The Dragon Elder (5)

It was nothing but a graveyard of skulls and decaying bodies. Kavira remained calm strolling through the dead walking forward, ignoring the unsettling gut in her stomach.

She had been no stranger to death, having killed some people herself and having seen a few die. She wasn't sure what this door would entail but she was far less afraid of death due to some unfortunate situations. Her instincts immediately brought her here, it wasn't just about curiosity or completing the challenge.

Kavira was half expecting an animal of a high caliber to jump towards her but she didn't feel anyone's presence. No birds, no bugs, no insects, just dead bodies. Kavira walked forward for what felt like five miles and there was still no exit and no notion of what the challenge was.

Kavira gazed around to as far as her eyes could see, there had to be a dragon somewhere. If it wasn't invisible it had to be dead. She spotted a structure of bones, perfectly crafted to stay still on the far right of where she stood.

After making her way over, carefully examining the bones there was nothing here. Kavira's patience was growing thin. She was in a room full of skulls with no direction of what to do, this guessing game clearly wasn't to accomplish anything.

Kavira lifted her leg up and was ready to destroy the dragon bone structure when a shovel appeared along with a note. She paused and looked down, these games were completely irritating but she had to remember that the Dragon Elder was watching. Her acting up wouldn't help the situation, her friends were counting on her even if she wasn't the 'worthy' one, she was still a Fiena.

She moved over to the center of the dragon where his stomach would be, lifting the shovel and the note.

Find yourself.

The note was quite disturbing, how was she to find herself when she was right...

Kavira dug for hours and hours around the dragon structure. There were no signs of any bones but she continued to dig ignoring her exhaustion. She didn't want to believe that one could die from looking for their treason but she could feel her bodies energy fading.

A couple of more hours passed digging around the dragon bones until she found a body of golden bones. Everything was perfectly intact and in place but nothing else happened. No memories, nothing magical happened. Kavira dropped to her knees examining the bones. The skull had something stuck to it's forehead, she brought it up to her eye level and noticed a familiar pattern.

She knew almost instantly what was stuck in the skull, a piece of the red aura diadem. It wasn't glowing or radiating off any magic because it was being held captive in this skull. Kavira tried smashing the skull a few times but nothing damaged it. She was in no mood to deal with this, she melted the skull with the strongest fire she could produce taking the diadem into her hands.

"Well done." A voice rang throughout the grave yard. Kavira wasn't interested in looking around and finding the person that disgustingly lied to her. This wasn't her body but somehow the person speaking already knew that and also knew about her search for her dead body. "You believed that because your instincts brought you here that the note may have been a sign."

Kavira still didn't turn to where the voice was coming from, she simply put the piece of diadem into her personal pouch and closed her eyes to rest. "You're going to need me if you wish to leave this place." The voice spoke such arrogance. Not only did he lie to her but he was expecting her to fall to his feet and wait for him to guide her.

"The Dragon Elder is watching. I completed my task, if you don't let me go I don't think she will be overly happy with you." Kavira finally opened her eyes to see a sandy drown dragon in human form towering over her resting body. His yellow eyes appeared hungry, he knelt down on one knee but Kavira quickly moved away reaching for her weapons.

"Relax. I'm just giving you your token." Kavira was beginning to think that he was the reason there were so many dead bodies in this graveyard. "I am. I am the keeper of this challenge. Anyone who fails here dies, most people here are not Fiena. People come in here thinking that this is the easiest challenge, it's easier to escape death than to face poison or torture."

"Well this challenge wasn't particularly difficult." Kavira was pretty sure he was aware that she was capable of this but she was half expecting to be put in a deadly situation where she would be in the brink of life or death.

The sandy dragon began to laugh, his scales shaking little bits of sand. "There is more to death than just dying. Sometimes the dead can guide us, take you for example. I sent you the note to find yourself and you automatically thought I meant your previous dead body. When all I meant was to look for something."

The dragon held out the token acting as a peace offering. "You found something that completes you as a Fiena. That is why you passed. You didn't die in the process of finding your treasure, unlike the rest in this grave yard."