"Are you in the Hollows Kindred?" a voice asked over a cell phone I had been issued by a friend.
"Yes," I replied, "The Kindred Alliance is spread thin here. Atta gave us a lead into the Circle of Thorns and their activities pertaining to Doom Ravager's disappearance. But nothing has turned up any further information."
"I'm sending you one of our newest recruits." I thought the voice belonged to the leader of a group of heroes he had met, Lady Virtue, but I could be mistaken. I had met her. only briefly, once before.
"This is no time for me to coddle one of your infants," I pleaded, "I would rather work alone than have to look out for some untrained raw recruit."
Laughter came over the tiny speaker and I closed the phone in disgust. How dare this woman presume to turn me into a watchman for some newly spawned super flegling. Maybe, if I flee before the person arrives.
"Kindredsoul," came a voice from in front of me. I sighed and turned to tell him to go back to his headquarters, but when I laid eyes upon him I knew why he had been sent. "I am Lord Tiamatious, son of Bahamut and Tiamat. It seems my great grandson is missing...shall we begin the search?"
To be continued....
We traveled over the scarred and ruined landscape of the Hollows for an hour before reaching the place where Doom Ravager had fought against a huge dragon. Only Atta, the troll lord, and his minions had witnessed the fight and they had told us the dragon was serpentine with large bat-like wings. The oddest comment made was that the dragon seemed to have shadows pouring out of its eyes.
"Ladoyeve," Lord Tiamatious decreed, "Son of Ladon, the hundred headed dragon. It is believed he is also my half-brother, but fear not, I have no compulsion toward helping him free our brethren."
"You're a dragon?" I managed to quickly shift to my Dark Nova form. Tiamatious seemed unphased by my abrupt transformation.
"I was once a dragon," he replied while looking about the area. There were signs of a huge battle all over and an impression where Doom Ravager had been slammed into the ground. "In order to awaken and perform the task appointed to me by my parents I was transformed, through several magic spells, into this shell you now see. Once my task is complete I will find a way to unlock my other form. Until then it is best I blend with the other heroes of Paragon. Here! Come here!"
"What did you find," I flew over to look down at a swirling cloud of dust. At first I had dismissed it as the wind kicking up a small dust devil, but it had not ceased since our arrival. Looking closer I saw it seemed to be nearly identical to the portals used by the Circle of Thorn magicians. "Where does it go?"
Lord Tiamatious grabbed my arm and pulled me into the portal as he worded his response, "The Heart of the World."
To be continued...
I watched as colors swirled through my vision, blinding me thoroughly. I could feel Lord Tiamatious' hand grasping my own. There was no doubt that our journey was not the normal for a portal. I felt rock under my feet again and I looked around to find a large cavern filled with crystalline. An amber glow filled the enormous room and after a time I realized I was looking at magma through the crystal.
"We should be incinerated," I proclaimed, "What is this place?"
"The Heart of the World," Tiamatious answered, "This is where we should have found the sleep dragons, but somehow thousands of dragons are missing. An ancient spell keeps the extreme heat to a minimum."
"Are they awake?"
"No. I would know if they were. They have been abducted. Undoubtedly, the Circle of Thorns has done something far worse than awaken Ladon's son. This does not bode well."
"Do you know what Ladoyeve wants with them?"
"Yes," Lord Tiamatious growled and it seemed to come from deep within the earth. I stepped back. "He intends to add their essence to his own. We have to stop him."
"But where do we start," I asked already forming an answer in my head.
"The Circle of Thorns!"
To be continued...
Kindredsoul looked out across the devastated landscape of the Hollows. The core members of his team, Kindredheart and Shadow Sythesis, were nearby talking to the officers that patrol the streets keeping the Trolls, Outcasts, and Circle of Thorn cultists out of Atlas Park. It had been days since a stranger had approached him in Perez and handed him a parchment. Upon it was a detailed account of Doom Ravger's last encounter with a ancient dragon named Ruvamios. It seemed a Troll Lord named Atta had witnessed everything. Thus, the Kindred Alliance had come to the Hollows.
"Well, Atta is insisting we go to him," Synthesis told him. "It seems he wants to see how we fare against his minions."
Clenching his fists, Kindredsoul frowned before shifting to the form bequethed by him through his Dark Nova. He knew things were about to reach a boiling point. There were forces keeping him and Doom Ravager appart. After years of studying the legend of Paragon City it was immensely frustrating that upon arrival events shifted to keep them appart, but things had never been easy for Kindredsoul....