Strager looked up, following the gigantic wall of grey spires high into the sky, where their peaks were shrouded with grey and black clouds. Broken ground reminiscent of gigantic slabs of shattered stone lay out in front of him for several dozen dragon-lengths. The mountain wall stretched far into the horizon both to the east and west, an impenetrable range that would take far too long to traverse and was far too tall to fly over.

The metal dragon sat on his haunches as he studied the mountain range, feeling the anxiety and anxiousness run through him as he ran over his plan. His silver shell was the same dull grey as the clouds above him, and the golden yellow scales running along his underbelly lacked the usually gleaming shine that he was quite fond of. His two wings, covered by the same metal shell, were held loosely at his side, and his tail flicked back and forth with agitation.

"Are you sure about this, Strager?" came the voice to his side.

He glanced at the dragoness next to him. A crystal dragon with a soft purple sheen to her otherwise opallic scales. Beautiful and powerful, she currently looked toward him with a concerned gaze.

"No. It's the only chance we have though," replied Strager, looking back at the mountains again, "It's the only place that I can think he might be... especially after what we've seen Athaer do."

"Yes but... even if he is in there... what makes you think he would even want to fight for us. After what we did to him..."

"I don't know. But he's our last hope Opallio."

"You don't know that."

"We've already been through this. There is no other way..."

"You don't know that!"

"Well, how else would you suggest we fight this?! Huh? How else? You saw what she did to the mental nation! And now she has turned her eyes on us. We need help. We need someone who knows what we are fighting against. Unless there is another dragon out there that has what Zyal has, then I see no way we are to survive the current storm."

The crystal dragoness looked to the ground, seeming rather taken back by the drake's outburst, before saying quietly, "We could surrender."

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that," growled Strager, before turning back to the mountains and opening his wings, "Have the company wait for a day. If I haven't returned by then head back the sky city and report to Queen Polliar. Perhaps the combined might of the earthen, sky, and water nations will be enough to hold her back."

Before the crystal dragon could respond Strager leaped into the air with a flap of his metallic wings, a twang of metal against wing following him as he pulled himself up toward the mountains. He tried to show bravery, to show surety, knowing that if someone needed to do so it was him. But inside there was only a dwindling ball of hope as he entered one of the many open ravines slashed in the side of the grey spires.

He wasn't sure what he expected the Living Mountains to be like. He had only ever seen them from a distance and heard stories of their dangerous depths. Very few dragons who entered left alive. Any who disturbed the walls or broken ground below awoke a beast of earth and stone, unstoppable even by some of the most powerful dragons in existence. For nearly four decades they had searched for the source of the Living Mountains, with very little proof of anything found. Until now. Strager had once believed that such unbelievable power from a single dragon was impossible, but after having witnessed otherwise there was only one being he believed had the strength to create the mountains. He just had to find them.

So, he winged his way deeper and deeper into the Living Mountains. The ground below was no less broken and shattered than the stone on the outskirts of the range. The grey walls were unnaturally smooth and steep, like pieces of polished stone. Yet they rose so far above him he was still unable to find their peaks. It was a strange feeling for the drake. Never had he felt so small, and so overwhelmingly outmatched. It shocked him to think that a dragon had done this.

Still, he flew. Further and deeper. He had allowed his silver shell to flow over him, covering his entire body in an impenetrable suit of armour, turning his usually yellow eyes red. He hadn't touched the ground yet, but he was still very wary of the walls around him. Still very little was known about the mountains, and he didn't want to take any more risks than he had to. For several hours the dragon continued on until he was lost in a maze of ravines and valleys.

"No turning back now," he muttered as he came to a hover, looking back and forth, trying to figure out which way to go now.

He wasn't sure what he was looking for. Part of him figured that the dragon within the mountains would find him, but how long that would take he wasn't sure. Above him, dark clouds were gathering a thunder boomed in the distance. The prospect of flying through the maze of mountains in the rain was not a welcome one.

With a growl he winged his way to a stop, beating his wings heavily to keep himself high as he looked at walls surrounding him, "Zyal! It is me Strager! I know you are in here somewhere! I have come to talk!"

His roar echoed down the valleys. A chorus of noise that all fell back into each other until it was barely legible. The minutes passed by, but no response came. The dragon growled, flapping his wings a little harder to keep himself aloft. The wingbeats were slowly getting harder, though he was far from his limit. Still, he wasn't sure he wanted to be flying through the mountains through the night, leaving him exhausted for the morning.

"Zyal!" He roared again, trying to gain the other dragon's attention.

He knew that the likelihood of the other dragon hearing him within such a large mountain range was low, but he couldn't think of any other way to do it safely. There was still one option to gain the dragon's attention. But it would be putting him at far more risk than he was willing to allow. As now answer came from his second call he began to think that he may not have another choice, short of flying deeper into the maze of mountains anyway.

With a sigh he continued on, calling out the dragon's name as he went. For several more hours, he flew, until darkness began to descend on the mountains and the sun disappeared from sight. Thunder and lightning continued to flash on the horizon, but no rain fell. It was as if the mountains around him were well and truly dead.

Eventually, Strager came to another stop, hovering once again as he looked around in frustration at another intersection of valleys. There was nothing. No evidence of anyone within the mountains. No response to his calls. Part of him wondered if his hunch had been right at all, and Zyal was not the perpetrator of the mountains. That or maybe the dragon had just died of starvation because of the obvious lack of food and water within the mountain range.

"Aargh, stuff this. Maybe this'll grab your attention," growled the dragon.

His metal shell warped, moving like liquid as a spike detached itself, floating at his flank. With a simple thought, the metal spike accelerated toward the ground, spearing into the rock and digging deep into the earth below. Strager narrowed his eyes as he looked at the ground, his shell retaining its fluidity, shifting and rippling as though alive. The metal showed parts of his golden scales that were usually covered by metal, and thus were quite sensitive to any change in the atmosphere around him.

It happened suddenly. A subtle shift in the air to his flank. A sudden spike of earth erupting from the mountain to his side. The metal moving around him reacted instantly. A stream detaching itself, moving like water, before solidifying into a shield of dragon steel. The spike smashed into the shield, shattering against it like ice against stone.

For a moment everything became silent, as though the mountains were shocked at the metal drake's indignant challenge. The stones fell to the ground, creating another echo of breaking rock. Strager's metal shell had now completely detached from the dragon, orbiting around him in a liquified state, and leaving the drake's golden scales completely open. He closed his eyes, letting out a breath as he allowed his other senses to heighten. He could feel every shifting current in the air, resonated with the booming thunder, and smell the moisture begging to fall.

Two pillars broke out from the stone walls, rushing toward him. He twisted in the air, his far lighter body now faster and more agile, slashing with his talons and tail. The metal followed his movement, slicing with deadly precision, becoming thousands of tiny blades sharper than diamond. The stone pillars were decimated by spiraling blades, shredded into dust.

"Is that all you got!" roared Strager, "Come out and face me! Or are you a coward!"

As if hearing him the ground below erupted with rage. Giant earthen spikes rushing toward drake, while the mountains shook with anger. Strager snorted, the metal around him reacting to his will as it surrounded him. Thousands of tiny daggers, disintegrating stone like gnashing teeth, and rotating so fast that it seemed as though the drake was surrounded by a translucent silver ball. Dust billowed around the ball, shrouding the drake's vision. But he didn't care, he could feel every movement around him.

With a roar he opened his mouth, spewing liquid metal out into the air, gripping it and warping it with his mind. Spikes of metal shot out from his shield, spearing into the mountainside and the ground below. He wasn't sure what he was trying to do, as there was no flesh and blood to hit, but he was hoping that his attempted attack at least affected the surrounding mountains.

But his defence couldn't last forever. Suddenly a block of what he thought was stone ascended toward him. His blades dug into it but didn't cut it apart as it did with the normal stone. The dragon flapped his wings, dodging the side as a pillar made from what looked like steel itself rocketed past him. He stared, wide-eyed, at the metallic spike that had nearly been his end. In his distraction, he nearly missed another attack.

A spike, of normal earth this time, broke through his hesitating knives. He flapped his wings, snarling as he felt several scales torn out by the spike as it skinned along his side. The drake pulled into a dive, gathering his metal around him as it quickly flooded back to his wings and back. Another bridge of earth erupted from the side of the mountain, nearly knocking him out of the air. He skimmed against the ground, using it as a launching platform to gain speed as he accelerated across it, his metal was again detaching from his body as it raked away at other attacking spikes that ascended from the depths of the earth.

"Come on you dastardly lizard. You think you can catch me with this? Come and face me!" He challenged yet again, hoping to gain the attention of the drake behind all this.

He closed in his wings, dipping to avoid a spike from the side, narrowly avoiding the ground opening up below him in devouring hunger by using his metal as a jumping platform. It solidified below him, and his claws scratched at the surface as he leaped upward, opening his wings in a quick flap as he sped through the valley. He opened his mouth, firing several tiny spikes from his mouth and into the coming spikes of stone and iron. Each projectile expanded into its own weapon, cutting and wracking at the stone.

With a giant creaking roar, the mountains began to move. Strager narrowed his eyes as the ground below him burst upward and the sky above seemed to fall. An avalanche of stone and a flood of rock. Strager snarled, halting and drawing all the metal around him into a solid ball of dragon steel. Stone and metal spikes and pillars hammered at the ball from all directions, causing the dragon inside to be thrown back and forth. The dragon steel dented inward but held, creaking groaning as it was compressed further and further.

Strager growled again as he watched the ball strain against the increasing pressure of the outside. He breathed more metal into the ball, strengthening it to a near-insurmountable strength. But still, the ball continued to crinkle, slowly folding in to crush the dragon now trapped in the earthen depths.

"Damn you Zyal," snarled the drake as he closed his eyes, allowing a new power to flood him. If this didn't get the other drake's attention, he didn't know what would.

The power rushed through him like water from a broken dam. It overwhelmed him like a volcano about to burst. It invigorated him like a fall from the top of the world. The darkness around him seemed to twist and move as though reality itself was being ripped to pieces. Strager's yellow eyes flashed golden as his body began to change and warp. The golden scales overcome by steel. Blood warping and changing to liquid metal. Wings, talons, and teeth melting into a pure metal elemental. An equilibrium of consciousness and living metal.

It rushed upward, the ball protecting collapsing to join with its growing form. It pierced right through the mountain like claws through sand, breaking it apart as it ascended higher and higher through the ground. As Strager traveled in his new form he felt a sudden loss of energy as he broke through a white stone quite different from his surroundings, the explosion forcing him to quickly change direction for fear of getting caught in it. He continued upward until he once again broke through the ground and ascended into the sky. The liquid metal equilibrium quickly coagulated into the form of a metal dragon.

"Zyal! Come out!" it roared in a metallic voice that thundered power.

The mountains shifted around him, as though slightly hesitant to attack the steadily growing flood of silver as it ripped at the side of the mountain. Yet still, there was no verbal response. Frustrated the equilibrium suddenly rushed at the nearest mountain, drilling into it through a thousand different holes. It quickly spread, cutting through the stone mountain like a virus. Spreading further and further and weakening its very foundation.

The mountain began to crumble and fall as it was shredded to pieces from the inside. But before it Strager could do too much damage he felt another shift in the stone he was cutting through. The stone suddenly went soft, going from rigid and cold to hot, steadily becoming molten rock. The entire mountain collapsed upon the equilibrium in a flood of glowing red lava.

Strager rumbled his surprise, breaking out of the ocean of red and emerging into the air. He flowed over the ocean of molten rock, gathering his metal, and allowing his body to expand further and further. But the lava had other plans. It erupted forth like a geyser, giant waves rising high above the growing metallic equilibrium. Strager snarled as he flung parts of his equilibrium into the lava like giants spikes, hoping to break it apart somehow. But it was hopeless and once again his metallic form was shrouded in molten liquid.

It wasn't enough to melt him, but it was enough to soften the metal just slightly. Sudden spikes of stone and iron flung through the lava, spearing into the equilibrium and tearing it apart. Strager panicked as he struggled to find a way to break out from his confines. But no matter which way he went, the lava followed, quick to swallow him again as it continued to break him apart from the inside.

The power of his equilibrium began to wain as the stone tore at him like a hungry wolf. He attacked back, but for every piece of stone he destroyed another just seemed to take his place. The drake tried desperately to hold onto his power, knowing if he didn't he would be cooked alive by the lava, but it was a losing fight.

His power continued to decrease as he struggled to expand his equilibrium further. But it was futile. He grew weaker, and weaker, until suddenly... the lava pulled back. It deposited him back onto a broken stony ground reminiscent of what it had been previously, before hardening back into mountains that towered into the sky. For the metal equilibrium, it was too late. The metal flowed back into himself, quickly returning to his original state of flesh and blood.

Strager lay against the stone ground, panting heavily as his vision flashed black. Overwhelming exhaustion flooded him, the price of using such a power. He couldn't even raise his head as the earth grew around him, trapping his wings, tail, and body under rock and stone. Only his head was left untouched. The sound of talons clacking against rock broke him out of his tired trance.

He looked up tiredly, seeing an earth drake standing before him. The drake had deep green scale and an earthen brown underbelly. His scales seemed polished to perfection, and his large wings were held easily at his side. The massive spike ball at the end of his tail was held slightly upward to avoid it dragging on the ground. But the most noticeable aspect of the drake was the radiating a power very similar to what Strager had unleashed when using equilibrium. It seemed to shroud him, tasting of earth and soil, and feeling like the immensity of a mountain range.

"So... I finally got your attention," chuckled the metal drake as he allowed his head to collapse back to the ground.

"Your majesty," growled the earth dragon, "You're a long way from your kingdom."

Strager tried to move, but the earth kept him trapped down. He rumbled a little uneasily, knowing he was at this dragon's complete mercy.

"I've come looking for you."

"Why? I don't exist in your eyes anymore? Remember?"

"I... we... need your help."

The earth stared at him a moment, before falling back to his haunches with a deep laugh of genuine amusement, "You... you need my help?"

"Yes," Strager looked at the ground, "Desperately."

"Oh... oh this is funny! This is hilarious!" the earth dragon stood up, walking over to trapped drake so his muzzle filled Strager's vision, "King Strager. The greatest dragon in the world. Dragging his sorry tail to beg for an exile's help. Don't you remember what I said to you?"

Strager closed his eyes, letting out a deep breath.

"I said... when you realise you need my aid, don't expect to come and help you," snarled the earth drake.

"Please, Zyal..." Strager began.

"No!" roared the earth dragon, "I am perfectly content being separate from the world to continue my studies. In my kingdom. That I created. Where no one can step even a talon or a claw. Where I can be far away from all your policies and rules. Where I am sovereign!"

"This goes far beyond what is between us Zyal. My commands four decades ago be damned! The very world is at stake," Strager managed to growl out.

Zyal tilted his head at Strager, the earthen coffin trapping the metal drake growing tighter, "And why should I care about the world?"

"Cause you live in it!" cried out Strager.

Zyal roared, the stone trapping the metal drake was suddenly lifted into the air and launched into a wall. Strager grunted as the stone shattered on impact, dropping him to the ground. He lay there, winded, for several moments, before slowly pulling himself to his feet.

"You... you are the only dragon that has a chance at stopping her Zyal..." the metal drake said shakily, "What you did just now... it is the only chance we have."

The earth drake narrowed his eyes, "You should leave."

"No."

"Then you will die."

"Please Zyal!" Strager bowed his head, "I come before you begging. If you have any semblance of loyalty left for your nation please help us. I will lift your exile. I will give you rule over the nation. I will do anything that is within my power. You... you could see your mate again... your hatchlings again."

"Begging me? This is ironic indeed. I strictly remember begging you not to send me away. Not to break me away from my family. From my home. And here you are, in the same position before me," snarled the earth drake, taking a step forward, "You have the audacity to think the outcome will be any different?"

"I... I know. I don't deserve it Zyal. I don't deserve your forgiveness, nor your mercy. But Zyal... if you don't our enemy will destroy everything. Her power is unlike anything I've ever seen before. She destroyed the mental nation. Few survivors remain. She's not stopping. Her flames are going to destroy us all."

"And who is this dragon? The one you are so scared of?" growled Zyal.

"Her name is Athaer. The fire queen."

"Athaer?" he snorted a laugh, "I did warn you about her as well, didn't I?"

"You did. But that is beside the point. You are our last hope of survival Zyal. Without you... I fear there will be nothing left of not only the earthen nation but all others as well."

The earth dragon rumbled, the spiked ball at the end of his tail tapping the ground as he considered the metal dragon's offer.

"And she'll likely come after this place as well... once she's done destroying everything else," Strager continued, hoping beyond hope that Zyal would see reason.

For several long moments, the earth dragon didn't say anything, "You said anything I want, huh?"

"As long as it is within my power to give," nodded Strager.

"I'm assuming this is after I destroy this fire queen for you?"

"Yes."

Zyal let out a grunt, before carefully bobbing his head, "Very well Strager. I will help you, and the rest of the world. I will be your saviour."

Strager let out a relieved sigh.

"But if you go back on your word I promise you Athaer will be the least of your concerns," snarled Zyal.

"I won't," promised the king.

"Good. Now I need to prepare. When you need me, I will be there," said Zyal.

The ground suddenly opened up, and all Strager was able to let out was a grunt of surprise as he was swallowed. He was pulled rapidly through the ground, before another roar of surprise left him as he was flung from within the ground and out into the open once again, on the outside of the Living Mountains.

Opallio let out her own yelp of astonishment as the king was thrown up from the ground and deposited beside her. Strager lay there, stunned, for several moments, before carefully getting to his feet, staggering softly.

"You're alive!" the dragoness exclaimed.

"Barely," muttered the king as he swayed on his feet.

She caught him before he fell, "What happened? I felt your equilibrium."

"It required a bit to get Zyal's attention," rumbled Strager, "But he has agreed to help us."

She let out a sigh of relief, "That's good."

"Though, to be honest, the cost of doing so may be greater than we are willing to pay," said the metallic king, pulling himself to stand up.

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Hello everyone! New Chronicle for you! I finally got it out. This took far longer than I thought it would haha. Anyway, what did you think. This is one of the stories that I've had in my head since I first started writing these Chronicles, so I hope you enjoyed it. It was certainly fun to write. Tell me what you thought down below. Next week's story will be The Passive Flame. Another exciting one. So till next week, See Ya!

Pennator^^