olcan was relentless. 

The moon started to show. A slice of silver loomed in the dark sky. The dragon skeleton was only steps away from the light.

Thorn flapped his wings and gave it another push. The skeleton shifted back. Olcan pushed again. 

Time was running out.

A small dragon egg fell off. It rolled off the dragon skeleton and stopped beside Leila. The moonlight finally hit it.

In front of Leila’s eyes, the egg seemed to shake, and the yolk inside wobbled. Then, only within a second, when the moonlight touched it, frost began to grow on the surface. It was instantly frozen, becoming a stone. 

“Hold it!” Leila said to Thorn and leaped into the puddle where the moonlight shone. She raised her scepter up in the air and concentrated on the wind, the light, and nature. 

She heard the wind swirl. Rain was coming and clouds were gathering. Before they covered the moonlight again, thunder echoed across the heavens. Bolts of lightning shot down right into the tip of her scepter. She pointed the scepter forward, and all of the lightning power exploded out towards the dragon skeleton.