Year 1023 of the new calendar, Month of the Sun, 11th day

I looked around the area, trying to survey for any danger. The adrenaline in my system calmed down a bit, I could still feel some scarce electricity in the air crackling. The Hiddle was in a terrible state, I put him down on the ground — he could barely breathe at the moment, so I just let him be and started to look around the area. It looked to be… a city of some sort? I looked to the ceiling, only to see a rusted dome. I looked at where we were, we fell from the ceiling into a city center. Walking towards the 4 people, I noticed a distinct metallic scent hung in the air. It was unlike anything I smelt before,

When I went up to the people, there were 4 all in a prostrating position around an altar. It was spotless, unlike everything else in the city that was worn down or broken. This altar looked to have no imperfections. It was white, with a gold trim that only exemplified the beautiful, deep, purple scale atop it all. The scale was floating atop it, rotating and showing off its majesty to all who could see it. I was standing 2 meters away from it, and the area’s gravity seemed to shift. It now took more energy to simply move, and when I reached within a meter of the altar, the gravity shifted enough that I could barely move. Expending most of my energy, I backed away from it.

I broke off a little branch from a massive tree growing in the middle of this small city, I threw it at the altar. It dropped dead flat as soon as it passed the 1-meter mark, falling so quickly that it made a dent in the solid rocky floor around the altar. The branch broke in two immediately, as well. Tsk, how was I supposed to get this scale? The distinct markings on it, a series of purple lines that glowed more than the rest of the scale, meant that it indeed was — if not a dragon scale — then at least a Drake scale. The relative power gets a bit weird, and I have nothing to go off of. Drakes and Dragons looked pretty similar, and those memories from the shell didn’t dive too deep into it.

I knew that there had to be some differences, everything I knew indicated that Dragons were so much more than every other species. Regardless, I needed to have a way to get this scale. It was a feeling I had, deeper than my soul, my mana supply. The scale was something more than anything else I had ever seen, I have to obtain it. I looked around and saw what looked to be an administrative building for this city, perhaps that would hold some answers. I walked my way there, staying at high alert the entire way to the building. It didn’t look like there was anything remotely alive beyond the plants, though. I reached the decaying building, the once beautiful wooden construct was broken in many areas.

The inside of it was just as bad, with debris everywhere, pages ripped and torn on the floor. What was the story here? Why did it look to be abandoned so quickly? I walked into a side room and the smell of soot hit me immediately, I looked at the pile. A few scraps of charred paper had been scattered around a mound of ash and soot, I looked around, but that was all that was left of this room besides a few knocked-down pieces of furniture. I walked towards a small piece that was larger than the others, I picked it up and read it.

Experime -4

An… experiment? Interesting. I walked out and began to look around the area, most of the rooms had nothing in them besides furniture parts and some books that were less than helpful. I looked through each one of them, hoping for some intact piece of news, but I couldn’t find anything of value. I slowly crawled down the stairs, which wasn’t the easiest activity, and reached the basement levels. Unlike the decrepit building above, the basement was still in decently good condition. It was made up of only metal, as far as I could see. The basement had 3 different hallways leading to separate areas, the signs atop them were still legible.

Information Storage

Cold Storage and Containment

Laboratory and Break Rooms

I went down the hallway that leads to the information storage, maybe that place would have all the answers. The dark hallway held an eerie atmosphere, but I shook it off and sped up to the area. I was a noble Dragon, I could not be scared of such trivial things as a lack of light… right? Yeah, definitely. The room was pitch black, and while I could still see, my vision was severely limited. I tried to turn on the switch in the room, and to my great surprise, the electricity still worked, and the lights turned on.

The electric lights emitted a light humming sound, there were 5 rows of cabinets. I walked through and started to read the labels, they were all mundane and did not matter to me. Sighing, I nearly left the room when I noticed a small mural on the wall. It was covered up by layers upon layers of dust, so I did not notice it immediately. I wiped away the dust and saw an… interesting piece of news. The moment I saw the mural, I could feel a gaze placed upon me, I froze and didn’t know what to do.

It felt like the gaze was present everywhere, and I could not move a muscle without my senses telling me with every fiber of my being down to my soul that it was a bad idea. The gaze was laid upon me for what felt like centuries, yet it was retracted a second later. I had already wiped clean the entire mural, it was… interesting. A gigantic being of some kind, describing it felt impossible to me, was on the mural.

The mural looked to be moving, somewhat, especially the being at the front. It was continuously shifting, yet not settling on a single form. The amorphous blob led a race behind him, a race that looked identical to those humans I saw on the forest except for their deep, void black skin and tentacles on their backs that they dragged around on the floor. They were on a field, with the being seemingly leading them up a mountain. I moved backward, trying to see if I missed something. I looked again and could see the blob settle for the first time. When I intently looked at it, it looked to be a white serpent with red eyes. It moved on the mural, locking its own fangs into the tail of the beast.

No blood was drawn, at first, but then a small droplet of silver blood came down from the fang of the snake biting its tail. After that little display, the being turned back into being indescribable. A shiver rolled down my spine, what was this place. I backed up and hit a cabinet, scaring the wits out of me. I looked behind me, and thankfully, no one was there. Tsk, I didn’t plan on staying in there, and the only other door besides the one that I came in went directly to cold storage. I walked through that door, and yet, it was warm and not cold in any way.

The electricity doesn’t run here anymore, I suppose. I started walking through and noticed all the tall glass tubes that contained a jelly-like liquid. When I walked forward a step, I felt something catch on my claws. I looked down, a clump of cells was there. I could feel that it was still squirming and alive, I tossed it off my claws and went to a door that caught my eye. A door that led to the office of the person that was responsible for logging the data that came from the laboratory. I walked inside, and it was still in pristine condition, which freaked me out a bit.

The pens were still in place next to a stack of paper, I walked up to it and unfortunately, no writing could be seen. I did hear something, though, and saw that there was a little metal briefcase with a distinct noise of a cry for help coming from it. I tried to scratch it, to no avail, I placed some of my mana in my claw and scratched the locks holding the case together. There was a broken syringe inside the case and a small tube that held a clump of cells with a small mouth.

“He-Help me.” was said by the cells inside the tube, the green clump was talking to me. Tsk, I lifted it up, and a small note was under it in perfect, mint condition. I opened it up slightly and started to read.

Genetic anomaly #24 Keep it contained at all times

This one displays a very high regenerative capacity, store it for the next experiment

It also displays very high intelligence for its type of anomaly, keep it at maximum storage

It was an anomaly, disgusting. This… thing was not meant to be a thing at all, I picked up the tube and crushed it down, killing the clump of cells, I left the room after finding nothing more interesting in the room. I walked back to the other, squirming cell cluster, and squished it down into a fine paste. Neither were fit to live in this world with everyone else, what was this place? Why were they experimenting on pieces of filth that should have died the moment they were born, what was that snake? This place didn’t give me any answers, beyond that it was a place of experimentation.

Dragons, and Drakes, were noble creatures, and we would never have consented to this. This had to have been built around that 1 scale in the center of the city, its gravity powers were very useful, and I did not doubt that greedy bastards would take control of it. I have no way to liberate my extinct relatives scale from this dastardly complex, but I will eventually raze this goddamn city to ashes. The act of desecrating that scale is cause enough for it, but I will have to wait on this. I went to the final room, the laboratory, and the break rooms.

The laboratory was clean and white, unlike the darkroom I came from — this room was filled with a bright light. It was so clean, with only consoles to do some depraved actions, no doubt. I went to press a little button with a lightning symbol on it, a bolt of electricity was sent out and fell down upon a raised platform in the middle. Another genetic anomaly was there, it was barely moving. I went up to it and ground it down into the floor, the green lump became a green paste on the otherwise spotless floor. It was only this laboratory, as far as I could tell, and I went to the break rooms.

The only thing that was in the room even worth mentioning was a single piece of paper on a complete table, it was in perfect condition. Almost as if it was planted just for me, I tried to sense for any mana traps, my control over my mana wasn’t good enough, though. Tsk, I picked up a stone and tossed it at the area. Nothing happened, though, so I walked up and took the piece of paper quickly off the table and started to read it.

From District Manager Jem to Staff Manager Chris

Relay these 3 orders to all of your people, this is of the highest class of order, straight from His Majesty.

Destroy any piece of incriminating evidence Evacuate all the people that do not know about the underground lair Leave as quickly as possible after that

This is a secret order for you, only. Kill all those that took part in the experiments, your reward shall be great. Report to me tomorrow.

This was a secret from the people? Yet, seeing the scale there in the middle of the city, I suppose that wasn’t a secret. Perhaps that was the power source for this entire area? I could see it if that 1 scale still had that much power when I arrived after this city was in this state. I walked out of the area, the mural was still weighing heavily down on my mind. What… was that. Eh, I could not think up any answers at the moment — that gaze still made me shiver down my spine. When I went up the stairs, there was nothing that seemed to change. I walked out from the building into the street.

The streets were the same, eerily similar. It looked like the entire place was set in a state of stasis that did not move no matter what. Another shiver ran down my spine, I disregarded it and went to the Hiddle. It was still just sitting there, the body was in a better state than when I first went in the building, no it was far better than when I first came in here. It looked to be fully recovered, its eyes were bloodshot, though. He also looked to be just a tiny bit bigger, which was weird. He looked at me and ran towards me as fast as he could. The 6 legs he had carried him as fast as they could, he nearly bumped into my front arm.

“WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN??” It screamed at me, my head rang a bit from the sudden loud voice. I abruptly picked him up and asked, “What do you mean? I haven’t even been gone for an hour.” He looked like I was a ghost, “No, you have been gone for YEARS. Why did you just leave me here, what did you do? WHAT HAPPENED.” My eyes conveyed confusion and a bit of understanding at the same time.

“Repeat that for me, did you just say I was gone for years?” His face looked at me with confusion, but nevertheless, he still nodded to my inquiry. What is this place, I said to him, “No, no. I was barely gone for an hour, right in that building.” He shook his head, there was a fucking time dilation here?? WHAT. Had it been years outside here?

“You were in that building for an hour??” he asked me, I nodded and then put the little guy down. This was a problem, what was I to do? My stomach grumbled a bit, shit I was hungry. I looked hungrily at the Hiddle, he looked very scared and started to back away slowly. I shook my head to get rid of the thought, that would have to be a last resort. I asked him, “Are there any animals here?” He nodded and pointed to a building close to us, perfect, and it seems like he was more willing to be with me after those years. That dilemma had to be solved after I get some food, I walked into the house with no lighting and could hear some little chirping noises.

I looked down and could see two people on the decrepit wooden floor, they were also prostrating to the gravity scale in the middle of the city, weird. I could smell the scent of some small rodents inside the place, my stomach was growling uncontrollably now. I walked around the people, I did not want to destroy their long decayed bodies, it was simply unrespectful.

The scurrying around of little feet in the walls quickly caught on to my ears, I walked silently up to a wall and stuck my hand up a bit. A small cluster of feet ran past where I was, I waited a moment before striking just in time. In my hand was what looked to be a gray Hiddle, it tried desperately to escape from my grasp. I crushed the guy in my hands, killing it instantly. I methodically removed all the teeth it had and then swallowed it down, the flavor wasn’t exceptional, but it was food.

I looked outside a hole found in the wall and saw some more of these rats in another house, I went to that one and also noticed that two people were prostrating towards the scale. I felt a bit weirded out, are all of them like this? I got another one of the rats and gulped it down, some of its brain matter was now on the floor, so I licked it all up. The taste of these little guys’ brains was nice, it was very gelatinous though, which I didn’t like as much. I walked to a different house and could see the yellow Hiddle following me, looking shaken. I gestured for him to move with me, he quickly ran up to me and was now near my left leg.

The 3rd house was the exact same, now that I looked at it, it was completely identical to the past two that I found. Besides the parts I deliberately had a part in, like those small holes in the wall, everything was the exact same. The furniture, the smell, the number of rats, the holes in the walls, the size. It was identical, a shiver ran down my spine and I quickly left the house. I had an increasingly bad feeling about this place, I looked again at the city and could now see it more clearly. It had a clear circular pattern, with all the houses being the same in a ring around the scale, with only the administration building being different. All of them had their doors looking directly at the scale, this was only the first ring and had about 70 or so of these houses.

I looked at the Hiddle, and asked, “Are all these houses the same?” He nodded, and then I pointed at the second ring of houses, larger ones, and asked, “Are those all the same?” He shook his head and answered, “I had never been to those areas, I was always a bit scared of them.” I nodded and started moving to the closest large house, unlike the earlier ones that were a few rooms at most, these looked like mansions. The Hiddle and I walked through the front door frame, the door was already off its hinges and was on the floor. When we were inside, the scene that was there did not provide me with any hope.

Two people, again, were prostrating directly at the scale in the center. The Hiddle looked absolutely terrified at the moment, and honestly, so was I. What happened to this place? We moved to another room, the kitchen, and there were another two people prostrating directly at the scale. Their skeletons were brown with dust and other debris, maybe decay as well. I had no idea, I walked out, as there was nothing there with any sort of value. The next few rooms were all the same as that one, two people — skeletons — prostrating to the scale in the center.

We made our way to a room that looked to be different from the rest, it was a gigantic room with another two skeletons. A piece of paper was in the center, yet unlike the one down in that accursed basement, this one was absolutely wretched with decay and could not be read beyond the name of the owners, Mr, and Mrs. Wilson. I walked out of the room, and the entire house in general, before making my way to the next mansion. It was the same, down to the layers of dust on the windows. They were identical in every way possible, even the paper was the same, but the names were different, Mr. and Mrs. Jielr.

I walked out and looked at the one house in the final ring of the city, a gigantic manor of some sort. We made our way to it, and as expected, it was the same as every other building. Rooms filled with nothing but prostrated skeletons, and perhaps some odd scraps of furniture and paper that were thoroughly unreadable. I emitted a slight ‘tsk’ noise, much to the surprise of the Hiddle. I looked at him and asked, “Do you have any answers to this?” He shook his head, as was expected. As we were leaving, I noticed out of my eye that a small light could be seen in another room.

I held up my hand and walked into it with my Hiddle, a small light was under a plank of wood. I ripped it off and what was inside was just a small note with a lantern, it read

For those that can read this, beware of-

That was when it ended, beware of what exactly? It seemed to be so cryptic, no, this entire place seemed to be cryptic. It was like everything was planted perfectly, I had my suspicions, though. This place was an underground city of some sort, which was weird in and of itself, but the administrators had an underground laboratory to experiment on genetic anomalies. The gravity scale in the center powered the entire complex, its energy reaching some places yet not others. A strange mural was down in the basement of that building, where it moved and shifted. The less said about the gaze laid upon me, the better, I did not feel any gaze at the moment.

My paranoia was only getting larger by the second, what was this place?? They also purged absolutely everything in this place, as well, and with no such clues, I could only guess. Maybe a genetic anomaly escaped? But #24 in the office of that guy implies that it was the newest, and the best so far, so if one escaped then they should have shut it down before anything really serious happened. Then, maybe that mural? But that shouldn’t explain the state of everything else, that mural looked to be something that only affected those who saw it.

The scale being the reason makes sense, we both left the area and went to the altar in the middle of the city. I tried to sense it ever so slightly, and it violently reacted to my stimulation, injuring me and the Hiddle. I felt my internal organs were bruised and battered, but that didn’t matter, I now saw where it went and maybe that would give me answers. I looked at the area, a small, inconspicuous house.

The Hiddle and I started to walk to it, I sure hope that gives me some answers for this place. Before I could reach it, though, I felt a force descend upon me and put me to sleep, forcefully. When I woke up, I was in an underground city of sort, which was weird. I looked around, and then noticed the altar in the center of this area, was that 4 people around a gravity dragon scale???? What was this place? I also felt a strange sense of déjà vu, but I definitely didn’t come here before. What the fuck is this, the Hiddle was still in that bloody mess I left it before the fight we had with the Osprey. This place… felt weird instantly.