I lost my footing and started floating while strong pushes from all sides with differing strength started sent me off tumbling and spinning. When I opened my eyes the air I was surrounded by roaring flames. I could see my outstretched hands, but nothing beyond. It started to get uncomfortably hot.

“That’s not what was supposed to happen!” A deep growling voice boomed into my head.

“Aaaaahhhh!” Flailing desperately I tried to stabilize myself.

“Stay conscious at all cost lil wyrmling or you will never get back to your friends.” The voice boomed in my head again.

Great. I needed a few moments to recover from the assault to my brain.

“Where am I?” I screamed at the top of my lungs.

“In the prison that was built into my hoard!” The booming voice growled through my head.

I weathered the thundering voice with more ease, as I hit some barrier. Sneaking a peek of the outside there was a large cavern. There was a familiar looking crystal from the dragon lairs and maybe a second one at the far side.

“Hope that your fellows dig through the debris of the collapse destroy the ward crystal before you lose your mind little one.” The voice boomed through my head.

“Dig through the debris and destroy the crystals! Hurry” I cried at the top of my lungs.

“They don’t ... ah good. This enchantment might be just what we need now.” The voice sounded intrigued, but still with too much volume.

“Tell them there are guards in the crystal that will attack them!” The voice in my head urged.

“It’s a dragon hoard, and I seems that I’m caught in the center. Aaaahh!” I screamed and a hit send tumbling through the flames.

This was worse than a roller coaster. After a while I managed to reduce the spinning a bit, but was I still spinning in multiple direction. Hitting the wall reduced the spinning to a degree, but hurt. My clothes started smoldering.

“You were in similar places before?” The voice in my head inquired.

“Multiple. Aaahhh! They will be able to defeat the guardians, but it will take longer without meeeeaaaah!” A strong current ripped me upward in a coil.

“That’s good to hear.” The voice in my head stated after a while.

The temperature was barely bearable and I started to feel a pressure against my magic core. The amount of magic around me was overwhelming. The mana permeated the flames in strong currents. My skin started to feel warm.

“Don’t absorb too much mana, you might explode at some point.” The voice in my head ended my train of thought.

“How? I don’t want to explode!” I cried.

“Your fellows have made it through the rubble. Just keep it out. Well try it. You’re too weak to keep it out completely.” The voice answered after a few moments.

I tried to stop the mana to surge through me, but there wasn’t much of an effect but hurling me around. After a while, the pressure stopped increasing.

After crashing into the transparent barrier again, I glimpsed about half a dozen humanoids fighting next to a ward crystal. After a while the temperature went down a bit and the currents tossing me around like a rag doll calmed down noticeably.

“Well done. They destroyed the first ward. They have a weapon effective against the golems.” The voice in my head boomed appreciatively.

The inner pressure against my mana core started to ramp up again.

“They have. Our claws are effective against them as well, but not all have them.” I called out.

“Ah. Interesting. They’re leaving for the next crystal.” The voice informed me after a few moments.

“The guards get easier which each crystal destroyed.” I wondered where the source of the voice was, but I still couldn’t see much.

“I’m not corporeal anymore, little one. The golems have deteriorated over the millenia, and they are powered by all crystals available. The first batch is the hardest. Once there were multiple appearing at each of the crystals, but the enchantments had not been maintained for a long time. You have to check wards you make once in a while little one. Understand?” The voice in my head rambled.

“YYYes. Of course.” I sneaked a peek at the outside again, but there were only two crystal columns visible.

“Unfortunately I wasn’t able to check my ward for a while, before you ask.” The voice echoed through my head.

Great, but I couldn’t make someone responsible to look after his enchantments while he or she was imprisoned. The turbulence started to get a bit more bearable. It was still too hot and the pressure was still rising, albeit it slowed down. Probably it was caused by those wards.

“Not exactly. Your Aura is squeezed by mine, but the weakened barrier allows me to get us a bit more space.” I got another lecture by the voice.

You’re reading my mind, don’t you? At least my surface thoughts.

“It’s the only way to communicate in this state. And it won’t get through the barrier unfortunately.” The voice growled.

Great! I hope the others destroy the guardians soon. I wondered how I’d come down when this all collapsed. I should get ready to land and to run as fast as I could. The center usually exploded quite viciously.

“I’ll try to give you enough time to retreat. That’s the least I can do for you.” The voice tried to calm me.

Try?

“Well. It’s going to be a challenge after all these years.”

I gotta run. Fast.

The flames around me started to get more translucent after a while. There was a shimmer enveloping the flames, which was probably the barrier. I could see the ground below as well. I started to get to the barrier, and after a while I got a look at the others, who were bashing the fourth crystal into splinters. As it would be bad to fall all the way down, I started to get down to the bottom of the flames, but there was still a strong current upwards close to the barrier.

After the fourth ward crystal was destroyed I slowly floated to the ground. I felt the rocky surface with my feet. Looking down there were only some traces of ash remaining of what have been my clothes. Fortunately my backpack was with the others, so I had some spare. I could easily use Milly’s and Tilly’s clothes as well, but well. I sighed. When I pushed to hard I started to float upward again. As I could see through the remaining flames, I floated towards the center of the area where a current downwards pushed me down to the floor again. Running barefoot over the rugged floor of the cave wasn’t the best idea. The scales at my feet would help to a degree. I got ready to reinforce them with my mana. Walking all day with wounded feet was nothing I looked forward to.

“You need wings, little one. Flying is the only true way of traveling.” The voice boomed through my head again.

Flying?

“Have patience little one, and remember my words. Get ready. Now!” The voice thundered through my head.

I would have been deaf by now if I’d used my ears. Then the magic flames around me retreated upwards. I empowered my scales and started to run towards the main exit as soon as I regained my balance..

“Let’s get out of here!” I cried trying to avoid the most obvious pointy stones.

The reinforced soles of my feet were not too shabby. The others ran for our backpacks and headed for the exit as well. They had better terrain, so they caught up, and we were only a few meters away from the exit as an explosion rang out behind me. I was showered by pebbles from behind. Fortunately my reinforced scales prevented to much damage.

“Quick!” I grabbed my backpack.

We ran until we reached the mouth of the cave. We were all breathing heavily. Unfortunately the exit was in the midst of a sheer cliff. It was the correct side of the ridge at least. There was a small ledge at both sides where we finally stopped to regain our winds. A few moments later a blast of rocks blew out of the cavern. It sounded as an Lahar passing. After a few moments it was calm again. It took some time to get back our bearings.

“Lilly!” Milly gave me a tight hug.

“What happened?” Tilly joined in a few moments later.

Atan hugged me a few moments later.

“Are you hurt?” Loraline gave me a concerned look.

“I’m not hurt. At least not badly.” I shook my head.

“You’re going to need a new attire, Milady.” Alenae raised her left brow.

“We should leave here soon.” I opened my backpack and dug out a shirt and some pants we used for training.

“Your boots are gone.” Milly frowned at me.

“Climbing down won’t be easy.” Caroline was carefully looking down the cliff.

“I didn’t want them to burn.” I rolled my eyes at Milly.

“We don’t have replacements!” Milly propped her hands on her hips.

“Well. It’s barefoot then.” I shrugged.

“Barefoot! In the mountains!” Milly shook her head in exasperation.

“What exactly happened after you triggered the ward?” Tilly looked into my eyes.

“I tell you later. Let’s get going first. We’re are going to avoid the area just below this entrance.” I looked at Caroline.

“We follow the ledge east as far as we can looking for ways down.” She nodded and started to walk ahead.

It took the rest of the day and some pitons to finally reach the bottom of the cliff. We found an overhanging rock protrusion, large enough to give some shelter. It was still cold, but at least there was no glacier, just a few patches of snow. It started to get dark as we were ready for dinner.

After we had dinner I told the others what happened to me. They had heard my cry and worked themselves through the rubble, which wasn’t that much as most of it had spilled out into the cave, creating a ramp leading down to the floor. They had pressed the fight with the golems, and got themselves some bruises.

“I’m happy we got you back alive! I was devastated until I heard your voice from the mirror.” Milly glared at me.

“Well. Sorry. There wasn’t much I could do after the enchantment malfunctioned.” I tried a timid smile.

“I know, but I’m mad nonetheless.” Milly furrowed her brows.

“Don’t forget to check your wards once in a while.” Tilly laid an arm around Milly’s shoulder.

“Normally enchantments last for an eternity without a problem.” Alena shook her head.

“Maybe dragons have a differing perspective of eternity.” I gave Milly a hug.

“Let’s be more careful with ancient enchantment in the future.” Tilly grinned at me.

I took some time to get myself some proper clothes then. As the skies were clear a magnificent view of the firmament came out after a while. A small purple moon was visible just above the mountains to the north. It somehow felt relaxing to look at it. Nobody spoke for a while, enjoying the view.

As my mana was still feeling a bit strange, I examined my magic and my pool more closely. The storage for the oath had been topped up again! Well. I didn’t expect that to happen so soon. Should I even mention it? On the other hand the oath had advantages for all of us.

“The oath mana storage had filled up again, thus I can use it another time.” I looked at the others.

“That’s unexpected.” Tilly tilted her head.

“We should wait until we’ve a place to rest comfortably for a few days.” Milly furrowed her brows.

“Sure. I’m going to offer it to everyone eligible. No Atan, we’re going to wait until you’re older.” I looked at the others.

Caroline and Loraline looked at each other while Atan hung his head.

“I’ve no idea how to fill this thing again, as it was again something I can’t easily repeat.” I sighed.

“At least you don’t need some divine intervention.” Tilly gave me a encouraging smile.

“Let’s get ready for the night, there’s nothing we can do about it.” Milly got to her feet.

We set watches and I fell asleep after a few minutes. My skin felt like a light sunburn though, but that should be gone by the morning.