Chapter Twenty

The Kensingtrie Mountains stretched past the Arakhora Forest to the Kingdom where the castle had built itself almost into it, then reached out to the Dwarven Kingdom on the other side. The mountain disappeared into the clouds, so the proper height was never marked down. The sun faded between grey clouds, the wind picking up speed the closer they got to their destination.

"It's like nature knows why we're here." Gideon spoke up, tucking his cloak closer around him. Rayne glanced around until she noticed a row of trees tucked off to the side. She directed her stallion towards it. When she reached around the trees, she found a dirt road that led to a mouth of a cave. She dismounted, tying her horse to one of the trees and checked herself for her weapons, the bag that Xerath gave to her and put her hair up. Gideon rode up beside her and dismounted, eyeing the cave.

"This is it, huh? Are you ready?" he asked her, but she didn't respond. Her mind wasn't focused on the matter at hand, it was still scattered after the dream the night before. A part of her had hoped that sleeping with Gideon would have distracted her from her problem, but even after he had fallen asleep, she lay awake the rest of the night in deep thought. The woman's face was still obscured each time she tried to remember her, bit she knew deep down it was her mother.

Gideon shook her gently, bringing back to the task at hand. She shrugged off his hand, fixing up her hair and takes off her cloak. He raised a brow at her as she remained quiet, a deep crease forming as his brows came together, but he didn't say anything else. He took off his cloak just as well as she did and they walked up the path.

"Look, whatever happens in there, I have your back." he said, but when he took a glance at her, her face was like stone, showing no emotion. He wanted to talk to her, but he knew she was going through something. With previous experiences of women crying to him about their life problems after sharing a bed with them, Rayne had shut herself off from him. His heart ached to hold her, but she wasn't the affectionate type like what he was used to, but he saw sides of her that not many have, maybe even Mel-Darion hadn't witnessed, and he was satisfied with that. He had to be patient with her if he wanted her to feel anything toward him after this was over. But what if she didn't? What if after this ends with Ravnyk dead, and all peace and sunshine has returned to this world, and she disappeared forever? His chest tightened at the thought, but he forced himself to get over it. Now was not the time to think as such.

The cave entrance was wide enough for two people to walk side by side, and a low rumbling was sounded from within. Gideon pulled a torch out of one of his larger satchels and struck it against the cave wall. Fire bursted to life, exposing their surroundings. It was similar to that of Xerath's mountain, but there was an intense heat the further in they traveled compared to the cold greeting Xerath gave them.

"It's quite warm down here." Gideon tugged at his collar to loosen it. He peeked over to Rayne who was focused on the path ahead. He let out a sigh.

"What?" she said coldly.

"Are we going to talk about it?" he asked her, but she went quiet again. "I know you don't care much for conversation, which I believe at this point you do, but you were pretty upset last night." he said. Rayne gritted her teeth, slipping her dagger out and shoved him against the wall, pressing the blade against his throat. He stared down into her angry gaze, his hands up and away from her. Though she appeared in full control of the situation, her hand slightly trembled with the dagger. She pulled away slowly, sheathing the weapon and continued on without him. Gideon watched after her, a deep worry filling his heart as he followed after her.

It seemed as if time was traveling by slowly with the path never changing once. The low rumbling they had heard earlier had increased along with the temperature. Gideon had rolled up his sleeves at one point and wiping the sweat from his face. Rayne felt her clothes cling to her body as they moved forward, but she didn't stop. She couldn't.

"Rayne." Gideon called out to her, but his voice was just a ringing in the back of her head. He grabbed her wrist, forcing her to stop and pushed his water skin into her chest. "Drink or you'll faint." he said, walking ahead of her. She looked at his back before taking a quick swig of the cool liquid, letting it waterfall down her throat, quenching her thirst in the rising heat. She let out a relieved sigh as she closed the water skin, and followed after him.

The low rumbling that was heard for quite some time now turned into what sounded like fire cackling and... bubbles bursting? The heat was nearly unbearable, Rayne ended up discarding her armor into the bag Xerath gave her. A small red orb of light appeared at the end of the tunnel. Gideon stopped when he noticed it, putting up his hand to stop her, but she walked past him.

"Dammit Winters." he grabbed her arm tightly this time, "You need to stop and listen."

"I don't need to stop and do anything. My objective is just ahead of us now." she said, ripping her arm from his grasp. He clenched his hands into fists, trying to remain calm.

"We're about to go up against a dragon, one that we are not entirely sure it's on our side." he said, and she spun to face him.

"That dragon saved me from Ravnyk's torment. She guided me to yo..." she stopped herself, but it was too late. The one part of the dream she never mentioned to him. He stared down at her when she paused, a slow smile approaching his lips. He poked her forehead gently.

"Awe, so you do dream about me." he teased her, and she smacked his hand away, hearing him chuckle. She felt the tension between them and within her chest loosen and she felt a little relieved. She wiped her forehead, grimacing at the amount of sweat she's been producing.

"I don't know what's going to happen, or what to expect to happen. What I do know right now is that Aetherius is in there, waiting for us." she said, her eyes set straight ahead of them. Gideon pushed back his hair, touching his sword.

"What if she isn't here, Rayne? What if this is actually a trap and we played right into Xerath's hands from the beginning?" he asked her. She shook her head.

"I don't think that. It's a gut feeling, but Xerath is on our side." she said, swallowing whatever hesitation she had in her heart and continued on with Gideon at her side. The light grew larger as they approached the exit, but what they walked into was not what they were expecting. The tunnel opened up into a large, dome like cavern, a stone walk way with two pillars on either side extended out from them to a stone platform that had scattered standing and broken pillars. The room was filled with red and orange light that appeared to be coming from below and around the platform. The temperature within was to the point of being unbearable, Rayne found herself having troubles breathing. She clutched at her chest, the vision in her right eye getting hazy at the edges when Gideon placed his hand firmly on her back. She felt a cool sensation seep through her shirt, cooling her down suddenly and being able to breathe again. She looked over to him, seeing him struggling to breathe and she grabbed his arms.

"Go back, now." she pushed him, but he stood firm. He took out his water skin and spilt whatever was left over himself, sighing in relief.

"Let's find this dragon and get going." his voice was hoarse when he spoke, glancing around the cavern. He stepped close to the edge by the stone bridge and peered over. The low rumbling they had been hearing all this time was lava flowing around below. "That explains the heat." he said, and he looked toward the platform. Rayne picked up a stone, throwing it across the bridge. It clattered until coming to a stop thirty feet from them. They waited and waited, but nothing happened.

"It's not an illusion this time, that's a good sign." she said, walking across the bridge, Gideon following close behind her. Once they reached across, they searched around, but couldn't find the golden dragon that was supposed to be here.

"Great, we're too late." he said, kicking a stone off the platform. Rayne looked around desperately, but to no avail. She closed her eyes, trying to think when a low growl slipped into her ears. Her eyes shot open, looking around frantically, but still didn't see anything. The growling came again, and this time Rayne shot her gaze up to the ceiling where a very large gold dragon clung to the stalactites. Her eyes widened at the actual presence of the dragon as it dropped down in front of her. Gideon stumbled from the tremor, looking back and his eyes widened.

"Well, will you look at that." he said, wiggling his way around the dragon carefully until he was next to Rayne again, his hand on the hilt of his sword. The dragon eyes them carefully before sitting, raising her head to her full height and loomed over them.

"You came." her voice spoke within their minds, and although Rayne had heard her voice before, she was still awestruck by it.

"Yes, but why?" she asked, stepping closer. Gideon fidgeted, gripping the hilt and took a precautionary step forward. Aetherius shot a gaze toward him, and Rayne peered back, shaking her head at him. He hesitated, but withdrew his hand from his weapon, still appearing uneasy.

"Ravnyk has a firm grasp on the world, and will continue to spread this darkness until no light can shed through it ever again." she said, lowering her head down to Rayne. Still wonderstruck, she continued to step closer.

"And why should I be the one to stop him?" she asked her. Aetherius inclined her head, her face just a few feet away from her. Gideon watched on carefully, feeling the heat start to effect his mind. The cooling sensation that Rayne had felt earlier was slowly fading away, but she was too mesmerized by the dragon to have noticed.

"I thought you would have figured it out by now. You are Ravnyk's only weakness." she said, and Rayne stopped, looking up at her confused.

"I'm sorry, I'm lost. I'm what now?" she asked, not believing what she just said. Aetherius moved her gaze over to Gideon and when Rayne followed it, he dropped to a knee. "Ryder!" she called out, rushing over to him. He was struggling to breathe.

"You are the world's only chance in seeing the light again and vanquishing this darkness permanently. I will aide you, but in order to use my power, you must come to an understanding with the darkness that lingers in your heart." she said, bringing her face in closer. Rayne looked up at her, an arm around Gideon as she reached out, her fingers just grazing against her scaled snout when she was enveloped in a bright white light, similar to that in the dream she had. When the light faded away, a sword rested in her hand. The blade gleamed with the white glow that was left over from the light, a red gem that looked similar to a Ruby was embedded in the hilt. When she took a closer glance at it, she thought she saw Aetherius staring back at her.

The platform started to tremble, the stalactites shaking and breaking off one by one. Rayne hoisted Gideon to his feet, looking around as everything fell apart around them. She forced him to walk with her over the stone bridge where the level of lava started to rise. She pushed them both to get through as quickly as they could while the walls of the tunnel shook around them. Parts of the walls started to collapse, forcing them to rush around it until the light of day greeted them with fresh air. Rayne breathed a sigh of relief when the cave entrance collapsed behind them.

"We made it." she let out, and Gideon fell to the ground beside her, his breathing strained. His face was flushed and slightly scorched from the intense heat that was beating against him. "You fucking moron, why did you get like this?" she asked, kneeling beside him and set down the sword. She rummaged around until her hand rested on the bag Xerath gave her. She pulled it out and opened it. "Water skin." she called to it, reaching it and pulled out her water skin. She threw the bag down, opened the skin and lifted his head, carefully pouring into his mouth. He coughed heavily, tasting the cool liquid and grasped her hand that had the water skin, chugging the water and spilling some over his face. He lay there after a few minutes, his breathing leveling out at last and his eyes finally opened. He smiled weakly up at her and she stared down at him. His smile dropped when he saw a single tear fall from her left eye.

"Rayne?" he choked out, reaching up and brushing the tear away with his scorched thumb. Her body trembled as she touched her left eye. He sat up slowly, wheezing as he did when he saw her trembling, "What's wrong?" he asked worriedly.

"I can see." she spoke in a whisper, making him draw his face closer to hers.

"What?" he asked again, and she took her hand away from her eye, a sensation she hadn't felt in a very long time blossomed in her chest and she smiled genuinely at him. His eyes widened at the sight of her.

"I can finally see." she said again. His hand slipped behind her neck, bringing her face closer to his and kissed her deeply. He wanted to savor that look for as long as he lived, along with the love that started to bud within him.

After a moment, they pulled apart and his eyes fell onto the sword. He picked it up curiously, whistling at the beauty of it. Rayne picked up the bag, taking the sword and inserted it until it disappeared.

"All along she was a sword." he said, and Rayne inclined her head at the idea.

"No, she's definitely a dragon, but from my understanding, some dragons have the ability to shapeshift into another lifeform or object." she said, tying the bag shut and lay back on the grass. She gazed up at the sky, the grey clouds having already dispersed and the sun shown through. Gideon leaned over her, holding up a couple fingers in front of her face.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" he asked, and she smacked his hand away, letting out a laugh. His chest squeezed at the sound and he kissed her again. She returned it until pushing him away and sat back up.

"We should get back as soon as we can. Xerath needs to examine the sword and you need a good soaking." she said, getting to her feet and leant her hand out to him. He took it, groaning as he got to his feet.

"Can we discuss our other plan on the way?" he asked as they made their way back to their horses. She peered over to him and he shared a look with her, and she nodded.