The morning came surprisingly early. The sun appeared in the horizon showing a calm ocean and sending a flicker of light into the dragons' cave. The wind had died down somewhat, and the chill from the previous night wasn't as prominent, though still quite cold. The ground was covered in frozen ice from the morning dew and the occasional snowflake drifted downwards past the cave, like a trickle of rain.

Merene was the first to awake, and she quickly woke the others after seeing how far the sun had risen. In the arctic summer the sun was up for a lot longer then normal, leaving only a maximum of five hours of night. Each of the dragons were slightly annoyed at getting up, haven't slept for nearly as long as they usually did. So, yawning and complaining, the four dragons left the cave and rose into the air.

The cool chill quickly woke them up however and they turned toward the mountain ranges that scattered Antarctica. It would be another long flight it seemed, and after a week they were all beginning to feel the wariness of long flight.

For most of the time they were silent, steadily flying along behind the mind dragon, who seemed quite confident in where she was going. They stopped for a small break and ate a large seal that Zepos managed to snatch while they were flying. It wasn't enough to completely fill all four dragons but it would be enough to sustain them for a while.

It took them the rest of the day to finally reach the mountains they had been looking for. It was a large range called the Queen Maud Mountains. The peaks weren't as high as Sky Mountain, nor as numerous. The forest greens or plentiful lakes that they were so used to were nowhere to be seen. Instead they were met with white peaks and dead valleys filled with dull grey slopes. Nothing lived there. The earlier pints of grass and greenery were all gone. Merene couldn't even find a mental source of life. There was nothing,

It didn't take them long to find another cave. This time it was at the top of one of the peaks and quite a bit smaller then the previous one. They didn't complain however, each of them just glad to have the opportunity to rest their wings. They each lay down with each other, even Retrix joined them, and despite the chilling cold fell to sleep rather quickly.

Watching them from another peak, unknown to even Merene, was a strange looking ice dragon with nearly white scales and frozen blue eyes. It watched them for a couple of minutes, carefully studying the layout of the cave and the dragons inside. It was slightly confused as to what species Silver and Retrix were, but it was unafraid. With a frown it leapt of the peak and with a flap of its wings flew into the sky, hurrying south.

* * *

The next morning was very much the same as the previous. The four dragons woke up and left their cave with weary wings. They hoped that day they would finally find the syndicate but no one was too hopeful. Antarctica was a large place and a dragon base could be anywhere, even underground. If it was covered in illusion like Sky Mountain had been then Merene should be able to find it, being an illusion-making dragon herself.

They flew south in silence, each of them too exhausted to really form words or too focused on trying to find an inkling of dragon life anywhere within the mountains. They were hard pressed however. The wind was far stronger up above the mountains then it was over the white plains and eventually they all decided to have a small rest break on outcrop in a mountainside.

"This is going to take forever," muttered an annoyed Silver, looking down the long line of mountains.

"You were the one that wanted to go on this little trip," Zepos yawned loudly before sitting down on his haunches and letting his wings droop.

The dragoness snorted, "You didn't have to come."

He glanced over at her with a tilt of his head and a slight grin before shaking his head with a sigh, "You wanted me to."

"Yeah... well," she grumbled slightly as she trailed off, unable to continue the argument.

"Arguing for the sake of arguing," murmured Retrix as he lay down near the edge of the outcrop, gazing over the edge at the vertical drop.

They rested there for a couple of minutes before getting up again in preparation to continue. However as they were about to take off a movement along the mountainside drew their attention. Silver's eyes widened as she recognised the silhouette of a white dragon on the mountain facing them.

"A dragon!" She called out excitedly.

The other three looked at her in surprise, haven't had seen it yet. The strange white dragon looked straight at her and tilted its head, before pushing off the mountainside with a flap of its wings. Silver quickly took to the sky as well, followed by the other three as they spotted the white dragon.

As soon as they were in the sky a large cry of alarm came from Merene. They turned in surprise to find numerous dragons flying from the ground and sky, quickly surrounding the four. Silver growled in surprise. It was like the dragons had appeared out of nowhere. Even Merene hadn't noticed them beforehand.

They all found themselves back to back, watching carefully as the twenty or so other dragons circled them. They were rather common species, from fire dragons to ice dragons, but each had a strange feel about them. The fact that they had been able to sneak up on them so easily without being seen was still confusing. Merene should have been able to sense their minds. Eventually the dragons came to a hover, still surrounding them and the strange white dragon approached.

At first glance Silver had mistaken it, or him as she now realised, as a wind dragon, whom usually had creamy white scales. But this dragon was ice; at least that's what its body looked like. He would have been around fifteen years, with a spike head and back with razor looking wings. His frozen eyes stared out at them with a mixture of suspicion and confusion, having never seen a metal or void dragon before.

"Who are you?" he said with the harsh voice of an ice dragon.

They looked at each other, wondering who should speak. Silver decided to go forward, seeing as she was supposed to be the leader of this expedition.

"My name is Silver," she said as politely as possible, "We have come from Sky Mountain seeking the aid of Eldawin's Syndicate."

A murmuring passed through the surrounding dragons. They sounded both angry and interested in what she had said. From what she knew, the two havens weren't exactly friends with each other. Iraliene had spoken about that, though why was still a mystery to Silver.

"Why should we believe you?" asked the ice dragon.

Silver was slightly surprised at the question and hesitated, "Why would I lie?"

"You could be spies, working to infiltrate our haven, or even worse some of the collarless dragons from D.E.D trying to set up a trap," he grunted.

"We are not spies!" she hissed, "And D.E.D is hell. I know because I spent some time there before I managed to escape."

The ice dragon titled his head and narrowed his eyes, "Then you will not be bothered if we have someone look through your mind for the information."

She hesitated again. There were a few mind dragons in the crowd, most likely the cause of the dragons' invisibility, and the reason why Merene was unable to sense where they were. For that they must be relatively adequate mind dragons. One going through her head was not a comforting thought.

"What's stopping you from searching me?" she asked.

"That mind dragon," he said, looking at Merene, "She has created a barrier around your partners and your mind. Rather impressive seeing that she is against three other mind dragons. We don't like that."

'Be polite,' Merene said before Silver could retort, 'Give them what they want, but make it clear that they are not welcome in delving into the rest of your mind.'

Taking a deep breath Silver looked at the ice dragon, "They can look at my mind, but only at the information they need. My friend will be keeping a close eye on their progress."

He nodded, not expecting anything less. He gestured with a flick of his head toward one of the mind dragons in the group and they flew forward. Facing Silver the mind dragoness that had been called forward closed her eyes and entered Silver's mind. The metal dragon gritted her teeth for a moment, feeling the consciousness push into her, but relaxed and allowed the invader to search. She brought forth memories of Iraliene sending them on the mission and why they needed their help. Eventually the mind dragon drew back out and nodded toward the ice dragon.

He nodded back before looking at Silver, "My name is Kunder. Forgive me for my rudeness but we have been very suspicious lately at everything that is happening in the upper part of the world."

"Understood," she replied, even though she was a little uncomfortable with the process.

"Good. Now come with me. I'm sure our leader would like to see you," he said.

Without looking back Kunder turned and began to fly south. Silver waited a moment before following with the other dragon's behind. The scouts from Eldawin's Syndicate surrounded them, blocking any path of escape. Retrix had narrowed eyes and Zepos was looking weary. But Merene didn't seem too phased, which gave Silver a slight amount of comfort. If anyone knew they were safe then it was the mind dragoness.

Kunder lead them through the mountains for about ten minutes, turning and twisting through valleys and around mountains. They never rose above the peaks however, which confused Silver somewhat. Though it was far less windy amongst the valleys and much easier to fly.

Eventually they reached a rather small mountain that seemed a bit odd in the ranges. Kunder tucked in his wings and dove quickly to the ground. Slightly hesitant Silver followed, along with the other dragons. They reached a drift in the snow that sparkled brightly in the sun, a little too brightly. Kunder didn't hesitate and without stopping ran straight into the sparkling wall.... and disappeared. Silver growled and stopped in surprise, looking in disbelief at the snowfall.

'Keep going,' Merene spoke mentally, 'It's just an illusion. In reality there's a large cave opening there.'

'Oh.'

With a couple of short flaps of her wings Silver moved forward before taking a deep breath and diving into the snow. She half expected to crash land in sheets of white cold, but instead she was met with a breath of fire-like warmth that cascaded out of a now largely opened cavern. Her eyes widened and she turned to look out of the cave to see a large opening nearly thirty metres high and twenty wide. Outside the group of dragons waited as Merene, Zepos and Retrix entered the cave after her. The void dragon was especially hesitant, likely to have never seen an illusion of that type before.

The cave they had entered was also quite massive. Large round walls that looked like they had been made by a giant worm surrounded them. Hot mist swirled through the tunnels as wisps of wind made it inside. Water created a slippery sheen on smooth rock and numerous drops fell from the roof, like rain from trees after a storm. Below them the water conjugated to create a small stream of water that lead the way further into the cave.

"That was weird," Retrix said as he came through the illusionary snowdrift.

"Get used to it," Silver grinned back, "When we get back to Sky Mountain that illusion is even more impressive."

Kunder continued to fly on once everyone was inside. The massive cave grew steadily smaller the further they flew and Silver was beginning to wonder where they were going. The tunnel seemed unnecessarily long, and rather empty. The beauty of the entrance was far inferior to Sky Mountain, though if any enemy attacked Silver had to admit this would be a far better defence.

For what seemed like hours the dragons flew. There was barely any wind to carry the dragons and instead of struggling too much from it they were struggling without it, having to continuously flap their wings. After flying for massive distances they had taken to gliding most of the time to keep their wings in use but without wind that was hard. Exhaustion was beginning to overpower them again.

The tunnel came to a sudden end. A flat stonewall appeared in front of them. At first Silver thought it was just another illusion, but Kunder glided down and skidded to a stop on the ground just in front of it.

"Kunder, ice dragon, scout, reporting back," he called into the wall.

"What has you returning early Kunder?" a strange invisible voice replied back causing Silver to growl slightly.

"Diplomats... from Sky Mountain," the ice dragon replied with a grunting tone.

"Diplomats? Well I guess we shouldn't be surprised," the voice on the other side laughed, "About time they came to their senses."

"Yeah," Kunder grinned.

"Well, hold on a second. I will get this door open."

There was great creak of stone against stone. A line appeared in the wall as a rectangular slab slowly grated open, just like a door. The opening it created was rather small compared to what had been seen so far. It was just large enough to fit an average sized dragon through.

Behind it appeared a male earth dragon. He looked over the scouting group with a distasteful eye before stepping aside. Kunder glanced at him once before leading his group past the stone wall. Silver let out a small growl of surprise when she saw what it lead into.

They walked onto an ice shelf scratched from the many of hundreds of dragon claws that had undoubtedly scraped its surface. The ice shelf dropped off in a large cliff, revealing a massive cavern far larger then anything Silver had ever seen before. The walls, ground and roof were made completely from snow and ice, but instead of being painstakingly cold a comforting warmth surrounded the cavern, which stretched far into the distance, almost one hundred kilometres wide and twice that distance long.

Along both the walls and floor of the cavern ran ice-sculpted mounds of varying sizes. Dragons of all different shapes and sizes travelled through them, entering and exiting them like they were houses. Frozen roads stretched through the domes that were readily used, besides the dragons that were flying. Throughout the cavern were large cylindrical pillars that broke up from the ground and attached themselves to the roof, also made of ice.

"Wow," Silver couldn't help but gape.

"Welcome to Eldawin's Syndicate, the greatest dragon haven in the world," Kunder said, walking out in front of them with a satisfied smile on his face.

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Hey guys! New chapter! I hope you enjoyed. Vote if you enjoyed and comment what you thought. The next chapter will be out soon! See Ya!

Pennator^^