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"I really don't think this is a good idea," the concerned voice of a young wind dragoness was yelled through the sky.

"Oh, come on Aerial," a wind drake responded with glee, "You agreed last night. You're with me on this Istria? Right?"

The third dragon, another dragoness, nodded her head, "Yeah. Come on Aerial, don't back out on us now."

The three dragons were flying over bare stony ground. There were no trees, no plants, no animals. The sky was grey, with a silver circle above showing what light of the sun broke through. The ground looked broken, as though it had been shattered into a thousand pieces. Holes dotted the surface, leading to dark depths of unknown magnitude. A soft whispering breeze laced the air, pulling the wings of the three dragons onward, toward the cause of all the destruction.

Ahead of them, the ground rose into the sheer cliffs of desolate mountains, each of which pierced through the high clouds above them. The same grey stone made the mountains, and much like the ground below they were devoid of all semblance of life. The mountain range stretched as far as the eye could see in both directions. A giant impenetrable wall that split the earth in half. They were too high to fly over without running out of breath, and for those that flew around, it took several days. Any that had entered the mountain range had not come out alive.

Aerial remembered the day these mountains appeared quite vividly. It had been the middle of the night. She had been woken up from her nest by the surprised yelp of her sister, Istria. The ground was moving in what seemed like a minor earthquake. As per protocol, they had woken up their brother, who was somehow still asleep, and they had quickly left their rest and flown up into the air with their parents. It was too dark to see anything at the time, but that morning word quickly went around that something strange had appeared in the distance. A long grey line of mountains that were even taller than their current mountain range had appeared in the distance.

The first expeditions into the mountains had been met with disaster. No one had made it back alive. Since then they had been deemed off-limits, any dragon going there would do so at their own peril. That had been five years ago now, five years of fear and trepidation. There were several theories about why the mountains had come to be of course. Some thought it was an act from Gaia, the element of earth. Other's believed it to be a vengeful earth dragon of unimaginable power. Still, others thought it was an illusion conjured by mind dragons to keep them under control. But no one really knew.

"I just think you've become way too obsessed over this Soluth," Aerial told her brother, "No one who has entered these mountains has come back."

"Yeah... but it's been nearly four years since anyone has dared to enter," he told her, "And I reckon that whatever created these mountains has surely grown lax in that time. If it is mind dragons, well I can fight off a group of mind dragons."

"Mind dragons are our allies," hissed Aerial, "They wouldn't do this."

"Then there is even less reason to worry," chimed in Istria, "We will just take a quick look... see what we can find... then head back home. Easy as that."

"If we even survive," grumbled Aerial to herself.

She was the only one of the three of them that has been against the idea. But she had to come along of course if only to keep the other two safe. They were way too adventurous for their own good. The three of them had only turned eight a month ago, and Soluth had been insistent on them having a trip to the mountains before settling down. 'It was their one chance at adventure', he had said. But as they grew ever close to the gigantic stone wall before them Aerial grew more and more concerned that this was not the type of adventure she wanted to have.

The three of them stopped, pulling into a quick hover as they came before the mountains. A large valley stood before them, which reminded Aerial more of a crack in a stone than a valley. It was shrouded in darkness, the sun unable to break through the twisted dimensions of the mountains. The floor of the valley was as warped and cracked as the rest of the ground. Ahead of them, they could see where the valley split up into two different directions, leading into the depths of the mountain range.

Aerial looked at her two siblings. All the bravado they had put on before seemed to have been stripped away. She could see the hesitation and fear in their eyes. This was no natural phenomenon. The warped structures were s different from the mountain that were their home, so terrifyingly alien, that the thought of entering them was simply unthinkable. At least that was the way she felt. There was no way she would go in there if she did not feel the need to protect her siblings against the horrors they were sure to face.

"I don't want to go in," she said to them, "I really don't think this is a good idea."

"Oh... come on Aerial," Soluth said, trying to hide the shakiness of his voice.

"You think too much," Istria snorted, and with a snap of her wings flew forward into the shadow of the valley.

Aerial let out a yelp of worry as she went to fly forward to stop her sister, but fear held her back. The other dragoness glided into the valley, looking around warily. All three held their breath, waiting for something, anything to happen. But nothing did. Empowered by his sister's courage, Soluth soon followed, giving his Aerial a smirk. Nothing was there to stop them, and it did not seem like anything would try. It took several more moments for Aerial to follow them. A shiver ran down her spine as she felt the shadow of the mountains fall over her.

The siblings continued in silence, taking the turn to the left along the valley. The cliffs stared down at them like ominous observers. The air was still and stale, forcing them to flap their wings at greater intervals. Everything was completely silent besides the beat of their wings, which sent echoes flooding through the crevice-like valleys.

"It feels like flying through a ravine," Istria spoke, her voice shocking the other two dragons for a moment.

"It is a ravine," Soluth responded, "But above ground."

"Yeah, a big, desolate, above ground ravine," Aerial's voice shook.

"I wonder if the earthen kingdom has mountains similar to this... but less baren obviously," wondered Istria.

"I don't know, maybe," said Soluth.

"I think I would rather go there than here," Aerial snorted, "So let's go and do that. I think I have spent enough time here. If something is asleep we don't want to wake it up."

"Relax," Istria growled, "Nothing is going to harm us. Maybe the reason no one came out is that they got lost. We know the way back."

"Do we?" Aerial questioned, looking back the way they had come.

"Yeah... we've just been going left. So on the way back we keep going right," said Soluth, "Besides, maybe we can find what caused these mountains."

"You want to find it now?" exclaimed Aerial.

"Yeah, then maybe we can kill it," he smiled triumphantly.

"Soluth, you're an idiot," said Istria, "I think we've seen enough. All these mountains look the damn same. I think we find somewhere to rest; we have been flying most of the day, after all, poke around on the ground to see if we can find something, then leave. Agreed?"

Aerial really did not think they should stay a moment longer. Every instinct in her body was screaming at her to get out of those mountains as soon as possible. But she had to admit her wings were starting to feel a little tired. With no wind to pull them along she was tiring far quicker than she usually did. Still, she figured they could at least make some progress in their return before needing a rest. But her two siblings were already flying down to the stony ground below.

A sigh escaped her as she glided after them, pushing her uneasiness as far into the corners of her mind as she could. The three of them landed on the broken ground below. The floor seemed as though it was made up of giant shattered pieces of rock, layering atop each other and leaving small gaps that no adult dragon could fit through between them. Aerial landed atop one of the higher rocks, perching with her wings folded by her side, keeping vigil.

"Maybe we could convince a human to explore deeper into these crevices," said Soluth as he stuck his head down one of the holes, "Maybe whatever lives here is deep underground."

"We have no idea how deep they go," Aerial rumbled, "And these rocks don't exactly look the most steady. They'll be –"

A yelp escaped her as a rumble echoed through the stone, like the roar of some large angry monster. She spread her wings to balance herself on her perch. The ground began to shake. The walls of the mountains around them began to crumble, shaking like a beast awakening from its slumber. The silence was overcoming with the drowning of collapsing stone and the roaring of the quaking earth.

"Into the air! Now!" screamed Aerial, leaping skyward.

Soluth followed without hesitation, summoning the wind around him to give him an extra boost into the sky. Istria was not as fast as they were. The wind dragoness opened her wings to launch herself into the air. The ground beneath her ruptured. Several grey stone spikes broke outwards, slamming themselves into the dragon, piercing scales and flesh, and shattering bone. Istria was not even able to let out a cry of pain as one went through her jaw and head, one through her chest and neck, and the third through her stomach and spine.

Aerial found herself frozen in horror. Istria's eyes were still wide open in surprise. Her open wings fell to the ground. Her tail went still. A trail of red blood trickled down one of the spikes. It was as though time had slowed down for Aerial. The falling stone and roaring earth seemed to fade into the distance. Istria's eyes were looking up at her, confused, shocked, lifeless.

"AERIAL!" Soluth's cry broke through her haze, "We need to fly! The mountains are closing around us! Come on!"

Aerial looked at her brother, tears gathering in her eyes, "But... Istria..."

"There is no time!" he roared, "We need to go!"

Suddenly the imminent danger they were still in became all too apparent. The ground below them rippled like water, fracturing apart as more, far larger, stone spikes broke through the ground, launching up to them. A cry of surprise escaped Aerial, adrenaline and the will to survive breaking her out of her hesitation. She gathered the wind around her, just as she had trained to do her entire life, and with a flap of her wings launched herself forward, the spike skimming the end of her tail. Soluth did the same, the two racing through the valley as more spikes of earth broke through to meet them.

All exhaustion was gone from their wings. Both wind dragons had gathered their element around them, allowing it to guide their wings and tails, boosting them along their journey. They dodged past the spikes with ease, guiding themselves around the falling stones and echoing anger of the earth. The mountains around them had come to life, stone pillars shooting from their sides to crush the two intruders. The first nearly caught Soluth, touching his wing. But with the wind around him, it allowed him to flip over the pillar, accelerating forward once again.

Aerial followed. It was like an obstacle course. Up, down, slow for a moment, then forward. The difference was a mistake in this obstacle course would be her death. Her breaths were coming in ragged gasps as they reached the first intersection, Soluth several metres in the lead as they shot into the path leading right. Aerial found herself following her brother's split stream, allowing her to go faster and manoeuvre easier.

The mountains seemed to realise they weren't having any success in catching the two of them as they passed the second intersection. There had been three before the exit if Aerial remembered correctly. They were halfway to the exit. The mountain range seemed to have other ideas. Ahead of them two large slabs of stone broke away from their respective cliffs, slamming shut like a giant stone door. More rocks were being flung at them, the ground reaching up like a giant hand wanting to crush them like insects.

"Stay behind me!" Soluth roared at her.

She could almost see the wind gathering around her brother as he increased his speed toward the wall. As he flew, he began to spin, using the wind to guide his body into a twisting motion, like an arrow being shot from a bow. The wind around him shot him forward at the wall, too fast for any of the other rocks to hit. He slammed into the wall with a roar. The stone wall shuddered as with the momentum and power of the wind shattered its structure, puncturing a whole. Aerial flew through it after her brother before it closed again.

Soluth was slower now. Aerial knew that using that ability made the wind dragon incredibly dizzy. So, she took the lead, relying on his instinct to follow her own split stream as they passed the third intersection. Ahead she could see their escape. The end of the mountain range, an end that would allow them to break free. But the mountains realised this, and with a groan of stone against stone, they began to move. The entire valley walls.

Panic rose within the dragoness as she looked back at Soluth, who was beginning to fall even further behind. His wings beats were uneven, and he was only just managing to dodge the ever-increasing amount of falling rocks and grabbing spikes. Aerial looked at the enclosing walls that were making the valley smaller and smaller. Soon there wouldn't even be any room to fly and dodge, and when that happened, they were doomed.

"Come on Soluth!" she cried.

With a roar he flapped his wings, narrowly dodging another rock as he found the end of the valley with his eyes. He looked at her, then the end of the valley, a sudden realisation seeming to hit him. It was a moment of acceptance. A moment of clarity. Aerial saw it, and she knew what it meant.

"No! Don't you dare Soluth! Don't you give up on me!" she cried out.

They were so close. The distance between them at the exit was negligible. They could make it. They had to make it. But the mountain walls were nearly upon them now, moving at faster and faster speeds. Aerial flapped her wings hard and fast, dodging up a horizontal pillar of stone. Her left wing brushed the stone wall to her left, and she was forced to drop hard as almost instantly the earth sprouted forward to grab her. She flung herself away from that wall, nearly crashing into the one on the right in the process. She managed to twist so she hit the wall with her legs, pushing off instantly into another role to dodge the next obstacle. There were less than twenty dragon lengths left to the exit. She looked back at Soluth, only to find he had stopped. Her eyes widened as he took a massive breath, a gust of wind shooting from his mouth in a hurricane... right before a pillar from the closing walls caught him, crushing his body against the opposing wall.

"NO!" screamed Aerial as the gust of wind caught her, flinging her forward and out of the living mountains.

The dragoness beat her wings multiple times as she entered the open sky, gathering the wind around her and propelling herself forward even more so as the final tendrils of stone tried their last-ditch efforts to kill her, flinging several spikes after her. But she was now in the open sky, and she could fly at her utmost. So she flew, and she didn't stop for hours, each beat of her wings straining her body further and further. Great heaving sobs left her, her tears raining upon the ground below.

The ground below her changed from the grey broken stone to the long brown grassy plains of her nation. When they did she allowed herself to fall, half crash landing into the long grass in exhaustion. They were dead. Her brother and sister, her best friends, were gone, all because they dared explore the barrier of earth known as the Living Mountains.

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Here we go, everyone! Chronicle number 10! I hope you all enjoyed this thrill of a story. It was an interesting one to write... and sorry for how depressing the last two have been. They won't all be like this I promise XD But since it is number ten, I would like to ask you all a couple of questions.

Which has been your favourite story thus far?

Who is your favourite character?

And what would you like to see in the future of this series?

I also have five new stories for you to vote on. So, which one would you like next?

To Fly the Storm: Ru'ak, Storm Drake - 27Yrs BTA

A Life Dragon's Purpose: Agela, Life Dragoness - 6Yrs BTA

The Dance of Steel: Kyral, Metal Drake - 37Yrs BTA

Unexplored: Vyll, Rift Dragoness - 13Yrs BTA

Dark Lightning: Joy'el, Lightning Dragoness - 48Yrs BTA

The next story will be out around this time next week. Make sure to vote, and enjoy. See Ya!

Pennator^^