By the end of the week Silver was pretty confident in where she was going. It had been a long week for the dragoness as she waited in anticipation to leave. She would have left earlier but Iraliene had insisted on waiting. Why? She didn't know. Now however was going to be her final day at Sky Mountain for a while, and she was itching to leave.

Iraliene had told the three dragons to meet her at the entrance to the mountain, so that was where Silver flew. Iraliene was already there as well as Zepos, and there was also Gravon. Why he was there she wasn't sure. Snorting to herself she glided down and landed in front of the green dragoness.

"Where's Merene?" she asked.

"She's coming," replied Iraliene, "Just collecting something."

"Oh," Silver said, casting a quick glance over at Gravon. He was staring at her, with what seemed like malice in his eyes. It made her uncomfortable.

"Morning Silver," said Zepos, walking over to her side and nudging her.

"Morning Zepos," Silver grinned slightly, taking comfort in his presence, "Ready to leave?"

"As ready as you are," he replied with a small smile.

Gravon snorted and turned away from the two, looking into the mountain, as if searching for something. It didn't take him long to find it. A young mind dragon was flying awkwardly toward them. It was like it barely could stay in the air. It slowly glided down to them, landing rather awkwardly.

"Hello Merene, glad you could join us," said Iraliene, "Did you get what you wanted?"

The mind dragon nodded, "Yes Elder."

She held out her paw revealing something that looked like a human phone, but larger. She was smaller then Silver remembered her being, and younger. By the looks of it she was barely seven years old, and very fragile, even more so then a light dragon. How this dragon would handle the human world Silver was unsure.

"Don't worry Silver," Merene turned toward the dragoness, "I can handle myself."

Silver blinked and frowned, before realising that Merene had just read her mind, "Hey!"

The younger dragoness grinned slightly, "Oh don't worry. I could tell what you were thinking by your look. Guard your expression more."

Silver looked at Iraliene, who just smiled, "Merene will be a far greater help then you realise young dragoness. Don't always judge a dragon by her looks. Merene is one of the most powerful mind dragons we have here at Sky Mountain."

The silver dragon turned to look at Merene once again, a little more warily this time. Yes, she was young and looked rather awkward, but she guessed mind dragons didn't rely on their bodies to fight. She had heard of mind dragons that could cause a dragon to go mad through just looking into their eyes. The scariest part of it was a metal shell would not protect her against whatever Merene was capable off.

"Now before you go, I just want to make sure that you know where you are going," said Iraliene, "You are heading for the Queen Maud Mountains in Antarctica. The haven should be in a place called Dominion Range. There you will have to wait for them to find you, and not the other way around."

Silver nodded, having heard it all before, "Yes. What is the haven called?"

The queen snorted, "They call themselves Eldawin's Syndicate"

"Eldawin?"

"The first mind dragon," Merene spoke up, "And often seen as the most powerful one as well."

"Oh... will we be meeting him?" Silver really didn't want to meet up with more powerful mind dragons.

"No," Iraliene laughed, "He died nearly a hundred years ago. You need to listen more in your classes Silver. I'm pretty sure you have had a section about him."

Silver snorted and chose not to answer. What did a dead dragon that she had never met had to do with her, "Is that all?"

"One more thing, do you know how to hunt?" asked the old dragoness.

The silver dragon tilted her head, "That's like asking me if I can shoot tail spikes or fly. Of course I can hunt, what dragon can't?"

"You'd be surprised," Iraliene said, before sighing, "Well, that is all. I will expect you back here in a maximum of six months. Merene will keep me updated on your progress through the year. Now, you better get going. And please, avoid getting captured. I'm quite certain you will be meeting up with at least two of the dragon hunting co-operations. D.E.D I'm not too worried about. Merene will easily be able to get you out of that. It's more A.O.D.H."

"We have ideas on how to get out of that," It was Zepos this time.

"Well let's hope you don't have to find out if those ideas work," said Iraliene, looking at the drake.

"Great! Thanks for the talk, we should get going," Silver said eagerly.

"Of course. I will see you later," she said with small smile.

"Bye," the silver dragon managed to get in before she launched herself into the air.

The other two dragons quickly followed her into the sky. They circled once before turning and flying off toward the edge of the crater. Silver had spent the last week studying numerous maps and had a pretty good idea of where they were going. She had always prided herself on having a good sense of direction, and even if she did get lost she knew that Merene would probably know where to go.

As they passed through the illusion that surrounded the mountain Silver shivered slightly. It was her fifth time through the invisible field, and the strange warping of the air around her disorientated her slightly. When she looked back after they passed through, Sky Mountain had disappeared, leaving row upon row of mountains that spread into the distance. Silver still wondered how they kept such a powerful illusion in place.

Shaking herself slightly she closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling of the wind brushing through her scales, and she smiled. Finally, after months of wanting it, she was finally free of the mountain that had held her. Free of their rules, free of their hierarchy. Finally able to be a dragon again. Smiling she let loose a small roar and twisted in the air, thrusting herself forward with a flap of her wings. She hadn't felt this light in so long.

The other two dragons followed her lead, Zepos a little more willingly then Merene, but it seemed the mind dragon was happy to be away from the mountain as well. Her awkward flying was fast and her wirily body was straight. The three dragons quickly rose above the mountain range and continued flying onward.

* * *

Hours passed as the dragons went through the mountain range. They flew in comfortable silence. It was hard to talk in the air anyway without yelling, and Silver preferred it this way. They had passed the mountain range a while ago and were now flying over open Chinese terrain. Rolling hills and rice fields below. The dragons weren't afraid of being seen, though once they exited China they decided that it would probably be best if they did hide. Here they were in mostly safe territory, and now that A.O.D.H knew of the alliance between Sky Mountain and the Asian country they would be a little more reluctant to attack it.

'Wow, I've never seen China like this before,' said Merene, looking down over it and speaking in the dragon's minds.

Silver faulted in the air, hearing the dragonesses voice, and shook herself, 'Really? Have you ever left Sky Mountain?'

'Once or twice, but only for short trips. Never for that long,' replied the young mind dragon.

'Oh wow, I feel sorry for you. The world is amazing,' Silver grinned.

'Oh, I get enough adventure looking through other dragon's minds. Each one has their own view of it. Yours seems like a mixture of fear and wonder, while yours Zepos is more of wariness. It's very interesting.'

'Can you stop reading my mind?' Silver growled, feeling a little uncomfortable with the thought of someone seeing her most private of thoughts.

'Why? I won't tell anyone.'

'It's.... annoying!' Silver said, looking over at the dragoness.

Merene grinned back, 'No promises.'

The silver dragon snorted, but couldn't help but like the dragon. She seemed like a rather playful thing, a little like Raize, before their father's death anyway. Though she seemed like she could get into a lot more trouble without anyone finding out, depending on how powerful she was anyway.

'What's your strength with the mind?' asked Silver, remembering that mind dragons usually picked through three categories to train; reading and extracting information from minds, creating illusions and controlling other dragons and creatures.

'I excel at illusions,' replied Merene, 'So, basically, I can make you see something that isn't really there.'

'Could you show me?'

'Be my pleasure.'

The landscape in front of Silver suddenly warped and changed, causing her to gasp. She stopped, looking down at the landscape around her with fear. It was like she had flown through a portal into an entirely different world. The ground was burning, and any lakes or rivers that had been before were made from lava. Great steam vents erupted into the sky and smoke clouded the atmosphere creating smog that descended into the horizon.

The other two dragons circled around to her, Zepos looking slightly worried, though not about the surroundings, more about the fearful look Silver had on her face.

"What's she seeing?" he asked Merene out loud.

"A great field of burnt land and lava. A post-apocalyptic landscape that I made up some time ago," replied Merene.

"Ha?"

Heat was rising from the ground and Silver was beginning to feel uncomfortable. This wasn't an illusion. It was real. It felt real. It looked real. It was like Silver was really there, seeing this place.

"I thought you said you could only create illusions," she said with a gulp.

"This is an illusion," replied Merene, "Iraliene did say I was very powerful. She wasn't joking."

"But this... it's real."

"You think it's real, and the more real it is for you the easier it is to manipulate your mind into thinking it," she said.

"So, if I convince myself that what I'm seeing isn't real, then you won't be able to hold the illusion?"

"Yes, exactly."

Silver closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She focused on the landscape she had seen before, its green hills and rice fields, the water rivers and the few humans that had been working them and the cool breeze. Opening her eyes she tried to make it real... but it didn't work.

"It doesn't work," Silver said.

"It does, you just still doubt whether you can do it," Merene said, "Here."

Reality rippled again and once again the beautiful landscape from before was revealed. Silver faulted in the air and let loose a small breath, feeling clear air fill her lungs once again. She didn't even realise that it was like that. Sighing she shook herself and growled before looking at Merene.

"Don't do that again," she said.

"I won't, to you anyway. Illusions are very helpful when fighting enemies," Merene grinned before turning, "Come on, let's keep going."

Silver looked over at Zepos, who nodded. He seemed a little worried for her though. He hadn't seen what she had seen, and was confused as to why she had seemed so scared. He half wished Merene had made him see it as well, but realised that it would probably affect him much more then Silver. Sighing he followed the dragonesses as they flew off.

As the sun descended into the horizon the dragons began to make there way down to a cave that Merene knew off, having seen it in one of the human's minds. It was a small thing, barely big enough for the three of them, but it was the best they could find.

Silver sighed as she lay her head down on the cool cave floor, whishing she had somehow managed to find a way to transport her nest as well, but she guessed she would have to make do. Zepos lay down close beside her while Merene had put as much of a gap as she could between her companions.

"This is going to be fun," said Zepos, wanting to break the silence around them.

"Yeah, it is. Finally away from Sky Mountain," grinned Silver.

"You two seem happy. What is so bad about the haven?" asked Merene, turning to face them.

"It's too controlling," replied Silver, "Yes it is safe, but we can't even hunt there. It's... to much like a human place."

"I know, but sometimes order it better then anarchy," Merene sighed, "With a place like that it is important to have everything under control."

"But that much control?"

The mind dragon grinned, "I see your point."

"Good," Silver laughed. She was in a good mood. A day of flying, aching wings and friends to share it with. Everything was looking out for the best. Her previous sadness was washed away. She couldn't help but feel this trip would be amazing.

* * *

'Now?' the dragon asked, watching the three dragons in the cave from a safe distance, out of range of the mind dragon with them.

'No, wait until it is safe. Only then,' was the reply through a red device in the dragon's head.

The dragon snorted, laying down in its own small cave,its purple scales barely shining in the moonlight.

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Hey guys! New chapter! Vote if you enjoyed and comment what you thought. The next chapter should be a little more exciting don't worry ;) I will post it when I finish. See Ya!

Pennator^^