Of course, not all of it is intentional, I do get in trouble without meaning to. Like now for example, I really didn't expect the portal to send me to the other side of the main continent. I also didn't expect the portal on this side to be broken and unrepairable.

However, I am here now and I just have to deal with things as best as I can. The signs keep leading us deeper into the mountains and it is starting to worry me. The farther in we go, the stronger the things that are looking at us become.

They don't worry me too much, but they are a threat to Brightfire so I have to pay attention to them. A few things try to dash out and grab her but I easily cut them off and deal with them. It keeps getting more and more dangerous for her, enough that I consider turning back.

"How long do you think it would take to teach me these scout signs?"

Brightfire says "If your memory is good, probably a couple of hours. Why?"

"I am starting to doubt whether or not I can keep you alive. These mountains keep getting more and more dangerous."

Brightfire says "I will be happy to teach you, but I don't think we need to. According to the signs we are getting close."

"How close?"

Brightfire says "Our destination should be somewhere on that mountain just ahead."

"Okay, we will keep going, but stay close. You may as well teach me as we go, it may prove useful at some point."

Brightfire says "Sure!"

At the next sign Brightfire stops and teaches me how to read it before moving on. She was partially right, we are close, but the destination isn't on the mountain, it is inside it. At least the signs lead us to a cave entrance and instruct us to enter it.

Once we enter we find the cave turns into a network of tunnels, but the signs are still present. There is a sign at each turning telling us which way to go and Brightfire continues teaching me to read them. The signs themselves are fairly simple to learn, but they are placed in hidden places.

The hardest part is learning where and when to look for the signs, understanding them is easy. However, since they are typically used to mark elven secrets the knowledge could come in handy. I am assuming that the elves on the peninsula used the same signs as these elves.

It is a good thing we have the signs to follow, there is a maze of tunnels down here. Without the signs it would probably takes days to search through all of them. Not to mention, we are not alone down here, I keep catching the scent of something living.

The scent is all I have caught, but it is either stalking us or there is more than one beast. Luckily the signs will also lead us back out, otherwise it could take even longer to find the exit. That is assuming there isn't more than one exit, which there probably is.

Finally, after what feels like the hundredth sign, I can see light at the end of the current tunnel. It looks like daylight, which makes me wonder if we are at our goal or just back outside. However, the tunnel doesn't lead outside, it leads to a grotto in the center of the mountain.

In the middle of the grotto is a tree on a small island in the middle of a pond. The pond is surrounded on three sides by large moss covered boulders. Other than that there is a small area of grass in front of the pond and nothing else.

There are no other exits at ground level, although I can see the sky above. The grotto is circular and it goes all the way up, almost like someone drilled the core out of the mountain. It is just big enough that I think I can fly out instead of going back through the tunnels.

Brightfire says "Wow! How pretty!"

She steps forward as she talks, but I grab her and pull her back before she can take a second step. I quickly push her behind me and draw Blitz at the same time because I hear something. As soon as Brightfire spoke, I heard the sounds of rocks moving.

As I watch, the boulders around the pond all start moving, but it turns out they aren't boulders at all. The lines of boulders on either side of the pond turn out to be two heads and necks. While the mass of stone behind the pond is the body, it is a two-headed wyvern.

To be honest, when I heard about them in the human fort I didn't really believe they were real. Now that I see one, which is bigger than a drake, I wish that it wasn't real. This thing obviously hasn't moved for a long time, judging by the moss covering it.

Brightfire quickly finds a spot to hide while I move forward to fight the wyvern. Its two heads are focused on me despite its eyes being white and its tail is raised up behind it ready to strike. Its long necks means it has a good attack range and I am going to have trouble getting close to it.

It opens both its mouths to roar at me, yet it doesn't move away from the pond. As soon as I step within range one of the heads tries to bite me, but I dodge to the side. When I dodge the first bite the second head attacks and as I dodge that attack the tail strikes.

Instead of dodging the tail, I knock it aside using Blitz, but the first head is already attacking again. Its coordination is flawless and I already feel like I am fighting multiple opponents. While so far I have managed to dodge all the attacks, I haven't had a single opportunity to attack.

Luckily, physical attacks are not my only option, so I hit the thing with a Holy Shock. It works and does damage, but the wyvern pretty much just ignores it and keeps attacking. At this point I have two choices, keep dodging and hope I have enough power or trade hits with it.

If I stop dodging the bite attacks I should have a chance to attack back. The problem is that the wyvern can easily swallow me with a single bite and I don't want to fight it from the inside. Especially since Brightfire is watching, the last thing I want is someone to witness me being eaten.

This is the first fight I can remember being in where I am being overwhelmed physically. The wyvern is stronger than I am but I am still faster than it, which is why I can dodge all of its attacks. It might just come down to which of us gets tired first, but that is a gamble.

With all this dodging around I am definitely using more energy than it is in attacking. On the other hand, it looks like it is really old and hasn't moved in a long time. That probably means it has just been living off the mana from the pond and hasn't eaten in a long time.