Auberone, Rikke, and Falkor heard a terrible roar and tremors that shook the ruins.

Then a specific noise that only Falkor recognized: lava!

AAAAAAAAAAArgghhh, Go for it, we must take refuge behind the big doors.

Then a blast of scorching heat followed in the corridor and a typical reddish glow cut off any retreat to our 3 friends.

Falkor pushed Auberone and took Rikke on his back and rushed to break down the Gates which gave way and he closed them behind him and immediately afterwards a reddish glow appeared in the interstices and the door began to smoke. He collapsed the columns to keep the doors closed and there were stairs but the overheated lava pierced holes in the big bronze door but was slowed down by the scree. He looked behind them and saw a sheaf of ultra-liquid pressurized lava oozing from the scree and Rikke said, "There are stairs here, it's wide enough for you, Falkor."

They climbed up and the scree gave way and the room was flooded with lava that quickly filled the whole space. They went up the stairs and the lava also went up and holes in the stairwell were glowing red and lava nets began to fall on the steps.

Falkor felt a few heated stones stinging his scales to remind him that he was not a red dragon.OUCH.

The two dragons rushed upwards and arrived in a huge room with luminous crystals.

A sign indicated: the exit is invisible. Reveal the invisible! The dome was huge!

you could hear the lava rushing in and there wasn't much time.

There was a control panel and when you pressed on it, circular sections would rotate and move the magnifying glasses. The sunlight would shine through the sphere in the ceiling to a set of mirrors. But no matter how you turned the ceiling, the rays couldn't get through. You would turn around in circles and you could hear the roar of the lava below.

Then, overwhelmed, Rikke went around the room and came across two volumes of magic.

Cold Magic and Hot Magic!

She went up with the two volumes and handed them to Auberone. Then she looked at the pages with Rikke's help to turn the pages and she said: yes, that's what he does: he heats the lenses to refract the beams!

But I don't know the spells of ice and fire. I spit fire but it will destroy the mirrors!

Rikke yelled: "IF YOU DON'T KNOW, STUDY qiiiick in the place where you complain!"

Auberone had perspiration on her head and had to swallow the principles of heat, friction of molecules and mana, and hot and cold electrons.

Then she tried to make it cold and focused on the lenses.

She reread them and instead of shouting at them everyone stroked her to reassure her.

Then Rikke read, look it's like this, I understood you have to take the mana for the cold. It's the opposite of heat. Then Auberone focused on the heat, easier for her and she activated one of the lenses. The light refracted and touched one of the segments of the ceiling. She tried the cold on another and another ray hit the circular segment of the ceiling.

Then on the third, she tried the cold and then the warm. The beam hit the last section of the ceiling.

Then Falkor got the idea to rotate the section discs by pressing the observatory's rotation buttons. One of the rays was positioned on one of the globes, then the second was rotated and so on until the third was reached.

The central beam then deviated and hit a wall that drew a large door. Then a screen appeared and an alert message appeared.

The light went out and only the lines of the door appeared and the dragons wanted to run away but Rikke told them to watch the show:

They saw their planet as a satellite. They saw the suns, moons and the gas giant. Then they saw the stars, galaxies and constellations. It was like being at the controls of Hubble, the orbiting telescope.

Then the observatory fixed a point in space and zoomed in. And what they saw wasn't reassuring, really not reassuring.

Falkor says, "What the hell is this?!!!"

Rikke: "It looks like a huge galley and it looks gigantic. "

Auberone: "It looks like a fire in the back and lots of little windows".

She took notes in the grimoire and they went away and arrived at the exit. No trace of me.

They all thought I was dead, roasted in lava. Our trio passed the last arch of the observatory and no trace of Me. From outside, we could see the gaping hole of molten rock still glowing. The dragons were crying for me, and Rikke could feel the emptiness I was causing in them. Especially Auberone. Then Auberone stood on a rock and watched the setting sun and howled like a wolf. But instead of a growl, there were beautiful notes of music. She began to whistle like a wind instrument, a sad flute near and far, with the body and strength of the greatest organ in the world.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH,

Then a cry tore the harmony of the heavens.

And, instead of flying, the two dragons leaned against each other to share their sorrow and like a small mountain, they walked, dragging their tails and heads low to the ground. Usually they would walk fast, even at a walk, but this time they dragged. defeated. aimlessly. Not knowing where to go.

Only sobs and tears stained the ground and Rikke, closing the march, could not lose track of the dragons, she saw the tear drops soaking the dust on the ground.

It was so heartbreaking that she said to herself, even in front of a ferocious dragon, she would never see them as before, but she saw in them beings of extreme beauty, of absolute grace who carry the world, beings of infinite sensitivity capable of miracles and who were, in the end, more complete than human beings. They were certainly not equipped with hands as precise as human beings accustomed to tools, but the rest more than compensated for these inaccuracies. Knowing also that Auberone was a princess and 1/4 human, she began to dream of human dragon couples and the friendship and powerful sense of family that this implied. It was absolutely necessary to protect these beings who were disappearing more and more quickly throughout the kingdom. It was thought that attacks were more frequent, that the empire was being invaded by bloodthirsty dragons. But it's just the information network that's faster, more accurate, and focused on attacks. But the truth is that it's mostly the settling of scores between bandits and factions that, when justice gets involved, puts the attack on the account of the dragons.

This is what led to the extermination of the wolf in our lands. By dint of crying wolf, we fired the last one. This is what awaits our dragons. Slowly, but inexorably.

Besides, even if the king was actively protecting the last dragons, it was too late. Too late by generations. And for every egg that was born, three dragons perished.

Their culture was already gone. Their writing and knowledge had been erased down to the traces in the stone, and the individuals that remained were just a few scattered tribes that were trying as hard as they could to resist extinction.

After these sad thoughts, they arrived at the devastated camp.

There was nothing left. A handful of dazed men had gathered all that could still be used and were warming themselves by the fire. Although they knew Falkor and Auberone, they fled, shouting, "The demons are coming back to eat us." Falkor was very much like the dragon that came with Ignar."

They had patched up a tent and gathered the food... Rikke threw a branch at a runaway and didn't miss, and with her sword at her throat she asked, "What happened here?"

"Please, please, why did you come back to finish us off? You were with them."

Rikke slapped the traumatized man and told him to tell because they were on a mission. It took almost half an hour to convince him it wasn't them.

"The red and the black one, they slaughtered everyone and the red dragon with his monstrous armor.

"He was invincible. Magic, spells, ballists, arrows and swords, nothing, nothing could reach him. The black dragon threw lightning from the sky on all the men who burned or died a few minutes later, their hearts stopped by lightning. They couldn't breathe or scream. It was like fish out of water.

A frightening image. We all ran, each one in his own direction for a better chance of getting out.

The blue dragon was asleep with her cub and the red dragon put boxes in and exploded and destroyed the whole camp.

This woke up the dragon and she threw the little one who was screaming and crying into the stream below and he disappeared. The black dragon bit the blue dragon who screamed in pain and the red one gave him a tail strike with his monstrous axe and smashed his head.

She collapsed suddenly and they dragged her. I think she was still alive but they were so strong and so big that they had no problem carrying her through the air. They're very strong monsters!"

Auberone cried and now said Aqua and Fuchur!

She fell to the ground and fainted with grief.

So did Falkor, who fell to the ground.