Firebolt (The Dragonian Series)(69)
“His name was Quito,” Cheng whispered. “He was the Rubicon before Blake.”
“That’s the Rubicon?”
“One hell of an ugly bugger, isn't he? Only a mother can love that mutt,”he joked.“The total opposite of his human form.”
Right next to the dragon, a tiny figure reached up to his knee. The sign read that it was an average human male. Goose pimples made my skin crawl as I realized it was the human-dragon ratio.
“Does Blake look like that too?” I asked, thinking Lucian must be crazy to try to claim him.
“Not quite there yet, but he is the biggest of all the dragons at Dragonia. They grow bigger as they reach their milestones.”
Milestones? It must be similar to birthdays.
“Where would I fit on him?”
“Oh, about up to here.” He crouched down and showed at least half the human figure’s size.
“I'm so glad I'm not Lucian.”
“Me too, but size isn't everything,” he explained thoughtfully.
“Do you have a Dragonian?”
“Yes, his name is Andreas,but he’s only ten years old.”
“Ten years old?” I looked confused. That seemed too young to have a dragon.
He nodded and a huge smile lit up his eyes.
“How did you know he was your Dragonian?”
“A dragon knows.”
We moved on. Knights with jousting sticks and wearing heavy armor came next. They even have had York and some of the Eastern Europe countries displayed with model dragons soaring through the air breathing fire down on unsuspecting villages.
Cheng sighed. “The Sun-Blast and Moon-Bolt made it really difficult for dragons to be considered tamable in the old world.”
“You mean the world before the wall?”
“Ah-uh.”
“How long has the wall been up now?”
“Oh, for the last nine hundred years,” he explained.
“Did you ever visit the other side?”
“I really want to, but they say it's hard for a Metallic dragon to return. We like humans and feel more appreciated on the other side. It's the reasons my mom's scared to give her consent,” he explained.
“So your guardian has to give permission?”
He nodded.
“Until when?”
“Forever.”
“That sucks,” I said, and he chuckled.
“Yes, you humans have things so much easier.”
“You humans? That’s not nice,” I said, teasing him.
“Elena, you know what I mean.”
“I'm just joking with you, Cheng, and yes, I do know what you mean.” I felt sorry for him, not having a chance to follow his heart without his mom's consent.
“After you.” He showed me the way, and we moved to the next exhibition. It was some sort of obstacle course that reminded me of First Knight, a movie featuring Richard Gere and Sean Connery. Richard's character had to complete an obstacle course just to get a kiss from the lovely Guinevere. The obstacle was scaled down, and I gawked at the detail of the hammers sliding past one another and huge boulders crashing down. Logs with swinging balls attached to them rotated at very high speeds. Even the surface where the contestant walked to get through the obstacle was moving.
“It was entertainment in the old days,” Cheng said.
I imagined me, super tiny, trying to get through in one piece. I got smashed by the two rocks colliding on top of each other.
The next exhibition was a cave. “The Sacred Cavern.” The detail they used to display the replicas was amazing.
“What is it?”
“A cavern only the brave or the desperate will enter.”
“To do what?”
“To retrieve the most prized possession in all of Paegeia; a millpond so magical that it can show you anything you wish to know. Whether it's past, present, or future, it will reveal all to whoever gazes into its surface.”
I looked at him with a curious expression on my face.
“It's not that easy though. The price is high. If you can't face whatever the cave is hiding, then it claims your life.”
“Has anyone ever made it out alive?” I asked. I couldn't take my eyes off the detail. The million steps made me think of a Chinese temple. The steps led to huge doors molded into a cave, surrounded by a forest.
“Yes, but only a small number. The funny thing about it is that all of them were women.”
I could feel another one of his theories coming, but had too many questions on my mind.
“What's inside?”
“Besides the millpond, no one knows. The five women that did make it out never revealed what they saw or did. No one knows why. It's very mysterious.”
“Wow.” I was fascinated by his story, but we had to keep moving.
As we moved farther into the exhibition we came to a room that explained the sports that the knights used to compete at. Some were jousting on horses and the others were battling one on one. The last one looked like some sort of a team battle.