Ahn’rah couldn’t help but enjoy the feeling of warm wind in his wings as he glided over the many stony spires of The World Spine. Each peak was laid out on the mountain range beneath him in a perfect, slightly curved line. Each vertebrae that he passed overhead led him closer to The Skull, and he could just see it on the horizon. Its horns curled backward into sharp points of fossilized bone, peaking out of the moss and clovers that had taken over the rest of it.

  From up here it was impossible to deny that they were quite literally living off of the back of their Forebearer. It was simply impossible to ignore the obvious shape of a Topavarian Dragon splayed across the planet as their one and only massive continent. Its spine was now a mountain range, its wings now hills and fields, its tail a winding, forested ridge leading to a beach. For all of the forests and rock that grew out of its body, its skull was the only place where you could still find what was undeniably bone.

  He soared above it now, maneuvering himself in the air to slowly curve toward the face of The Skull. He could see The Socket now, a field of wildflowers peeking out of the cavern that used to be its left orbital bones. The right socket, meanwhile, was completely overtaken by a grove of Wisping Willows, one standing tall in the center. Even though the light from the sunset was still bright, its long, glowing yellow branches still gave off light, flowing gently in the wind.

  Ahn’rah carefully began to land, his wing beats disturbing the soft grass and small colorful flowers within The Socket’s edge. His feet reached the ground gently rather than with a thud, and he couldn’t help but smile as he turned to look out at the view. The Socket had a perfect view of the ocean, its sapphire blue water reflecting the bright orange light of the sun setting over it. He found himself wishing that he could leave the Divers and his father without leaving the planet. For all of the bad he’d experienced while living on it, he couldn’t deny how beautiful it was.

  “You made it!”

  Ahn’rah turned to look over his shoulder and his smile only grew as Caelmer stepped out from the shadows further into The Socket. Lady Vulluin followed closely behind him. The golden light flooding into the cavern caught on their Adatopian scales and made Ahn’rah squint for a moment. They glinted and glittered in the light while Ahn’rah’s dark blue scales only had a slight sheen from the light.

  “Of course I made it. I’m sorry if I kept you both waiting.”

  “Not at all.” Lady Vulluin gave Ahn’rah a deep nod in greeting, which Ahn’rah returned in full. “Caelmer has told me there’s something you’d like to discuss with me?”

  Ahn’rah hesitated, meeting the woman’s eyes. He could tell that, while she was putting on the stoic front of a studious leader, she was certainly wary of him. He could only assume it was because he was his father’s son. Hopefully he could outgrow that sort of reputation sooner rather than later.

  “I want to leave The Trove Divers.” He stated plainly, straightening his posture as his face grew more serious. “Turimiil and I request the help of both you and The Thought-Bringers in escorting us off of Topavara and helping us establish a new home. Preferably without my father finding us.”

  Lady Vulluin’s eyes widened and she slowly sat herself down. Eventually, she put one of her hands to her chin and began staring at the grass. She didn’t mull it over for long, however, before shaking her head. “That’s a tall order, Ahn’rah. And your father is a very powerful and influential Dragon. The last thing I want is to incite a war between The Trove Divers and The Thought-Bringers.”

  Ahn’rah pushed away the pang of anxiety at what seemed to be a rather quick “no”, keeping his composure. “I’m aware. I don’t ask this of you lightly.”

  “Either way, I was under the impression that you were affiliated rather heavily with your father’s group. I’m to believe you want to simply walk away from it all?”

  “I never worked for them willingly.” Ahn’rah replied almost instantly, his eyes dropping for a moment before he looked back up to Vaya, who still hadn’t looked up from the ground. “My father pushed me into training for the role when I showed more promise in brains over brawn.”

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  “So you just went with it?”

  “I was born and raised into this. Father didn’t leave me out of his sight until I turned one hundred. He modeled my entire life so that I wouldn’t have options. He’s only been absent with me lately because he wants to celebrate, and believes he’s busied me enough that I can’t do anything else.”

  Vaya’s eyes narrowed, and Cael cut in from beside her. “Lady Vulluin, Hallath cut down the Dive schedule. He’s launching another Dive within a year.”

  “A year?” Vaya glanced down at Caelmer before finally looking up to Ahn’rah and meeting his eyes. “Is this true?”

  “Yes, ma’am. I don’t think he’s going to pull his punches, either. He’s been getting more violent over the years, I know you’ve noticed.”

  “I have.” She responded after a short pause. “That fact doesn’t help your case. It’s an even bigger risk to take you both knowing this.”

  Ahn’rah took in a deep breath and looked to Caelmer. The small purple dragon gave him a nod. Ahn’rah nodded back to him before returning his gaze to Vaya Vulluin. “It’s not just us.”

  Vaya gave a soft huff. “Aren’t you a strategist? You keep adding in more negatives to your argument.”

  “There is a Dullahan currently recuperating on Turimiil and I’s moon, and I have reason to believe that he was being used to power the Golem Father stole from Relictumire.” Ahn’rah presented the information plainly in a monotone voice.

  Vaya’s expression quickly turned severe, eyes wide and shoulders tense. It took almost an entire minute before the silence broke, but all she got out was a soft, questioning “What?”

  Caelmer jumped into the conversation again. “Ahn’rah took me up to the moon himself to look at it. The Runeplate was still active then. It was meant to siphon Ley Energy from whatever was inside and be used to power the Golem so that someone holding the accompanied part of the Rune could control it. There was also a clause in it that the Golem would no longer move if out of range of its other Rune.”

  Lady Vulluin looked down at the prodigy of her group and her expression of horror slowly grew to one of anger. She gave a low growl and hung her head. “So that’s what Hallath has pushed Relictumire to? If it weren’t for the control aspect of the Runeplate it could just be a protective suit for soldiers, but… It sounds more like they’re forcing people to fight for them.”

  Ahn’rah nodded. “That’s why I want to bring him with us and keep him hidden while on Relictumire itself. Hopefully he will wake up by then and give us more information. What my father is doing is horrible, but Relictumire might be using people as siphons to power those things!”

  Lady Vulluin looked up to him, eyes full of fire. “Don’t think that they’re doing it just because it’s something they can do. It’s more likely that what Hallath and his Dives pushed them to such a desperate point. This is exactly why I told him to stop with all of the meaningless violence. He sees them all as bugs, but when you step on an anthill some of the ants still bite.”

  Ahn’rah hesitated before giving her another nod and looking down to the ground. “You’re right, ma’am.”

  “You understand that if you come with us, especially with this information, you’ll be on a different side than your father? There’s no turning back from this, Ahn’rah. It won’t be comfortable, and I doubt you’ll find your way outside of whatever war is looming.” Vaya Vulluin reigned in that stoic composure once more, but that anger she held was still evident in her eyes.

  “I would rather fight against him than be any more complicit than I already am in what he’s done. He’s a horror of this system, and I want nothing more than to escape and eventually stop him.”

  “That’s a good enough answer for me.” Vaya muttered, stepping further into the light until she stood at the mouth of The Socket, looking out over the ocean as the sun was slowly swallowed by it on the horizon. “We leave midday tomorrow. I’ll have Caelmer gather supplies for both you and Turimiil, as well as a way to carry the Dullahan. You will pick them up here. The rest of us will take off from Tail’s End. You will watch the sky from here and take off to follow us once you see us passing.”

  Ahn’rah’s eyes widened as Vaya Vulluin began rattling off the basis of a plan for them to leave, and he could feel his chest well with a number of emotions. Relief, anxiety, anticipation, and glee all swam in circles around his hearts and it took everything in his power to process all of her words. “Y-Yes, ma’am. We will be there.”

  “If you don’t make it up with us, we won’t wait for you.” The topaz-scaled woman turned to look at him, her scales glinting in the sunlight. “Don’t disappoint me, Ahn’rah Kirr.”