Sila's claws dug into the dirt under her as her legs carried her away from the heavy armoured attacker. It was one of the undead - ready to kill on sight. None of the men that she stood with were around her.

Apparently, they're trying to help her but through a different strategy if she could only distract it. But whenever she could, she would turn around and blast a shard or two at the soldier.

As she ran off, she found a gap that had one of the trenches just below. Her head twisted around to make sure that the soldier followed her. Once that was checked, she folded her wings tightly against her flanks and hopped over the trench. She managed to land the other side perfectly before turning around to fully face the armoured soldier. Once again, she tried to blast at it again.

She opened her mouth widely and felt the familiar cold in her chest. It bubbled up to her throat before blasting one. A shard flew out, striking right at its left leg.

The armoured soldier slowed down, nearly tumbling forward but caught itself immediately. Slowly, it rose up from kneeling and it's eyes fixed on the standing dragon. It raised it's arm before releasing the claws that tried to grab at the dragon hungrily.

Sila hopped to the side, making her chuckle at its fail attempt. But the smug look was quickly wiped off from her face as she realised that her nitrogen shard didn't slow the soldier at all.

"Come on!" Sila whined before watching it levitate in the air to land just where the blue creature stood at. In an instant, she turned around and continued to run. Her job was to lure that soldier and keep it with her until the others found a way to get this.

Where are they?! She thought, glancing up at the sky to see the giant machines passed by. Admittedly, she still found this rather amazing. Germany must have had the most advanced technology to create such things.

And again and again the dragon blasted onto the armoured soldier but nothing seemed to stop him, as if chasing her down was his mission his whole. That's what it looked like.

"Move!" A voice suddenly yelled out.

Finally!

Without wasting a moment, she leapt off the ground and made sure she was out of the armoured soldier's reach. Right after she was high enough, multiple gunshots were heard. She glanced down as her wings were beating to keep her aloft. Blue translucent eyes observed of what was happening below her. Strays of bullets were fired by the four men. All of them had different weapons. Their weapons were different this time. A large machine gun was used by Dempsey, Richtofen had a smaller weapon but bullets weren't what he was firing; green little bullet-like pulses escaped their red weapon and piercing through the armoured suit. The Russian used a shotgun which looked narrow, and the Jap used a rifle as well but she couldn't identify it. Feeling the sudden surge of determination, she joined them.

It didn't take long until the armoured soldier fell to the ground with a huge thump before exploding.

Sila descended and landed just beside the soldier. Her eyes caught onto something that shone brightly. She frowned and approached it cautiously. As she neared it for further observation, it was snatched immediately by the hand of the doctor himself.

"Hey," She frowned and took a step back.

"We need this. We need this for the staffs." The scientist inquired.

"What staffs?" The Russian questioned and stared at the crystal that rested on his palm.

Edward looked up at all of them, a faint smile could be seen. "You'll see. Follow me," He ordered before turning on his heels and walking away. Soon the Japanese followed, then the Russian, Dempsey and Sila.

"Let's hope he's not luring us into a damn trap." Tank grumbled as he readjusted his grip on his weapon.

Sila snorted and nodded. "Let's hope not."

***

Their footsteps echoed throughout the halls of the underground structure. Sila was the last to follow. She stopped just before setting her claws at the first step of the wooden staircase.

Her translucent eyes gazed at the structures around her. Right beside the staircases was a grey tomb like table. It had strange machinery that rolled inwards. A skull settled right in the top middle with blue eyes that glowed brightly. Around it stood pillars that bent inwards ontop. Right above them was the sky that had clouds spiraling upwards, light shining brightly that could blind anyone that stared right into it.

"Sila!" One of the men called far below. She swivelled her head and looked down at the staircase. Carefully, she hopped over the railing and hovered in the air for a few moments. Her wings beating to keep her in the air and tail lashing about to keep her balance. She found the four men stepping down to a circle. Sila's wings folded and her body dropped. She landed gracefully right after she spread her wings in the centre of the room.

A nudge to her side was felt. She glanced at Dempsey who had a smug look before patting her on the shoulder. Without a word, he stepped forward with the scientist. Her eyebrows jumped at that odd gesture.

As she gazed around, to her left in the far, circular wall, were four towering statues that were high enough in the air that she couldn't make out their faces from where she was standing. In front of the statues' feet were four matching pedestals with slots in them. Each of the pedestals were colored blue, yellow, red, and purple. She drew closer, her eyes drawn to the symbols on the walls on each side of the four statues.

She couldn't quite understand the symbols but... they must have a meaning to something.

"Is that what they're holding is what we're looking for...?" The dragon asked while shifting on her claws uneasily. It was as if the statues were staring right at her. She noticed at the top, however, were wings that curved all the way up to the ceiling.

"Ja. We must retrieve all of them in order to move on and end all this... madness." Richtofen answered with a frown, eyeing the statues carefully.

Sila nodded once and sat down, curling her tail around her talons as silence unfolded among them. It felt too unsettling as to not hearing the undead's screams. Maybe they've given a break or by some kind of miracle they've stopped? Most likely not.

"How do you suppose that we get all this?" The Russian asked, glancing away from the statues and onto Richtofen. Everyone soon did expectantly.

"They are a total of four staffs. Each one holds a different element - Fire, Lightning, Ice, and Wind. Each were brought down supposedly by gods to protect us." The doctor explained.

So such things weren't created by Group 935...

Hm. . . This feels ominous, she thought.

Sila looked at the scientist. He has never been in combat before and his weaponry skills weren't that well either. From the looks of it, he was that type of human being that never gives up. That's something interesting about home even though he could be scared most of the time.

But we have the job to defend him so we can end all this, She thought.

"Come. We can't stay here for long. The undead will attack again and trapping ourselves wouldn't be any where close to my favor."

"Yeah, we all don't either."

As they made it out once again, they split up to find their own staff parts to collect and build the staffs. Sila didn't like the idea of having nothing to do but stand there and wait for the others so she volunteered to join one of them. All knew how to defend themselves very well except for one. That one being the doctor.

She grumbled to herself as she strolled beside Richtofen, eyes peered around and ears sharp for anything.

"What do you think that's holding them back?" Sila asked, deciding to ask German for once.

Edward looked surprised for a moment, seeing how the dragon spoke his language. Before he could ask, she answered. "I was raised by a German and an English doctor."

The doctor nodded and looked ahead, stepping away from heavy mud puddles here and the there. Sila walked along beside him, jumping over any deep and wet mud areas as to not sink in.

"They seem to be... controlled in some way. The way their eyes glow. The way their movements would stop abruptly and they would stare into space," He explained. "Then they would suddenly lash out again."

Was that true? Were they actually being controlled? But, how, why, and by who? What idiot would want to put their world in destruction?

But the undead never reached her facility. How come?

Before she could ponder further, Richtofen's voice was heard. "Stay outside, right here, and defend me from any of the undead." His eye brow was raised, questioning if she would agree or not.

She couldn't disagree. There was only one reason and that was because they were protecting one another and hopefully, end all this chaos that unfolded. So she nodded and turned to sit at the entrance as the doctor entered the building structure.

Sila took this time to observe her surroundings. She stood just outside the door of which the doctor had just entered. In front of her was the third generator, fully operational at its full capacity. On the other side looked like a large pit. This pit was made by the humongous machines that patrolled the battlefield. Biplanes and triplanes flew around, shooting at one another.

She wished she didn't take the life of the one that saw her before she reached her destination. But she had to. Just to save her own scales.

She sat down on her haunches to rest for a bit, wings tucked in and jaw tensed, ready for anything that moves within sight.

Please, help me...

Sila jumped up on her spot, wings flared. Startled, alarmed and searched around her frantically. It was a voice. A new, unfamiliar voice. It sounded too soft and low for her to hear. Her eyes narrowed as she glanced around her warily.

Was she imagining it? She shook her head to clear out her thoughts before sitting back down.

Outside, it began to rain. Lightly at first before getting stronger and heavier. Sila felt the droplets roll off her snout, seeped through her scales, and soaked her wings at her spot.

"What's taking you so long?" The dragon huffed, muttering her words.

As if on cue, Edward stepped out, her clothes tattered from the rain and eyes narrowed.

Sila stood up and shook out her wings but, evidently, they got soaked again as the rain poured. The rain made her wings droop slightly but not enough to touch the ground.

As the duo walked ahead to another location silently, Sila decided to break the ice by asking a question.

"Did you hear a... a voice?"

Richtofen was silent for a moment before nodding once. "Yes. Her name is Samantha. She filled Maxis's mind with 'wondrous' things that led him to have his brain extracted."

"For how long? And... how?" She asked curiously, hopping over a crate that blocked her way.

"That's unknown to me. But I believe for months. She was the reason he started the creation of the staffs and the excavating of Element 115." Edward explained.

"So... all this, the undead and the destruction is all her fault?"

"Not entirely."

"What is it that your looking for?" She asked as the two went down a hill and under of what looked like a church. It was hard to identify due to the wreckage and the fire here and there.

"A passage way. A teleporter to lead us to a different area where the staffs could be brought up."

Sila only nodded and followed him down a tunnel. As soon as she entered, the rain wasn't falling anymore. This gave her the time to shake off any last remnant of the rain that latched onto her scales. Hopefully, her wings could dry off soon as well.

She didn't waste a moment and trotted down towards the doctor. And it looked like he was setting up a... gramophone?

"Why... you do realize this will attract more of the undead if you set it off, right?" The dragon informed as she stood in the center of the large spacing. Infront of her was a dead end, a pile for rocks ontop of each other. On both of her sides, the walls had holes in them, big holes that were filled with a large pile of skulls. Some looked like they stared right at her.

"Yes. But it's the only way." He simply responded and Sila watched as his fingers moved to place the large disc on its spot and set the gramophone in place. "It will lead us to a chamber built by the ancients. Maxis believed that they meant something valuable since our excavation."

The whole room shook suddenly, making Sila dig the ground with her sharp claws to keep her standing. Infront of her, the pile for rocks began to ascend into air from a strange force. And slowly, they began to line up and form a vertical rectangle. Once the last rock met the ground, a bright light flashed, blinding Sila for a moment and shook her head. She narrowed her eyes to see a blue sort-of-like-wall that lit the room around her.

The scientist stood beside her. "We don't have much time. We need to go in now." And without any further words, he just waltzed right through it. Sila hesitated before snapping at herself and hopped right through.

At first, she felt her claws touch a cold floor that was clearly rock. It circled around and curved further down in a long, winding, wide passage that descended quite far. She caught sight of the ancient lines carved intricately into the walls here too, as she continued her descent. When she saw the bottom, she quickened her step to see what was there only to stop and gasp.

The old chamber seemed almost magical in a way she could hardly describe. It circled around and curved further down in a long, winding, wide passage that descended quite far.

At the very bottom were four huge rings carved of stone and a blue substance dominating the main part of them, arranged in a column. The strange thing about them was the way they were suspended lazily many feet in the air in a soft blue light filtering from a light source in the floor below. Each one was equidistant to each other, never touching.

"Welcome to the Chamber of the Ancients," Richtofen said.

GAH! I've been GONE for quite a while... my sincere apology! Being a senior hasn't been easy nowadays though I'm hoping to find replied through writing my chapters throughout my time.

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