We began walking toward the nearby town, Arctown. When we arrived, we restocked on supplies before heading toward the largest northern city, Darthdaut. At one point, Kanata tried transforming into a copy of Ariel. To everyone's surprise, it worked.

 

Now we were flying the rest of the way there. Me, Leston, Tiran, and most of the supplies were on Ariel's back while Fei, Nexus, Ariel, Kiri, and the rest of the supplies were on Kanata's. Once we got close enough, we landed.

 

"Alright, some things to know about Darthdaut," Leston said. "It's one of the biggest cities, so there's lots of people, and not all of those are good people. Only trust people we say can be trusted."

 

"I know several people who helped Julius in the past," Tiran said. "They'll help us too."

 

We continued walking. As we got closer, Kanata, Kiri, Ariel, and Nexus, who had better hearing than the rest of us, began to hear the sounds of other dragons. Eventually, I could hear them too. There were constant wingbeats in the air and the occasional roar.

 

Then, after another five minutes, a massive dragon flew overhead. It was the largest living thing I had ever seen. I knew (because Leston told me) that Ariel was on the lowest end of the size spectrum for dragons and was one of the smaller species, but seeing a giant one was awe-inspiring.

 

The dragon measured at least six hundred meters from head to tail and its wingspan was easily the same. It had yellow-gold scales and jagged spikes all along its spine. It also had an array of horns that looked like someone had stolen a spike pit and glued it on. As it flew, I caught a glimpse of its status.

 

 

It was an impressive sight. The dragon flew overhead and continued to the south, completely ignoring us below. And why would it have noticed us? We were one tiny dragon and a group of humans.

 

"That is one powerful dragon," Fei said.

 

"That's only, like, a third of the strength of the Hollow," Kiri bragged.

 

"How powerful is the Hollow?" Leston asked Kiri.

 

"Very," She answered. "He could wipe out all of the humans on the planet if he wanted to. The only reason why he doesn't is because he doesn't want to anger the Admins."

 

"The what?" Tiran asked.

 

"You don't know what they are?" Kiri asked. "I thought they were common knowledge."

 

"They aren't," Arya said. "None of us have ever heard anything about them."

 

"Okay, well, they're what they sound like," Kiri said. "A group of six, all-powerful beings who watch over the world. They created it. Each admin is in charge of one part of the world."

 

"Do you know any of their names?" I asked.

 

"Well, there's the leader, Glistle," Kiri said. "He's in charge of the system itself. Scavalin looks like a scavenger and is in charge of all land beasts. Orogon has domain over the humans, elves, dwarves, kimes, mermaids, and demi-humans. He looks like a knight. Korican is the master of all the elements and he looks like a fish with an owl face. Genasteir looks like a shark and is in charge of all sea beasts. And the last one is Dacroxin, who is a massive, twelve-mile-long dragon that lives in space. He is in charge of all the dragon-related stuff."

 

"What about the demons?" Arya asked.

 

"They're a whole other story," Kiri said. "You see, a long time ago, during the ancient civilization, there was this guy whose name was Timmothy. He got screwed over accidentally by one of Scavalin's nuclear spears and became a glitch in the system. To attack the admins, he created a dark version of all the other races that were a perfect predator for their counterparts. Humans became vampires, elves became Shademark Demons, dwarves became skullheads, mermaids became sirens, demi-humans became Verin and Kitsune, kimes became werewolves, and dragons became wyverns. Drachendoor demons are the result of a dark dragon's magic influencing a branch of demons."

 

"What about the Hollow Vessels?" Kanata asked.

 

"We're our own glitch," Kiri replied. "That's why a lot of us are missing a stat or two."

 

"How does no one else know this?" Leston asked. "How do you know it?"

 

"The Hollow will meet with the admins sometimes," Kiri answered. "In return for staying out of the way, the admins don't kill him."

 

"He's powerful enough to wipe out all humans ever and the admins can kill him!?" Tiran asked.

 

"Yep," Kiri said. "Easily. They are outside of the system."

 

"That's crazy," Nexus said.

 

As we were talking, we had gotten to a bend in the path that went around a mountain. As we turned it, we finally saw Darthdaut in all its glory.

 

We saw why it was often called the City of Dragons. It was massive and dragons were everywhere. They crowded the skies above the buildings, flying all over the place. Occasionally, one would land inside the city or in the closest forest. I saw two flying away from the city too.

 

"This is the highest concentration of dragons on this continent," Leston said. "Darthdaut, home of Eragon the Mighty."