Rayla, Callum, Ezran and Bait are asleep only a couple minutes after the daylight is replaced by moonbeams. I'm sitting at the crook of Zubeia's neck, listening to the steady thrum of wings and connecting the stars. 

Soren stands, holding onto one of the dragon's many large horns for balance. "Ah... nice being one of the good guys this time," he sigh contently, looking at me. "Humans. Elves. Dragons," he goes on, "we're a Dragang!"

Hearing Zubeia's laugh make me chuckle. The thought of a human making the Queen of dragon happy is delightful. I'm grateful of the world this has become.

And I'll do whatever it takes to stop Aaravos from destroying it.

"It's kind of humans to bring their, Court jester, on the journey," she chimes.

"Oh Queen Zubeia," I say, grinning, "you'll be bombarded by his jokes whenever you're in his vicinity."

Soren scoffs slyly at me, "oh I'm not the jester, I'm Captain of the Crowndgaurd," he boasts proudly. "With (Y/n) here as my second."

Zubeia hmms in interest.

"It's like the Dragonguard," Soren explains, "but the.... Ezranguard."

"Well," the Queen says, "if your sword is as sharp as your wit, then the King is in good hands." Soren almost blushes, going all quiet and uncoordinated at her compliment.

"Wow," he chuckles giddily, "but thank you. Ah, dragons are so nice!" He beams.

"And you, (Y/n)," Zubeia adds, "with Eve as a mother and Runaan and a teacher, I can only fathom your abilities. I am glad to see you two working together."

Soren and I both grin at that. "Thank you," I tell her, meaning it deeply. I shuffle sideways and pat the newly created open space to my right. "Thought you were really tired," I tease Soren.

He narrows his eyes at me, "extremely," he speaks very seriously and struts actively towards the space before sitting down carefully. "You should get some more rest too," he says, dropping the whole jokey-serious facade.

As if on cue to that, I yawn. Which causes Soren to yawn. Which makes me need to yawn again. Halfway through my third yawn, I just start laughing. "Oh my god just face the other way," I jest and he smiles.

"Don't let the Xadian bug flies bite," he jokes and turns around. I do the same, so our backs are facing. It's peaceful in the wind, slightly, very, cold.

But peaceful.

       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My eyes flutter open once the sun is bright enough to shine through my lids. I cover my face with my hands and my right arm brushes against something solid. I glance sideways to see Soren still sleeping.

And realise and practically laying on him.

I catch Rayla's eye as she stares gleefully at me. Getting up slowly, I unwind Soren's arm from around my shoulder. Putting a finger over my lips to tell my friend to please be quiet. Soren stirs and I pause, halfway up halfway still down. The my saviour, Rayla, extends her arm and I grab it, able to stand up.

The smug look on her face speaks louder than words. "It was cold," is my explanation; not even knowing when or how we got into that position.

"Well," she grins, "we are nearly there." She jerks her head forward and I swivel to see the looming mountain in the distance.

Soren wakes up shortly after me and I give him a hand. "You know," he tells the group who now stand around Zubeia's head, "it actually was quite warm throughout the night." He says it so confidently and everyone looks at me. "Do you... disagree?" He asks after getting no reply.

"'Twas toasty," I say and give Rayla a forced smile.

"There it is," Zubeia calls out. "The Great Mountain of the East." Everyone stands and shuffles towards the front of her head for a better view. "Umber Tor!" The Queen exclaims as we swerve around the rock face.

Brightly coloured bushes are dotted around the cliffs. They range from orange to green to blue to violet. Each a different shade from the last.

"It's beautiful," I whisper to no one in particular.

As Zubeia glides down, closer to the ground, I see a huge vine consumed gate, with many intricate archeological features. Short walls guide the way towards the entry, like brief arrows towards the target. They each have a peculiar statue on their sides. One is as wide as it is tall, giving me a crustacean like vibe with its red and yellow patterns. The other is slimmer, with glowing blue markings. Unlike the other one, this has a black abyss instead of a head. They must be at-least be 50 meters tall. .

As we land, Rayla slides off first and I follow her lead. The Dragon Queen lowers her head so it's easier for the others to jump down.

We walk towards this giant barrier, each analysing and assessing in our own ways. Is it daunting? Magnificent? Bewildering?

All of the above?

The groups of us stand back while Ezran does the honours of walking up knocking on this makeshift door. However, we wait a dozen seconds and nothing happens. He turns around, "I'm not sure if anyone's-"

Commanding rumbling fills the air as bits of stone falls from the opposing walls. We all try to dodge them, but I quickly realise Ezran still stands about 60 yards away.

"Hide under the Queen," I urge Soren, motioning at him to take the other two. He doesn't have time to reply as I start to run towards Ezran. I call out his name, trying to get his attention although his arms are still positioned above his head and he crouches lower.

That's when I realise the falling objects are not from the gate opening, but the statues climbing out of their wall craters.

What the fuck?

"King Ezran!" I shout, more forcefully this time and he looks up at me, before quickly stumbling sideways as the red sculpture hurries furiously towards him. I glance between my King and the carving, judging my timing.

If he doesn't move, he might get crushed.

As I get closer, I watch in horror as the statue lifts its thick leg. I hear Soren shout my name as I grab Ezran, knocking us both out of the way in a tumble of limbs. The beast's nub of a foot smashes into the ground, causing the earth to shake.

But there's no time to think about balance.

The ornamented blue sculpture scurries towards us. I latch my hand onto Ezran's arm and sprint. The carvings are quickly behind us, but Zubeia steps forward, putting a barricade with her wings between them and us.

I just about crash into Soren as we make it into the Queen's haven. Callum grabs his brother emotionally, worried about what might have happened.

"Thanks, (Y/n)," Ezran pants and Bait whines, concerned.

I just smile at him, offering a thumbs up while catching my breath.

"That was very badass," Soren teases. "Maybe you should be Captain of the Crownguard," he says, steadying me by holding my shoulders.

I can't help but laugh, "too much responsibility," I huff, turning apprehensively back to the situation at hand. We are just able to see fragments of the statues beyond the powerful shield of Zubeia's wings.

"We are the Guardians of the Gates of Umber Tor," the giant red rock announces confidently. The Dragon Queen lowers her wings slightly and that's when I notice their moss ridden bodies as well as coloured crystals adornments.

"Guardians is a bit much, don't you think?" The other sculpture contradicts and in this bickering sense, they are much less unnerving. "We're more like doormen," it explains.

"Guardianship of this gate is a sacred duty!" The red statue counters yet again. "I've been saying this for 500 years."

"Yes," the blue carving's voice is almost posh-like, clearly not taking the role as intensely. "But do we really guard it?" The five of us look awkwardly between each other. "I'm very sorry for my rude friend here being so agressive," it says to us. "We're really just meant to open and close the-"

A snarl from its friend interrupts its speech.

"Enough bickering!" Zubeia demands. "Open the doors, we must see Rex Igneous." I notice how she flares her wings, making herself look larger and more intimidating. However I think she looks incredibly powerful by simply exisiting.

The red one stomps a couple steps forward. "Rex Igneous is not accepting visitors!" It disputes.

"Maybe come back, next century?" It's partner suggests. I scoff, utterly annoyed.

Ezran looks upwards hopefully, "I know you're just trying to do your-"

Another jolting crash interrupts people's words once again, but this time it's from Zubeia. Her patience clearly waning. "I AM THE DRAGON QUEEN!" She bellows. "Open the doors or I will reduce you to pebbles!" As she roars, it reverberates throughout the land, sending the blue statue to fall off of his feet.

"Uh," the red one stutters, "we accept, your argument." It's so utterly intimidated, it even adds in a bow.

"Very logical, yes," the other one groans, getting to its feet. "Makes sense."

As they seperate and walk to their opposing sides, I realise what I first mistook as intricate architecture, is in fact an extremely intricate contraption to open this gate. As each twists and turns their own levers and wheels, chains act in their pulley system and the door cracks a fraction open.

As it does so, smoke leaks out as if the stone hadn't been moved in decades. It opens further and sends out musty smog. We try blocking our faces but there's just too much. Soren moves to stand in-front of everyone and it eases only slightly. Thankfully Zubeia covers us with her wings and the dust quickly clears.

As she removes her protection, we see what lays inside the great Gate of Umber Tor. It's peculiar. Not what I was expecting. Maybe abstract?

"It's blocked," Ezran says dully as we all stare at the great heaping pile of rocks.

"Hmm," the blue statue quirks it's shoulders in question. "Those weren't there 80 years ago." It chuckles nervously.

We all move forward to examine the situation, being careful as some of the boulders tumble out. Soren bends over a large one, and tries to pick it up. "Cmon, (Y/n)," he urges me, straining to lift it.

"Soren," I state, "this is not the most time efficient thing to be doing." He groans, falling backwards in a heap once he realises it's too heavy.

"Uh, you know," the blue carving utters, "you could just, go the other way?"

"Woah!" It's red partner exclaims as if offended. "Do not reveals the secret entrance!" I move behind Soren, putting my arms under his and trying to pull him up. He stays put, sad about the boulder.

"Secret entrance!?" Zubeia declares. Soren starts touching the boulder, whispering something along the lines of you've defeated me. The Queen looks furious, "why did you not tell us sooner!?"

The blue statue stammers, slightly embarrassed and or awkward, "well, the back door isn't exactly," it pauses, "dragon sized. It's more regular sized," it explains. "For tiny, squish-able creatures such as elves or humans."

Ezran steps forward, "we may be tiny," he declares, "and squish-able, but if there's a way to Rex Igneous, we're taking it."

The red sculpture thumps dramatically as it bends down to talk to our King. "The entrance lies in the Drakewood," it informs. "Deep within the Uncharted Forest."

"Cmon, Soren," I murmur, "time to explore a dodgy forest."

I offer him my hand. "Ooooh," he coos, taking it, "how exciting."

Callum hesitates, "do you have a- a- a map?" He stammers, "it a set of directions, or...?"

The rock creature looks at him curiously, "well it is the Uncharted Forest," it clarifies again, as if it's extremely obvious.

"Right," Callum chuckles awkwardly. "Got it."

"Don't worry," Ezran promises, "we'll find the way." Soren and I move closer to the group, ready to embark on wherever this shall take us.

Zubeia lowers her head, "you are very brave, young King," she praises. "But I must warn you, when you find Rex Igneous choose your words, carefully."

"Yes," the blue statue agrees, "the old dragon's got a bit of a temper."

It's partner chuckles manically, "oh, annoy him and the ground shall rumble! Irritate him, oh, stone shall shatter," I regard Soren yawn, clearly not bothered by the might of this Archdragon, and prepared to do all of the above. "Lava shall boil! Infuriate him and-"

"-you'll probably die," it's partner concludes.

"We'll be fine," I pledge with a relaxed smile.

Zubeia bows with gratitude. "Good luck my heroes," she chimes, "Azymondias and I shall await you at the Storm Spire." With that, she raises her wings and takes off. Soren waves happily goodbye.

"What are we waiting for?" I ask excitedly.

And so we begin our adventure.

                                         ~~~