They Feywyrm Skull

Hera and the others walked into the museum area of the hunter's guild. Inside was filled with various historical objects. From the clothes that the original Scale Heart chieftain wore to more modern devices. Things like crossbows and bolts, metal armor that did not exist back in the regular mode of the dungeon, and all sorts of well-made items, each of them left behind by the generations that lived in the past of this version of history. It was quite an impressive display.

Then, they were guided to the next area, where pieces of old monsters existed. There were weapons and armor made out of those materials. Things that lasted centuries. Most impressive of all was the head of the Nactra-Vall, who attacked the village so long ago. Or more specifically, would have attacked the village, since the hard mode was the version of history where the Scale Hearts were never obliterated by that creature.

And then came the last room of the museum. It was closed off by a set of double doors and there was a timer marking just three more minutes before it could be opened. Meaning that there was a group of people inside doing whatever it was supposed to be done in this place.

"Just a few minutes. We don't want to disturb their vision," Anara turned to the group and smiled

"Is there any reason why we can't go there while they are seeing the past?" Hera asked, curious about the details of the process.

"Oh, not really, it's just a safety precaution. I mean. While you are in there having a vision, you are completely unresponsive. So we figured it was better for people to be only around those they trust or came along with. That's why do you have people who stay there and watch. In your case, I'll be the one doing that. There's not really another reason for us to have people around during this process."

"I see," Shane said. "That makes sense, and thanks for looking out for us."

"No worries. If I'm being honest, I will also be watching the vision you are going through. But just a video of it instead of the full experience. That way, I can react quickly if anything happened to any of you. And FYI, if any of you have a better connection to the Feywyrm, We'll be able to tell right away too. You don't have to worry about only figuring that part out later."

"Really?" Hera asked. "How can you tell if we have this better connection?"

"If it's just lying there unresponsive, then there is nothing. But when you get close, the skull starts to glow. The stronger the glow, the deeper connection to the island you'll have. And if that happens, we have also an easy way to figure out who has that energy. All we need to do is one by one approach the skull and see when it reacts."

Everyone nodded, and the timer ran out. People didn't leave right away, since they still had to settle in and be ready to get out of that area. However, not long after the timer reached 0, an eclectic group with members of all species in the MAZE walked out. Some were happy and had a faint smile, while others seemed rather down and worried about something. It was clear that whatever had happened in this room in the past was not something that would elicit the same type of reaction in different people.

They all waited until Anara gave them the signal that they could enter. It wouldn't be polite to step into someone else's space while they were still exiting that room. Just like the Scale Heart explained, it was an area completely dedicated to the Feywyrm. From paintings and carvings to the very pieces of armor that were once created using the remnants of the giant dragon. In a way, it was quite impressive, since a few of the items were clearly legendary and extremely powerful. Yet it seemed like the people from this room decided they were better suited to be put on display than to be given to someone.

But before Hera could ask a question about that, Pandora did so, questioning if those items could never be worn by anyone.

Anara shook her head, "Well, generally speaking, no. They are supposed to stay here. But we do have a law that allows people to borrow those pieces of gear if the room is under a serious attack. However, you have to return the equipment as soon as the attack is dealt with. But that never happened. Even Rampages and Wendigos are not enough to require these types of items to be removed from here."

They continued walking through the area, taking their time to see everything the Scale Hearts had on display until they reached the main piece of this room. A gigantic skull of a dragon. But at the same time it looked a lot more like an old winter tree than the bones of a creature.

"As I mentioned before, the Feywyrm was a tree-based dragon. And because of that, what we initially thought was just a husk, was, in reality, the skull of the being. Everybody felt really stupid when we realized that. And considering the power that it still had inside, we decided that would be better to just bring it here instead of trying to use it as material for something. I'm kind of happy that the people who discovered this were already conscious enough not to mess too much with this piece."

They approached until Anara told everybody to stop and pointed to a line on the floor.

"The moment anyone passes through that line, there can be a reaction from the skull. So, I would like to ask everybody to step forward one at a time. Just so we know who is going to have a reaction," she said and stepped back.

Once everyone was close enough, Anara turned to Alex, who was at the edge of the group, and said, "Now, starting from the right, please step forward, then step back, and so on."

Just as Alex crossed that line, the Feywyrm's skull shifted. It no longer was just the dark brown of an old tree stump with a loose resemblance to the head of a dragon. But now a more vibrant green energy emanated from it. The most soft light swirled inside the two hollow gaps in the middle of the skill, revealing not just the true majesty of the ancient being but also its wisdom as even those empty eyes carried the knowledge of eons in them.

Anara gasped, saying, "This is amazing. I don't remember the last time I saw someone triggering such a strong reaction. But please, step back. It's more out of procedure than anything. But we need to check everybody. Although I doubt anyone else would have any reaction. Since it's something so rare to happen once, I can't imagine it happening again."

Yet, when Bonnie took a step forward, that's exactly what happened. The same green glow covered the skull, causing Anara to become even more frazzled. She tried to pretend everything was fine, and this wasn't the strangest occurrence she ever seen, but to no avail. She was clearly confused by the situation and as each member of the group stepped forward, the skull glowed once more, showing that not just one, not just two, but all of them were marked as having a high synergy to the Feywyrm's skull.

"This, this is amazing. I don't remember ever seeing so many people giving this type of reaction at once."

"Does that mean we are all connected to the Feywyrm somehow?" Pandora asked, trying to hold back a smile.

"I think so," Anara replied with her voice unsure.

Then, Pandora looked back at the group, still showing her excitement, but realized she was the only one having that reaction. Everybody else was calm and collected, as if they were expecting this or at least some version of this.

"What's going on?" Pandora asked.

No one seemed to be willing to burst the dwarf's bubble, but Hera decided to be the one to do so.

"It's more likely that because we've been to the dungeon normal mode, we also have some sort of connection to the dragon and the island. I mean, we were there when the Nactra-Vall attacked," she whispered. 

"Oh, yeah, that makes sense," Pandora tried to pretend that everything was fine, but she was clearly a bit upset about the explanation. And no one could blame her. Hera didn't want to leave a new friend upset like that, so instead, she shifted the conversation in a different direction.

"You know what this reminds me of?" Hera turned to Alex and Bonnie.

"What?" they asked.

"The snake statue that I touched and gave me that vision," Hera replied.

"The one that ended up with you finding Lurize?" Alex asked. 

"That's the one." Hera turned to Pandora. "It had the same vibe of what happened back there. We might be able to find something very interesting because of it."

Pandora had heard the story, so she knew what they were talking about, and so did everyone else. 

"Visions are always weird. No matter what you expect, things won't happen like you imagine," Kalina said.

"Yeah, I mean, how many people have actually interacted with a dragon? Even if everybody in this room has participated in the dungeon, from the number of people who actually talked or just saw a dragon is still super small," Farica added.

"But that's only considering real dragons, isn't it?" Yerel tilted her head.

"Not really. Dragons are hard to come by anywhere. Even inside dungeons there's a lot of mystery surrounding them still. And usually when someone finds one, they are either asked to keep their location a secret or the dragon itself decides to move before more people show up, so it's hard to say," Shane explained

Yerel frowned, "Why do they do that?"

"It might be because they are more lonely creatures," Shane continued. 

"Or because people suck," Hera said.

Everyone turned to the Empress, making her sigh. That wasn't a fun story, "There was a period in history where people were really into the idea of hunting a dragon. So there were these Dragon Hunter parties that took their job very seriously. Even if the dragons were not really doing anything or hurting anyone. They just wanted the bragging rights of having been able to kill one. It wasn't that great. For anyone. And I think it only stopped when dragons started to actually ask what the hell people were doing and then some people questioned if they were really mindless beasts that they were last believed to be or if dragons are more complex than previously people imagined."

"But if that's the case, why didn't the dragons say anything when they were being attacked?" Pandora asked. 

"I don't know. Maybe they just felt they didn't have to, or they tried to speak and the people who listened just decided it was a skill trying to mess with them. It's hard to tell," Hera continued. 

Suddenly, Anara sneezed, causing everybody to turn to their guide.

"Sorry," she seemed to be a bit embarrassed for having distracted the group.

Everybody shook their head and Shane said, "No, no, we were supposed to come here to see this and it's not fair to keep you waiting. Especially since it seems we are going to take a bit longer to come back. Right?"

The enchanter turned to the Scale Heart.

"It's not a guarantee, but that's the possibility, yes. Everybody who resonates with the Feywyrm is affected in a different way. So if you're ready, please just step forward and touch the skull... actually no, hang on."

Anara quickly scrambled to get a bunch of foldable chairs and place them all around the glass where the skull was encased.

"I'm going to remove the glass once you're ready and then you can touch it."

The moment they did that, everybody felt their consciousness drifting away. They were pulled from their current location. Instead, they were placed high up in the sky overlooking the island. But not the current island, a much younger version of it. Even younger than what they saw in the normal mode of the dungeon. The island felt like a newborn. Freshly created and still untouched by anyone. There were some small trees in the process of growing and becoming as massive as the ones they would be, creatures that had just recently evolved and were taking their first steps into dry land, and a swirly green energy that covered everything. It was almost overwhelming.

Hera tried to look around to see if she could find any of her friends, but she couldn't. She was alone. Even calling out didn't work. But there was also a different feeling about her. Something that she never felt before. She could still sense her tail, but beyond that there was something on her back moving, flapping. Glancing down, she couldn't see her body, but suddenly her neck twisted in ways that she didn't think possible, and now she was looking at the back of a large tree-like dragon. But it wasn't just the back of the dragon. It was also her own back, and that's when she understood what was going on. She wasn't simply going to watch the memories of the dragon through an outside view. She was going to have a first-hand experience as right now, she was the dragon.