Chapter 5;

"I can't believe you tried to leave without us!" August chided, walking side by side with his so-called "wife." Misteria merely bore her golden hues, which were molten with fury and betrayal, into the back of Zura. He thought it best to inform the others with his pet hawk with a message as to their leaving. Of course, August ran out, leaving the other 3 supposed members of the team in order to catch up with them.

2 hours later, and he was still relentless. Zura couldn't help but try to stifle his laughs at his princess as she got the lecture of the decade.

"I hate you, you know." Misteria muttered, the two men knew exactly who she was sneering and spitting venom at. With a satisfied sigh, Zura placed his hands behind his neck, in a sort of cradle as he tilted his head back to admire the moon.

That's when it ripped the serenity apart. That scream. Like have your skin torn off while swallow a mixed drink of lava and acid. All the while, watching a loved one behind torn limb by limb to bits.

Zura instantly readied himself, his hands now poised themselves in front of his own torso, his fingers making the sign of fire, ready to make an explosion as his foot dug into the dirt with the symbol of a protective barrier.

Misteria though, unlike August who reached for his blades, remained slack. Her head was the only thing to move, and only slightly. It tilted an ear skyward, listening to the echo of the call for a savior.

As they thought the scream to be gone with the wind, it transformed to a new scream. One just as painful, but with a ferocious growl at its ends. At this, Misteria's gold hues brightened with understanding, a quiet breath escaped her.

"What is it?" Zura asked, instantly returning to a standing position when he saw Misteria's relaxed ways. August remained tensed and ready for battle.

"Dragon Keeper."
"Aleta Myles is no where in this region, a party searched long and hard for her."
The princess shook her head, her lips pursed in annoyance at how the two men couldn't seem to piece it together.
That, though, was short lived as Zura's eyes lit up; instantly settling Misteria's peaked nerves.

"A new one." The Alchemist concluded knowingly.
"Is there a dragon nearby?" August finally cut in.
"Just one."
"Sarni." Zura finished for his princess.
"She doesn't seem like the type to take on a keeper, she quite enjoys their flesh more." She noted softly, mainly to herself, as she turned to the direction she knew Sarni's lair to be.

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What was left was nothing at all. Sarni's keeper fled the second the fusion was complete. With a frustrated groan, Misteria sat on a charred marble bolder that, not moments ago, a stranger stood on as a Dragon's essence poured down their throat.

August stood at the entrance of the boulder gate, nature made, or perhaps Sarni made it herself.

Zura wandered further in, deep into the Cavern littered with human remains and carved walls from elegantly precise nails. And at the end of the large room, was a carved note, not from Sarni, but something addressed to her.

Sarni,
We shall meet again when you've evolved.

Reikon.

"Misteria!" Zura's ecstatic voice echoed through, causing his two comrades to run in after.

"How..."

Misteria smiled, glancing over at August's agape expression.
"Interesting?" She suggested with a all-too dark chuckle.

A dark glint sparked in their princess's eyes.